Every new project should be seen as an opportunity to create something exceptional. We should always aspire at changing the world, or at least a piece of it. Sometimes, coming up with brilliant ideas is the easy part. Execution on the other hand can be a different story. An idea can only be as good as the product that comes out of it and making it happen is the biggest challenge, whether it is the will or the means to do it.

Ensuring that a product will meet expectations starts with establishing a good foundation or key ingredients that will make it deliver an outstanding experience. Beyond referring to heuristics for sanity checks, at the beginning of the definition phase I always establish key experience pillars, a sort guideline that will make sure we keep the product aligned with user goals as well as business objectives.

A pillar is actually a constancy, a persistent stream maintained during an entire flow. The intensity of the support layer may fluctuate during a given sequence but you have to look at them as steadily present and always connected to all other layers. I have often used the same 4 pillars, simply because they form a great base for many engagement program or interactive platforms. I tend to divide them into 2 categories: “Passive” for the more reflective or analytical part of the experience, and “Active” for the more interactive or task-based aspect of the sequence.

In the “Passive” group, “Inform” and “Inspire” are a great pair complementing one another. First off, informing users and providing relevant data is essential, but when paired with a motivational value like “Inspire”, it creates a very powerful communication instance. In the “Active” group, “Enable” provides the means to execute things successfully and be in a position of power and control, while “Engage” gives opportunities to share thoughts or be part of the conversation.

In the end, it’s really up to you to determine which pillars are necessary. In some cases, I have used an expanded set to reflect specific business goals or user needs. For instance, as part of a complex customer journey that included a steep learning curve, I felt the need to offer constant support on an educational level as well as customer assitance. The pillars were also divided in “Passive” and “Active” planes but were also inserted other axes reflecting the customer journey such as motivation or support. The way you establish groupings or alignments depends on the challenge you are working on.

Having these pillars is a base to start defining how the customer journey or experience model will take shape. Mapping this journey is explained in another post but the pillars are a foundation to this sequential

Establishing experience pillars really helps design a program that delivers value and meaning. It guides the definition phase, keeping the team aware of what is important for the target audience and what ensure we meet the business objectives.

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Marco Gervasio

Reach me: marco@sequential.ca

Harmonious collaboration is probably a utopian concept, but we all aspire to achieve it. However, the road to that ultimate state of being is never a smooth one (and a never ending one either).

I have been in the agency world my entire career, and being digital-focused, I have been exposed to very strong and distinct forces: the very structured and rational technologists, and the free-spirited and more emotional designers. To this day, they are still not easily synchronized, despite our best efforts in implementing various types of workflows.

For the past 20 years, particularly with the birth and rise of Internet, process has been for many digital marketing agencies a constant struggle, mainly because of the art/tech duality. We seem to have difficulty finding that magic powder that will balance this Ying and Yang. It is in part due to the fact that, as a new industry was emerging way back then, we could not just use the ad agency creative process or the software development workflow. Neither provided a framework for our new blended reality. So for the longest time, we have been working very hard at merging them into a common structure, unsuccessfully. And perhaps that was the mistake.

In recent years, we have often heard about the “agile” standards as a possible remedy to the above challenge. It is a word that pleases the geeks (because it comes from the software industry as a proven process) but it does scare most creative people (a big misconception by the latter). But they need not to worry this much. Here’s why.

In some ways, agile is more of a behavior than a specific process. In the context of a digital agency, it should never replace how art directors come up with their ideas (a very organic and volatile flow) or how developers go about coding and testing their systems (where logic and order dictates). What it should do is bring these experts closer together, increase mutual respect, and help them solve problems more efficiently. The founding principles are also well aligned with people’s expectations of how they want to relate to projects: a sense of belonging, purpose, and accomplishment.

At the core, agile is simple: people collaborating early on, less documenting and more prototyping, iterating often, and communicating regularly. You basically unite a bunch of smarty-pants so they understand what the challenge is, uncover opportunities, and more importantly, develop brilliant solutions. This is the essential outcome of collective thinking where we continuously leverage each other’s brain cells to achieve our goals, a constant back and forth. It is also exactly how brainstorming sessions work: get a group of people in a room and let them bounce various insights and ideas until they come up with the big concept. More brains are truly better than just one, and that’s why agile methodology can enable people to be more inventive. They simply spend more time together solving problems.

Most agencies can learn from that. Too often we see strong hierarchies and silos. They need to break it all up and implement a more human and enabling way of working. An open environment will not only make people feel more positive and inspired but they will be more motivated to take risks and propose novel ideas.

As creative director, there was a point in my career when I decided to leverage some of the agile principles in order to not only ensure we would come up with incredible campaigns or engagement programs, but also to create a strong bond between my teammates. And it really worked. Everyone felt very involved and needed. Sharing our thoughts and finding answers together was very fulfilling. Everybody felt very attached to the project, the brand, and the target audience.

Agile is an attitude, which means you need to teach your team to behave a certain way. Provide them with a code of conduct, a shared belief system, and an overall culture that is conducive to innovation.

Key take-away:

- Focus on people and their minds, let them acquire and share knowledge
- Encourage risk-taking, empower talent
- Stimulate frequent interactions (in person is best)
- Prototype more, document less, focus on value and meaning
- Test often, adjust rapidly, adapt to change
- Involve the client, stay transparent
- Target excellence

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Marco Gervasio

Reach me: marco@sequential.ca

In the past few months, I had the chance to develop several customer/user journeys as part of the definition phases of pretty robust digital platforms (one B2B, the other B2C). The greatest reward was to see how useful and powerful this mapping exercise can be.

