Different Audiences
Recognize that different users approach the same content differently.
Different Purposes
Design around what each audience is actually trying to accomplish.
Clearer Paths
Give people ways into the DAM that reflect what they know when they begin.
Audience-Centered Findability
Help the different people you serve get to what they need.
The same DAM can work well for one audience and poorly for another.
Some users take unnecessary steps. They rely on coworkers, create shortcuts, request content someone else has to retrieve, or avoid the DAM altogether.
The content may be available. The taxonomy and discovery tools may be working. But when the path doesn't reflect a user's purpose, technically findable content can still feel out of reach.
You are left knowing that different audiences need different things without having a clear picture of where their paths break down.
Users take unnecessary steps to reach content.
People rely on coworkers, shortcuts, or manual requests.
Technically findable content can still feel out of reach.
Different audiences experience the same DAM very differently.
We understand why different audiences approach the same content differently.
We have worked inside DAM environments and seen how differences in role, purpose, starting knowledge, and content needs affect the way people look for content.
Our focus is the path between a particular audience and the content they need:
Who is looking, what are they trying to accomplish, and what way into the DAM makes sense for them?
Our Approach
A practical path to audience-centered findability.
Understand
Identify the users, their purposes, what they know when they begin, and the content they need.
Map
Map the path between what each audience knows and the content that serves its purpose, including where users enter and what they should have access to.
Shape
Use appropriate DAM capabilities — such as portals, views, collections, navigation, permissions, search, and filters — to create paths around those needs.
Validate
Test the paths with representative users and realistic findability scenarios to make sure they actually work.
Audience-centered findability starts with the user, not the DAM feature.
Identify the audience and role.
Understand their starting knowledge and context.
Clarify the purpose behind the search.
Connect that purpose to relevant content.
Shape the appropriate way into the DAM.
Success Looks Like
Different audiences know where to start.
The content they encounter is relevant to their purpose.
Their paths reflect what they know when they begin.
They aren't forced through complexity intended for someone else.
The DAM helps different people get to what they need.
The right people have clear paths to the right content for what they're trying to accomplish. You can be confident the DAM isn't simply making content available. It is helping the different people you serve get to what they need.