Jonathon Colman

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland Contact Info
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    Public Speaking, User Experience Design (UED), Writing, and User Experience Writing

About

I lead the global content design practice at HubSpot. I'm a Webby Award-winning designer…

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Experience & Education

  • HubSpot

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Volunteer Experience

  • adplist.org Graphic

    Design Mentor

    adplist.org

    - Present 1 year 10 months

    Education

    I mentor product and content designers on how to advance in their careers, offer resume/CV and portfolio reviews, and help new folks break into the design and UX industry.

    Sign up for time with me at https://adplist.org/mentors/jonathon-colman — it's free, fast, and easy!

  • DesignOps Assembly Graphic

    Content Strategist, State of DesignOps Report

    DesignOps Assembly

    - Present 1 year 1 month

    Education

    I work with the DesignOps Assembly as a volunteer to content design their annual survey and "State of DesignOps" report. You can see the latest survey at https://designops.report/

  • 81cents Graphic

    Pay equity advisor

    81cents

    - 3 years 6 months

    Economic Empowerment

    Pay equity advisors for 81cents support women, BIPOC, and other marginalized people through tough negotiations and career conversations by providing data, validation, and confidence. In this role, I provide relevant data points and personalized negotiation advice to candidates as they navigate new offers and performance or compensation reviews.

    81cents pay equity advisors have helped people from marginalized and excluded communities earn over $3.5M in additional pay—an average of +17%…

    Pay equity advisors for 81cents support women, BIPOC, and other marginalized people through tough negotiations and career conversations by providing data, validation, and confidence. In this role, I provide relevant data points and personalized negotiation advice to candidates as they navigate new offers and performance or compensation reviews.

    81cents pay equity advisors have helped people from marginalized and excluded communities earn over $3.5M in additional pay—an average of +17% per person.

  • UX Design Institute Graphic

    Advisory Council Member

    UX Design Institute

    - Present 2 years 10 months

    Education

    The UX Design Institute's advisory council consists of technology industry employers, design leaders, and recruiters who oversee course development, making sure they’re current and focused on the UX skills employers need most. Learn more at https://www.uxdesigninstitute.com/about-us/advisory-council

    As aprt of the advisory council, I contributed to and reviewed the curriculum for UXDI's Professional Certificate in Content Design, which launched in 2023:…

    The UX Design Institute's advisory council consists of technology industry employers, design leaders, and recruiters who oversee course development, making sure they’re current and focused on the UX skills employers need most. Learn more at https://www.uxdesigninstitute.com/about-us/advisory-council

    As aprt of the advisory council, I contributed to and reviewed the curriculum for UXDI's Professional Certificate in Content Design, which launched in 2023: https://www.uxdesigninstitute.com/courses/content-design

  • Peace Corps Graphic

    Peace Corps Volunteer

    Peace Corps

    - 1 year 6 months

    Health

    • Lived as an active member of a remote village community in Burkina Faso, West Africa
    • Spoke French and two local languages while conducting public health work
    • Helped diverse village communities assess health needs, learn how to avoid endemic disease
    • Brought external resources from NGOs and government into local village areas lacking infrastructure
    • Trained new Peace Corps volunteers in French, cross-cultural adaptation, bicycle maintenance

  • Organizer

    Content Meetup Ireland

    - 1 year 3 months

    Education

    • Help our members grow their careers through a strong education program
    • Help practitioners meet each other and build their community of practice
    • Grow and promote the content design/strategy/UX writing community in Dublin

  • Michigan Technological University Graphic

    Advisor, Scientific and Technical Communication (STC) program

    Michigan Technological University

    - 1 year 10 months

    Education

    • Researched STC program challenges
    • Reviewed program performance and offered industry perspective
    • Presented workshops for students & faculty
    • Evolved program for the future needs of students and industry

  • The Nature Conservancy Graphic

    Advisory Board Member, Digital Marketing

    The Nature Conservancy

    - 2 years 3 months

    Environment

  • General Assembly Graphic

    Guest Lecturer

    General Assembly

    - 1 year 5 months

    Education

    • Prepared guest lectures on content strategy for students learning about UX
    • Reviewed student work, advise on portfolio development and marketing

