The Power of UX with Conference Speaker Rob Virkar-Yates
If you can believe it, the Publishing Business Conference & Expo is only two and half weeks away. Although we can't introduce you to the over 100 speakers sharing their expertise September 23rd-25th, we can give you small a taste of what is to come. Today, that taste is all about user experience.
We spoke with Rob Virkar-Yates, UX advocate and director of marketing & communications at Semantico. Mr. Virkar-Yates has nearly two decades of digital expertise and was one of the UK's first dedicated Information Architects. He will impart his UX knowledge on September 23rd at "Why Should We Care About UX," where he and fellow panelists will discuss how user experience affects design, content and product development overall.
We asked: As the industry shifts toward more digital, author-centric publishing, how should publishers reassess their brands' user experience?
He said: Scholarly publishers need to recognize that their authors should be their brand advocates. But often they don't. As such, a significant failure in user experience occurs at the level of article submission-as has been well pointed out on this recent post-the vast majority of article submission systems offer an exceptionally poor user experience. As this may be a potential authors' first experience with the publisher brand, it is very damaging. This would be a good place to start making changes.
- People:
- Ellen Harvey
- Rob Virkar-Yates
- Places:
- UK
Ellen Harvey is a freelance writer and editor who covers the latest technologies and strategies reshaping the publishing landscape. She previously served as the Senior Editor at Publishing Executive and Book Business.