Session Details

Salon G - H

Content developers face the need to clearly express complex information that can address the needs of diverse markets, getting the message out to consumers in the US as well as worldwide international markets. Preparing content for one market is difficult enough; however, ensuring that the message can be successfully translated for foreign markets adds additional complications.
We explore two approaches that have been used to clarify complex information, be it destined for the US market or the global market:

• The development and use of icons to express complex ideas with fewer or no words, and
• Writing messages clearly in simplified English that is easier to understand and subsequently to translate for multiple foreign markets.

Icons provided a new way for McDonald’s Corporation to educate their worldwide market on the nutritional content of their restaurant food. It is not an easy task, logistically, as translating the nutritional content for multiple products in 109 markets can quickly create a logistics nightmare (think of all the different food wrappers that would be needed). McDonald’s turned to icons to represent the nutritional data, from calories to protein, fat, salt, and carbohydrate measurements. The goal is to present these data easily and in a way that people all around the world can understand. Using an iterative design and testing paradigm in our project with McDonalds, a way to clearly deliver the complex nutritional data for 109 different markets around the world was developed. A review of the McDonald’s case study provides lessons for creating a clear message through carefully designed icons.

Unfortunately, the use of icons is limited to expressing relatively succinct concepts. Most concepts require actual writing. When it comes to writing content, many of us fall into “academic-speak” when creating technical content, even for an English-only audience. The problem with “academic-speak” is that it often muddles the message and takes more space to display the message. If the message is not clear, the need for customer support increases. If the message is too long, then production costs can quickly skyrocket (especially in the printing world). Would you rather “deploy established resources throughout the enterprise” or “use existing staff companywide”? A clear message, delivered in fewer words, keeps costs under control for the US Market as well as the international markets.

Some extremely simple exercises and common sense can help you transform your content in order to leverage existing content and avoid unnecessary expenses when sharing your message with an international, multi-lingual audience.

Whether your message is delivered graphically, with the effective use of icons, or communicated with written content via Web or Help-based files, or paper/PDF-based documentation, this presentation highlights the essential skills you need to master.

• Learn from the McDonalds case study about iterative development of icons for international markets
• Learn how to delivery your message clearly and succinctly, whether it is for the US Market or international markets
• Learn about the basic techniques to avoid creating ambiguous content that can confuse your readers and result in muddled translations
• Learn about hidden document format and online layout traps that drive up the translation and localization costs

This session is right for you if you want to make visually compelling, more effective content for an English-only audience, or have your content optimized for a broad, multi-lingual, global audience!