What is a life events approach?
A life events approach maps the ‘journey’ a person goes through during a significant life event (such as having a baby or buying your first home), and then maps an organisation’s information, products and services underneath it using a process called journey mapping.
Using this map, content and product owners can see how to organise their information to make it easy for users to understand, and to see where there might be gaps in the journey that could be improved or joined up.
The benefits of a life events approach
A life events approach can be especially useful in large organisations with complex service delivery channels, such as government, banks, or insurance companies, but any organisation can use the approach to see whether there are gaps that could be improved in their content or service delivery model.
A life events approach underpins good decision-making for content, solutions, and strategy because it groups and considers these things as they are truly experienced by the end user. This allows us to leverage research more effectively, use resources more efficiently, and ultimately create more seamless experiences for by being open and collaborative with our colleagues across all levels of government.
How can a life events approach be used for content?
There are two key ways a life events approach can be used for content:
- To organise content (such as in Information Architecture or navigation)
- To design content (such as on a webpage or web presence)
Organising content using a life events approach
Content for the general public on vic.gov.au is organised using a life events approach. The topics and sub-topics of our Information Architecture are informed by the way real people interact with and experience our information and services, rather than by department.
You can also organise content using a life events approach by mapping out the journeys your user takes through information and services and using these maps to create navigational pathways between content on your website. To guide users on these journeys, you should use components according to their correct use.
Designing content using a life events approach
Content can be designed using life journey maps to form the structure of the page. We call these pages life event guides.
For more information about how to use a life events approach for your digital content on Single Digital Presence, submit an online support request.
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