  • Advisory Board Member - Informatics Program

    Jönköping International Business School

    - 1 year 1 month

    Education

  • Oregon State University Graphic

    Advisory Board Member - Digital Communication & Brand Management Program

    Oregon State University

    - 7 months

    Education

    • Reviewed curriculum, providing industry perspective and resources
    • Guest lectured and facilitated student discussion on content strategy, inbound marketing
    • Promoted program's existence to build awareness and attract enrollment

  • SEOmoz Graphic

    SEOmoz Customer Advisory Board member

    SEOmoz

    - 1 year 7 months

    Science and Technology

    • Participated in user testing exercises, validating product decisions
    • Provided feedback during early stages of product planning and design
    • Shared insights from experience as an SEO/Inbound marketer

Publications

  • The Content Design Manifesto

    The Content Design Manifesto states who we are, what we do, what we believe, and where we’re headed. It's a declaration that outlines our community's beliefs, values, and intentions and expresses our vision for the future. The manifesto was facilitated by Torrey Podmajersky and written by a group of 14 content design leaders from different countries and industries.

    See publication

  • Book: Intercom on Onboarding, v2

    Intercom

    Onboarding isn’t a metric, it’s an outcome! Now updated and expanded with seven brand new chapters, Intercom on Onboarding shares the most valuable lessons we’ve learned from onboarding tens of thousands of customers.

    I wrote Chapter 4: "A content-first approach to product onboarding"

    See publication

  • Technical Reviewer, Designing with Words: How to Write for Interfaces

    Rosenfeld Media

    Without words, apps would be an unusable jumble of shapes and icons, while voice interfaces and chatbots wouldn’t even exist. Words make software human-centered, and require just as much thought as the branding and code.

    Learn how to use language as a design tool—from high-level messaging frameworks to tactical guidance for error states and accessibility, Designing with Words will help you think about writing for interfaces strategically, iteratively, and with the user in mind.

    Go…

    Without words, apps would be an unusable jumble of shapes and icons, while voice interfaces and chatbots wouldn’t even exist. Words make software human-centered, and require just as much thought as the branding and code.

    Learn how to use language as a design tool—from high-level messaging frameworks to tactical guidance for error states and accessibility, Designing with Words will help you think about writing for interfaces strategically, iteratively, and with the user in mind.

    Go beyond writing clever copy. Start designing with words.

    See publication

  • Foreword to "The User's Journey: Storymapping Products That People Love" by Donna Lichaw

    Rosenfeld Media

    Like a good story, successful design is a series of engaging moments structured over time. The User’s Journey will show you how, when, and why to use narrative structure, technique, and principles to ideate, craft, and test a cohesive vision for an engaging outcome. See how a “story first” approach can transform your product, feature, landing page, flow, campaign, content, or product strategy.

    Read the foreword and order the book at…

    Like a good story, successful design is a series of engaging moments structured over time. The User’s Journey will show you how, when, and why to use narrative structure, technique, and principles to ideate, craft, and test a cohesive vision for an engaging outcome. See how a “story first” approach can transform your product, feature, landing page, flow, campaign, content, or product strategy.

    Read the foreword and order the book at https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/storymapping/details/foreword/

    Other authors
    See publication

  • Technical Reviewer, Information Architecture: For the Web and Beyond (4th ed.)

    O'Reilly Media

    Information architecture (IA) is far more challenging—and necessary—than ever. With the glut of information available today, anything your organization wants to share should be easy to find, navigate, and understand. But the experience you provide has to be familiar and coherent across multiple interaction channels, from the Web to smartphones, smartwatches, and beyond.

    To guide you through this broad ecosystem, this popular guide—now in its fourth edition—provides essential concepts…

    Information architecture (IA) is far more challenging—and necessary—than ever. With the glut of information available today, anything your organization wants to share should be easy to find, navigate, and understand. But the experience you provide has to be familiar and coherent across multiple interaction channels, from the Web to smartphones, smartwatches, and beyond.

    To guide you through this broad ecosystem, this popular guide—now in its fourth edition—provides essential concepts, methods, and techniques for digital design that have withstood the test of time. UX designers, product managers, developers, and anyone involved in digital design will learn how to create semantic structures that will help people engage with your message.

    See publication

  • Editor, Facebook Design collection on Medium

    Facebook

    Experiences from the people designing products billions of people use every day.