The reason why it works so well is because of the perfect balance between rational and emotional. While I use compelling storytelling to communicate the experience, journey milestones get down to business: not only do they represent key tasks and how users interact but also highlight key features and mechanics. Journey maps truly help everyone on the team (and the client) imagine how a platform will work and what success should look like. As a communication tool, they also help form empathy toward the target audience. I usually develop basic archetypes before developing stories. While they are not always as rich as other advanced persona artifacts, they help everyone stay focused and aware of those we wish to serve.

So before you get started, here are a few tips:

• Have clear objectives – Communicate what you are trying to achieve with the journey maps, why it is useful as part of the concept and definition phase, and how it should be used.
• Use as much data as possible – While assumption-based archetypes and journeys can help, those created from facts and numbers are usually more aligned with reality and help defend the experiential sequences with more conviction.
• Stay in character – When developing the stories and identifying key milestones, always keep the perspective of the customers. Focus on each character’s goals, needs, and challenges. Also think of possible crossroads: users can often meet during their respective journeys.
• Make it evocative – A journey map is meant to be inspiring. Use visual metaphors, creative layouts, and attractive graphics. Make sure the copy is clear and compelling. Personalities and real-life situations need to be convincing.
• Keep it simple – Focus on what is important. While narrative elements help bring the journeys to life, overdoing it can be a distraction.
• Keep it up to date – It is very likely that maps will evolve as concepts and prototypes progress. Just like persona development, someone should be the owner and ensure its relevancy and usage.

The best part of developing customer journeys is actually presenting them. It can be a very interactive exercise with the team and the client. I usually prefer printing the visual map on a very large piece of paper, put it on the wall, and follow the tracks as I tell the stories of our key characters. I also ask everyone to group behind me, particularly when we start brainstorming or problem-solving after we go through the experiential paths.

In the end, a journey map is not just a great user-centric development tool. It also helps bring the team members closer together as they imagine the future platform.

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Marco Gervasio

Reach me: marco@sequential.ca

A friend of mine, a talented professor at renowned McGill University, asked me a few weeks ago if I would be interested in giving a lecture to his students. I was at first surprised since I wasn’t sure what I could possibly present that would be of value to these future professionals. This lecture was part of a special event organized right after the first term of a brand new program called Liberal Arts. This area of study is not new in any way, as there are such programs in other Montreal institutions. But this one wants to be different.

Generally speaking, students who embark in this field will develop various skills such as critical thinking, personal responsibility, well-formed oral and written expression, creativity, and much more. These are developed within one of three intellectual streams:

1. Literature and the arts (including architecture and theatre).
2. History, culture and society.
3. Philosophy and religion.

But unlike other Liberal Arts programs, McGill’s is much more open and experimental, allowing students to study current cultural trends, social movements, political dynamics, and artistic drives. They have the ability to go beyond the classic teachings (of Aristotle, Shakespeare, or Brunelleschi) and include ideologies that represent today’s society. Graduates will typically pursue careers in journalism, law, communications, arts, or even commerce and administration. So in many ways, this program is really preparing for what’s next, not only within the academic milieu but for the real world as well.

It is only after understanding all this that I realized the importance of liberal arts, how much the overall dogma inspires how I work today. I totally saw the implication in owning such skills in my line of work, which focuses on understanding people and creating programs or platforms that provide true value and significance (at least that’s how I see it). So I was inspired to put together a presentation called “Creating Meaning Through Empathy”.

What I tried to demonstrate during my lecture is how the skills these young minds are developing can be used in so many professions, particularly user/customer experience design. Going through my development process and methodologies, as well as a compelling case study, I was able to show how I currently use liberal arts competencies in my daily work (in a more human-centered approach):

• Literature & History  -  The art of storytelling when developing customer journeys and archetypes, using proper writing skills, imagination, and relatable anecdotes.

• Culture & Society  -  Investigating present-day trends and beliefs that influence decision-making, understanding how context constantly changes and impacts how we behave as citizens and consumers.

• Critical Thinking & Reflection  -  Looking positively at problems and seeing opportunities in them, coming up with well thought-out solutions and the creative outputs that will bring them to life.

• Aesthetics & Visual Communications  -  Leverage beauty and harmony when expressing ideas, always making the effort to produce persuasive and lasting designs.

• Personal Responsibility & Ethics  -  Having a conscience when taking on new projects, always having a desire to make the right decision, to respect not only humans but the rest of the planet as well.

Preparing for and giving this lecture opened my eyes to the importance of the skills acquired in a liberal arts program. I realized that if we all learned to care more for humanity and life in general, it would make us better people and stronger professionals. I was lucky enough to experience some of theses areas of study in my design program and acquire others by interest.

Another great example came from the other presenter at the event who works in a completely different field than mine: medical. Her presentation focused on how hospitals and most professional who work in them do not deal with patients in humanistic ways. Too often, decisions are made for procedural or business reasons, not for the emotional needs of the sufferers and their families. If they cared a little more, hospital experience would be so different that it is now.

So next time you work on something, open your heart and mind, be curious and daring, appreciate diversity and the beauty in simple things. But most of all, aspire at making a difference and creating meaning.

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Marco Gervasio

Reach me: marco@sequential.ca