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New Simplifying Complexity article on shaping information into familiar schemas, especially story

by Tom Johnson on Apr 18, 2018
categories: simplifying-complexity

In case you haven't been following previous posts, I have a microsite called Simplifying Complexity where I'm exploring various approaches for making complex information more usable and consumable. This microsite contains longer, more in-depth articles following a specific theme. My latest addition to the site is a new article called 'Reducing complexity by shaping information into familiar schemas, especially story'.

Here’s a brief description:

In previous topics, I analyzed how integrating new information into the larger landscape and conversely distilling information from a larger landscape into smaller units both help to reduce the complexity of information. In this new article, I dive into another technique for simplifying complexity: making information fit a pattern or schema that is familiar to users, especially story schemas. Our mind constantly filters the events, objects, and information around us by ignoring irrelevant information and fitting the important details into mental schemas. These schemas allow us to operate efficiently in what would otherwise be a complex chaos of incoming sensory information. As such, using these schemas simplifies the user experience.

One approach for fitting information into the user’s mental schemas is to look at genre conventions and user expectations, and then follow these same conventions and expectations in the new information. However, this approach does little to exceed expectations in a genre of dissatisfied and frustrated users. A better approach is to fit information into a larger user journey that looks from beginning to end across topics, rather than focusing on one specific topic. This larger, more encompassing journey contains more of a story arc that resonates on a universal level with users.

You can read the article here: Reducing complexity by shaping information into familiar schemas, especially story.

About Tom Johnson

Tom Johnson

I'm an API technical writer based in the Seattle area. On this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, AI, information architecture, content strategy, writing processes, plain language, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my API documentation course if you're looking for more info about documenting APIs. Or see my posts on AI and AI course section for more on the latest in AI and tech comm.

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