    See publication

  • Chapter 9: "How Successful Are Your Social Media Efforts?" from the book "Internet Management for Nonprofits"

    Wiley

    The rapid onset of increasingly advanced and complex technologies has challenged nonprofits to invest with their sparse resources in attempting, and failing, to keep pace with for-profit companies, with the result that most now cannot compete with new commercial products and commercial applications. Nonprofit Internet Management reveals how current technologies can be utilized in full measure most effectively by nonprofits and addresses how to manage various applications for maximum benefit to…

    The rapid onset of increasingly advanced and complex technologies has challenged nonprofits to invest with their sparse resources in attempting, and failing, to keep pace with for-profit companies, with the result that most now cannot compete with new commercial products and commercial applications. Nonprofit Internet Management reveals how current technologies can be utilized in full measure most effectively by nonprofits and addresses how to manage various applications for maximum benefit to internal operations and community service.

    Other authors
    • Danielle Brigida
    See publication

Patents

  • Methods and Systems for Verifying a User Login Using Contact Information of the User

    Filed US 20180176221A1

    A server system receives, from a first device, a request to authenticate a user with a third-party application using a social networking system and contact information of the user. The server system requests the social networking system to authenticate the user based on the contact information. The social networking system is different from the third-party application.

    See patent

Courses

  • Advanced Composition

    HU 327

  • Advanced Oral Communication

    HU 409

  • Advanced Scientific and Technical Writing

    HU 433

  • Analytic Methods for Information Professionals

    IMT 570

  • Business Data Processing

    BA 111

  • Capstone I - Project Planning

    INFX 595

  • Capstone II - Project Implementation

    INFX 596

  • Computer Applications in Communication

    HU 244

  • Controlling Technology

    SS 366

  • Design Methods for Interaction and Systems

    IMT540

  • Digital Photography

    HU 331

  • Electronic Coaching Systems - Software Wizards

    COMM6964

  • Enterprise Information Systems Analysis and Design

    IMT541

  • Ethics

    HU 329

  • Grammer, Editing and Proofreading

    HU 305

  • Graphic and Information Design

    HU 245

  • Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Usability

    COMM6962

  • Information Architecture

    INFX 598

  • Information Economics

    IMT 554

  • Information Retrieval Systems

    INFX 544

  • Information Structures Using XML

    INFX 542

  • Literacy Theory/Professional Practicum

    HU 460

  • Logic

    HU 250

  • Management of Information Organizations

    IMT580

  • Metadata Design

    INFX 531

  • Organization of Information Resources - Enterprise Taxonomy

    IMT530

  • Philosophy

    HU 253

  • Philosophy of Technology

    HU 359

  • Policy, Law, and Ethics in Information Management

    IMT 550

  • Project Management - Technical Communication

    HU 470

  • Rhetoric and Composition

    HU 307

  • Risk Communication

    HU 425

  • Science, Society, and Technology

    SS 161

  • Social Psychology

    SS 382

  • Social Toxicology

    SS 450

  • Technical & Scientific Writing

    HU 333

  • Technological Change in Developing Societies

    SS 371

  • Theory & Practice of Tutoring

    HU 460

  • World Cultural Diversity

    SS 151

Projects

  • 2023 State of DesignOps Survey & Report

    -

    The annual State of DesignOps Report is the de facto industry benchmarking report of the DesignOps industry. The report delivers insights into the state of the practice, people, and tools of design operations teams everywhere in the world. https://www.designopsassembly.com/2023report

  • Intercom.design website

    -

    See project

  • Product Tours

    -

    Announcing Product Tours: A new way to create powerful, personalized user onboarding. Intercom has long been a leader in the onboarding space, with best-in-class in-app messaging to engage your customers from sign-up to success. We've now launching Product Tours to help you take your onboarding and retention to the next level.

    See project

  • Facebook Analytics

    -

    Facebook Analytics offers people-first analytics for an omni-channel world. Get a deeper understanding of where and how people interact with your business across your website, app, Facebook Page, and more to optimize and grow your business.

    See project

  • Facebook Design Resources

    -

    Many of the designers at Facebook arrived here thanks in part to the resources and tools others created. Those tools enabled us to learn, move fast, and jump on opportunities. As a result we feel naturally inclined to give back to the design community by building resources and tools ourselves.

    See project

  • Oculus Rift onboarding and setup — consumer version

    -

    I wrote and co-designed the onboarding and hardware setup for the initial release of the consumer edition of the Oculus Rift. My chief accomplishment was to take 130+ step process and bring it down to around 80-ish steps.

