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Content-first design: Why it's crucial for your design project

0 min read
18 Sep 2024
Embrace the power of content-first design to revolutionise your digital projects. By putting user needs and key messages at the forefront, we create experiences that truly resonate.

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A person planning website content with a marker on a whiteboard.

⁠Content-first design is about crafting digital experiences that speak directly to our users' needs, making every interaction count. It improves user experience, leads to better information hierarchy, and encourages earlier collaboration between team members.⁠
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The magic of content-first design

⁠When we lead with content, amazing things happen:⁠
  • Our designs naturally evolve around the message, enhancing the overall experience.
  • Information flows more naturally, making our designs responsive and user-friendly.
  • Teams collaborate more effectively, bringing diverse and inclusive perspectives to the table.
  • We spot potential hiccups early, saving time and headaches down the road.
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    White text on black background reading: Content is the design. Using placeholder text only creates design debt.
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⁠Making it happen

⁠Let's break down our content-first approach into high-level actionable steps that align with our infinity loop design process:
  1. Discover and understand: We kick things off by diving into user and business needs. Through design jams, journey mapping, and strategic planning, we work closely with the design and research team to lay a rock-solid content approach. This ensures our content can be localised for a diverse audience, taking into account cultural nuances and reading abilities.
  2. Define: We get crystal clear on our content strategy, which involves scope of work and content audits. We set success criteria based on pre-defined content and accessibility standards, aligning with stakeholders along the way. We also plan for the repurposing of content to maximise its value across different platforms and touchpoints.
  3. Formulate and ideate: We co-create solutions for user journeys and key messaging in alignment with our tone of voice. We leverage AI tools to form ideas, uncover trends, generate SEO keywords, and create initial drafts for content designers to refine. This significantly enhances efficiency and scalability.
  4. Design and prototype: We bring our ideas to life by creating content, building prototypes, and documenting our design decisions. Measures such as readability scores, engagement rates, and conversion metrics help us understand how well our content resonates and guides continuous improvement.
Throughout this process, we'll continuously test, analyse, and optimise based on data. Content metrics play a crucial role in assessing the effectiveness of our design. It's an ongoing process of learning, reiteration, and maintenance to keep our content fresh and effective.
Infinity-shaped workflow diagram showing the Discover, Define, Formulate & deliver, and Measure phases.
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⁠Why it's worth it

⁠By embracing content-first design, we're crafting meaningful experiences. We reduce revisions, increase efficiency, maintain consistency, and deliver products that truly speak to our users' needs.
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⁠In the digital world, content is king. It's why users come to our products in the first place. By prioritising content from day one, we're setting ourselves up for success and creating experiences that leave a lasting impression.
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