What Is Content Design and Why Does it Matter?
I’ll just say the quiet part out loud first: Content design is the missing link in many digital experience projects.
But what, you might ask is this content design thing even? Is it content strategy? UX writing? Copywriting? Brand storytelling? The answer is “yes.” But before we go there, there’s a truth about writing for websites, apps, and other screen-based applications that bears repeating:
Every digital experience project is a content project…full stop.
Why? Because useful websites and apps aren’t just shelves. They’re structure and imagery, language, and interactions – and all of those things involve content. Without content, a site is an empty shell, and an empty shell doesn’t help anyone do much of anything.
So, in case you may have been convinced otherwise in your career, hear this: Content is important. Just as important as design, UX, and development. It deserves time, process, and an appropriate budget. It deserves strategic thought and research. And it deserves a place at the table from the beginning of the project to the end. Because:
Content is design on the web.
And that is where the idea of content design as a discipline comes from.
What is content design?
Content design is the work of meeting a human’s need for information in the best way for that person to consume it. Whether that’s a fact, a location, a nugget of truth, or a message that might make them cry, laugh, or add something to the cart and buy it.
Said another way, content designers are audience advocates who use research, the strategic and narrative work of brand definition, and a keen ability to step into another person’s shoes to help craft the right story in the right way for a company’s target group of humans to solve a problem or get something they need.
The goal of the work is pretty clear. Unfortunately, the job title of content designer is a little squishy.
You might encounter pieces of content design in UX writing, content strategy, and copywriting. I, however, like to think of the role of content designer as a little broader than writing button text and telling designers to remove that second-layer eyebrow headline because what else could we possibly need to say there?
Content design can be the glue that holds a digital experience (or any) project together.
My world is websites, so let’s use that as an example. Most digital experiences are built in silos. A brand is defined. (Or not. Clients continue to keep things spicy.) A UX person builds some structure. A designer adds color and imagery. And then, before the developer gets ahold of the comps…a writer fills in the Lorem Ipsum.
I probably don’t have to tell you that that’s not a great way to create a seamless, brand-aligned experience in which all the parts sing the same song.
But bring in a content designer at kickoff, avail them of the brand strategy and story, give them a little time to conduct audience research, and then have them collaborate with UX, design, and development as a consistent audience advocate and storyteller-in-chief, and you get magic. Ok, maybe not magic; but at least websites dripping with brand mojo and strategic insight that appeal to the right audiences in the right ways.
And I don’t know about you, but that’s what I want every time I can get it.
Having a content design mindset is a great way to make sure that the work that brand strategy does in exploring audience needs and emotional triggers is conveyed all the way through to the execution of the website. It also puts someone in charge of the story, voice, and tone of the site in a position to advocate for the audience from start to finish. Content designers are there to ask the uncomfortable questions: Would our audience know to look here for this piece of information? Are they more of a “map” or a “list of addresses” type of person? None of these questions have a chance of even being asked if the writer (now content designer) is left filling in character counts. And bonus, with this kind of cross-discipline collaboration, no one person is left holding the bag at launch either.
Where Does Content Design Fit Into a Project’s Process?
Content design starts in one timeframe: At the very beginning of a project.
On the digital side of things, you’ll hear a lot about “content first” thinking. But I like the idea of “content always” a lot better.
So, TLDR, now is a good time to bring the content designer on board. Wherever you are in the process, today is the day.
Should I become a content designer?
Heck yeah. In fact, if you’re a writer who has worked on digital experiences in the past ten years you’re probably already doing a bunch of the things a person posting that title on their LinkedIn profile is, day-to-day. If you haven’t been, you’ve likely been frustrated by the lack of integration that writing typically has into the web design process. Regardless, chances are once you learn more, you’re going to find this is a really refreshing point of view.
Whether you’re thinking about changing careers or just up-skilling, here are some places to start:
- Read Sara Winters’ book, Content Design.
- Cruise around in A Book Apart’s library for lots of titles on writing, coding, and designing for digital mediums.
- Sign up for Content Design London’s newsletter.
- Take a look at the articles on the UX Collective’s Medium sub-directory. Lots of stuff to learn. (Learning’s my favorite.)
Follow Kendra Rainey on LinkedIn, Twitter/X. Read more about content design, brand journalism, and other content-related topics from her at Edgar Allan.