    Time magazine said "Setup is simple thanks to a well-made tutorial that takes you through plugging every thing in and making sure the hardware is correctly configured." https://time.com/4272506/oculus-rift-review/

    Gizmodo said "...the step-by-step installation is…

    I wrote and co-designed the onboarding and hardware setup for the initial release of the consumer edition of the Oculus Rift. My chief accomplishment was to take 130+ step process and bring it down to around 80-ish steps.

    Time magazine said "Setup is simple thanks to a well-made tutorial that takes you through plugging every thing in and making sure the hardware is correctly configured." https://time.com/4272506/oculus-rift-review/

    Gizmodo said "...the step-by-step installation is a breeze, and requires zero technical know-how. It’s hardly as easy as plugging in a new MacBook, but having had the displeasure of assembling and installing Oculus development kits, I can tell you that this new process is nothing short of revelatory." https://gizmodo.com/oculus-rift-review-this-shit-is-legit-1767483554

  • Content Strategy Audit for REI Adventures

    -

    A content strategy audit helps businesses create a data-driven business case for future investment. I took a multi-dimensional approach to auditing REI's content, ultimately examining 76 heuristics involving findability, engagement, usability, and quality for over 2,100 web pages.

    See project

Honors & Awards

  • ADPList Super Mentor: Top 1% of Mentors

    ADPList

    ADPList recognized me as being in the top 1% of all mentors for content design in February 2024 based on feedback from mentees. You can set up time with me (it's free!) and see all feedback and reviews from the people I've mentored at https://adplist.org/mentors/jonathon-colman

  • ADPList Super Mentor: Top 1% of Mentors

    ADPList

    ADPList recognized me as being in the top 1% of all mentors for content design in May, 2023 based on feedback from mentees. You can set up time with me (it's free!) and see all feedback and reviews from the people I've mentored at https://adplist.org/mentors/jonathon-colman

  • Keynote speaker

    Webstock

    I was the opening keynote speaker on the final day of Webstock 2017 in Wellington, New Zealand. I presented "Wicked Ambiguity and User Experience"—see a video, slides, and transcript at http://www.jonathoncolman.org/2015/05/21/wicked-ambiguity/

  • Keynote speaker

    UX London

    I was the closing keynote speaker for UX London 2016. I presented "Wicked Ambiguity and User Experience"—see a video, slides, and transcript at http://www.jonathoncolman.org/2015/05/21/wicked-ambiguity/

  • Keynote speaker

    Confab Events

    I was the opening keynote speaker for Confab Central. I presented "Wicked Ambiguity and User Experience"—see a video, slides, and transcript at http://www.jonathoncolman.org/2015/05/21/wicked-ambiguity/

  • 2015 Facebook Privé award

    Facebook, Inc.

    The Privé award is given by Facebook's Privacy team to recognize colleagues who build product experiences following Facebook's "Privacy by Design" principles.

  • Keynote speaker

    Society for Technical Communication

    I was the opening keynote speaker for the Society of Technical Communication's 2014 annual summit. I presented "Wicked Ambiguity"—see a video, slides, and transcript at http://www.jonathoncolman.org/2015/05/21/wicked-ambiguity/

  • 2012 ASIS&T New Leaders Award

    Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T)

    ASIS&T established the New Leaders Award to recognize outstanding up-and-coming information scientists.

  • University of Washington Benjamin F. Page Fellowship Award

    University of Washington

    The Benjamin F. Page Endowed Fellowship provides fellowships for deserving students in the Information School based on financial need and academic achievement. This endowed fund was established in 1982 by a bequest from Professor Benjamin F. Page, who taught in the School for 15 years.

  • REI Anderson Award

    REI

    The Anderson Award is REI’s highest honor. It’s awarded to the top 2% of non-management employees who, in the eyes of their fellow employees, live REI’s core values and embody the co-op spirit.

  • 13th Annual Webby Awards for Best Charitable Organizations/Nonprofit Web Site

    The Webby Awards

    The Webby Awards are the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet including Websites, interactive advertising, and online film and video.

  • IBM Client/Server Divisional Award

    IBM

    Awarded for excellence in technical documentation.

Languages

  • English

    Native or bilingual proficiency

  • French

    Elementary proficiency

Organizations

  • ADPlist

    Mentor

    - Present

  • 81cents

    Equal pay advisor

    - Present

  • Information Architecture Institute

    Member, Volunteer

    - Present

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