About the project
DataCamp is a tech-education company. On their platform, students can learn data science programming languages and techniques.
I was asked to create content guidelines for DataCamp. I took on the challenge because they were serious about having useful guidelines —not as something to tick off their list, but because they really saw the need for them. They also gave me the appropriate time and means to carry out thorough research. This resulted in one of the style guides I’m most proud of, as it’s well researched and contains numerous examples.
Also, I really enjoyed having the opportunity to facilitate a workshop on the 77th floor of the Empire State Building in New York.
Approach
- Content audit: developed an understanding of the current situation, the various channels and different types of content.
- Stakeholder research: interviewed people involved in the creation of content. Facilitated card sorting for voice attributes, and flow mapping for different tone-profiles.
- User research: interviewed users, B2C and B2B, based all over the world.
- Benchmarking: analysed what similar organisations, and organisations in the same sphere, are doing, defined how DataCamp is different.
- Created the style guide, tested the style guide, iterated to get it right.
Outcome
- Produced a comprehensive content style guide with useful examples to help content creators create, edit, and judge content in a more objective way.
- Ensured there is a cohesive brand voice across all channels and touchpoints, which matches their audience’s needs and state of mind at all times.
- Offered insights to user needs to support further development of the platform, marketing and communications.
Caroline Harris at DataCamp
Saskia was a pleasure to work with while we explored our company’s voice and tone, and worked to identify new guidelines and recommendations for content creators.
She ran two thought-provoking and productive workshops for us with our teams in Leuven and New York, which led to a deeper understanding of our core voice and tone elements for our global brand.