by Jeff Whitfield

The User Experience of Comic Books

I LOVE COMIC BOOKS!

My Collection80+ small comic boxes

5 shelf units Over 8900 comics and

trades $42,000 est. value

Alexander Whitfield

Inheritor of the Whitfield comic book collection

The User Experience of Comic Books

Everything I Learned About UX I Learned

From Comics

See What I Mean

How To Use Comics to Communicate Ideas

!by Kevin Cheng

Have you ever read a comic book and thought, “Wow! What

a great user experience!”?

What We’ll Talk About

What is a comic book?

Some UX lessons

Insight on my design philosophy

Learn more about the comic medium

What is a Comic Book?

Terry MooreWhen you put words and pictures together and allow them each to do what they do best, you get something that is more powerful than just words and pictures alone.* *paraphrased

Understanding Comics

by Scott McCloud

LESSON: !

Avoid Unnecessary Jargon

Comic Book

AJAX

Web 2.0

HTML5

Graceful Degradation

Progressive Enhancement

SaaS

Graphic NovelReal language terminology means better

communication as to what it is

A Contract with God

by Will Eisner 1978

!First use of the term

“graphic novel”

Marvel Graphic Novel

by Jim Starlin 1982

!Widespread use of the term “graphic novel”

How do you explain the longevity of the

comic book?

The Birth of the Superhero

The Golden Age

Early Comics1930’s

!Reprints of comic strips

SupermanBy Jerry Siegal and Joe

Shuster !

June 1938

BatmanBy Bob Kane

!May 1939

World War IIBoost in comic book sales

Captain America

By Joe Simon and Jack “the King” Kirby

!March 1941

Ingrained in Pop Culture

Stan “The Man” Lee and

Jack “The King” Kirby

The Marvel Age of Comics

The Silver Age

Fantastic Fourby Stan “The Man” Lee and

Jack “The King” Kirby !

November 1961

The Incredible Hulk

by Stan “The Man” Lee and Jack “The King” Kirby

!May 1962

Thorby Stan “The Man” Lee and

Jack “The King” Kirby !

August 1962

Spider-Manby Stan “The Man” Lee and

Steve Ditko !

August/September 1962

Iron Manby Stan “The Man” Lee and

Jack “The King” Kirby !

March 1963

The X-Menby Stan “The Man” Lee and

Jack “The King” Kirby !

September 1963

LESSON: !

Understand the Medium

Evolution of the Comic Book Cover

Overcrowded Newsstands

Amazing Spider-Man #1

By Stan “The Man” Lee and Steve Ditko

!March 1963

Added character avatar to corner!

Nearly 30 years later, they finally get it right!

LESSON: !

Adapt To Change

Evolution of Storytelling

Psychedelic 60’s Pop Art

Roy Lichtenstein Andy Warhol

More sophisticated audience

Old-School Rules

Creators limited to 30 years of drawing within simple

boxes !

* Ex. Amazing Spider-man #60

Jim SterankoComic Book Writer/Artist

!Famous for his work on

“Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.” in the 1960’s

!The “Jimi Hendrix

of Comics”

Strange Tales #166

March 1968 !

The “Maze” page

Nick Fury, Agent of

S.H.I.E.L.D #1June 1968

“Who is Scorpio?” !

Opening sequence with 3 silent pages

G.I. Joe #21March 1984

“Silent Interlude”

LESSON: !

Challenge Perceptions

Batman: The Dark Knight

Returnsby Frank Miller

with Klaus Janson and Lynn Varley

!March 1986

WHICH ONE WOULD YOU BUY?

Other Booksthat challenged people’s perceptions

on what the comic book medium can do.

Watchmenby Alan Moore and Dave

Gibbons !

1986—1987

The Sandmanby Neil Gaiman

!1989—1996

LESSON: !

Keep It Simple

Sin Cityby Frank Miller

!1991—1999

LESSON:

Content Strategy

The Comic Book Crossover Event

Crisis on Infinite Earths

by Marv Wolfman and George Perez 1985—1986

!Effort to fix

continuity issues

Secret Warsby Jim Shooter, Mike Zeck,

and Bob Layton 1984—1985

!Effected nearly every

Marvel character

52DC Comics

2006—2007 !

52 issues, published weekly for one year

!Aftermath of Infinite Crisis

Marvel has movies planned through 2028

LESSON:

Avoid Eye Candy

Failures of the Industry: The 1990’s

X-Men #1by Chris Claremont

and Jim Lee October 1991

!Best-selling comic book of all time!

!Sold over 8 million

copies

WAS IT THAT GOOD OF A COMIC?

OR….WAS IT JUST GOOD MARKETING?

OR….WAS IT JUST GOOD MARKETING?

Birth of the Speculator Market

Superman #75January 1993

!The Death of Superman

Superman #75Collector’s Edition

!Caused marketing frenzy

Over-saturated MarketEmphasis on the “next big thing”

!Too many special covers

!Too many issue #1’s

None of this focuses on what’s the most

important part of the comic book user

experience…

TELLING THE FRICKIN’ STORY!!

BIGGEST LESSON: !

Know Your Audience

Eric Stephenson Publisher, Image Comics

“The biggest problem with comic books is that even now, even after all the amazing progress we’ve made as an industry over the last 20 years, the vast majority of people have no idea whatsoever about how much the comics medium has to offer.”

- Eric Stephenson 2014 ComicsPRO Annual Membership Meeting

Question: !

How do you get people to buy comic books?

Answer: !

By introducing potential new readers to the world

of comic books.

FINAL LESSON: !

Expand Your Horizons

History !

Mausby Art Spiegelman

Humor !

Axe Copby Malachai Nicolle and

Ethan Nicolle

Fantasy !

Boneby Jeff Smith

Fantasy !

The Unwrittenby Mike Carey and Peter

Gross

Drama !

Strangers in Paradiseby Terry Moore

Crime !

Thief of Thievesby Robert Kirkman and Nick Spencer

Horror !

The Walking Dead

by Robert Kirkman

Science Fiction !

Alex + Adaby Jonathan Luna and

Sarah Vaughn

Summary

Avoid Unnecessary Jargon

Understand the Medium

Adapt To Change

Challenge Perceptions

Keep It Simple

Content Strategy

Avoid Eye Candy

Know Your Audience

Expand Your Horizons

Go read some comics! !

Share your experience with others!

http://thejeffwhitfield.com

@jeffwhitfieldjeff@soulcraftgroup.com