What Is Content Design and Why Does it Matter?
I’ll just say the quiet part out loud first: Content design is the missing link in many digital experience projects.
But what, you might ask is this content design thing even? Is it content strategy? UX writing? Copywriting? Brand storytelling? The answer is “yes.” But before we go there, there’s a truth about writing for websites, apps, and other screen-based applications that bears repeating:
Every digital experience project is a content project…full stop.
Why? Because useful websites and apps aren’t just shelves. They’re structure and imagery, language, and interactions – and all of those things involve content. Without content, a site is an empty shell, and an empty shell doesn’t help anyone do much of anything.
So, in case you may have been convinced otherwise in your career, hear this: Content is important. Just as important as design, UX, and development. It deserves time, process, and an appropriate budget. It deserves strategic thought and research. And it deserves a place at the table from the beginning of the project to the end. Because:
Content is design on the web.
And that is where the idea of content design as a discipline comes from.
What is content design?
Content design is the work of meeting a human’s need for information in the best way for that person to consume it. Whether that’s a fact, a location, a nugget of truth, or a message that might make them cry, laugh, or add something to the cart and buy it.
Said another way, content designers are audience advocates who use research, the strategic and narrative work of brand definition, and a keen ability to step into another person’s shoes to help craft the right story in the right way for a company’s target group of humans to solve a problem or get something they need.
The goal of the work is pretty clear. Unfortunately, the job title of content designer is a little squishy.
You might encounter pieces of content design in UX writing, content strategy, and copywriting. I, however, like to think of the role of content designer as a little broader than writing button text and telling designers to remove that second-layer eyebrow headline because what else could we possibly need to say there?
Content design can be the glue that holds a digital experience (or any) project together.
My world is websites, so let’s use that as an example. Most digital experiences are built in silos. A brand is defined. (Or not. Clients continue to keep things spicy.) A UX person builds some structure. A designer adds color and imagery. And then, before the developer gets ahold of the comps…a writer fills in the Lorem Ipsum.
I probably don’t have to tell you that that’s not a great way to create a seamless, brand-aligned experience in which all the parts sing the same song.
But bring in a content designer at kickoff, avail them of the brand strategy and story, give them a little time to conduct audience research, and then have them collaborate with UX, design, and development as a consistent audience advocate and storyteller-in-chief, and you get magic. Ok, maybe not magic; but at least websites dripping with brand mojo and strategic insight that appeal to the right audiences in the right ways.
And I don’t know about you, but that’s what I want every time I can get it.
Having a content design mindset is a great way to make sure that the work that brand strategy does in exploring audience needs and emotional triggers is conveyed all the way through to the execution of the website. It also puts someone in charge of the story, voice, and tone of the site in a position to advocate for the audience from start to finish. Content designers are there to ask the uncomfortable questions: Would our audience know to look here for this piece of information? Are they more of a “map” or a “list of addresses” type of person? None of these questions have a chance of even being asked if the writer (now content designer) is left filling in character counts. And bonus, with this kind of cross-discipline collaboration, no one person is left holding the bag at launch either.
Where Does Content Design Fit Into a Project’s Process?
Content design starts in one timeframe: At the very beginning of a project.
On the digital side of things, you’ll hear a lot about “content first” thinking. But I like the idea of “content always” a lot better.
So, TLDR, now is a good time to bring the content designer on board. Wherever you are in the process, today is the day.
Should I become a content designer?
Heck yeah. In fact, if you’re a writer who has worked on digital experiences in the past ten years you’re probably already doing a bunch of the things a person posting that title on their LinkedIn profile is, day-to-day. If you haven’t been, you’ve likely been frustrated by the lack of integration that writing typically has into the web design process. Regardless, chances are once you learn more, you’re going to find this is a really refreshing point of view.
Whether you’re thinking about changing careers or just up-skilling, here are some places to start:
- Read Sara Winters’ book, Content Design.
- Cruise around in A Book Apart’s library for lots of titles on writing, coding, and designing for digital mediums.
- Sign up for Content Design London’s newsletter.
- Take a look at the articles on the UX Collective’s Medium sub-directory. Lots of stuff to learn. (Learning’s my favorite.)
Follow Kendra Rainey on LinkedIn, Twitter/X. Read more about content design, brand journalism, and other content-related topics from her at Edgar Allan.