AB Design
AB Design
Content Strategy is an essential yet frequently-overlooked part of the web design process. At its simplest level, Content Strategy can be thought of as a plan that aims to create, deliver, and manage content as effectively as possible.
The plan is site wide. It pertains to the latest blog article as much as to fine tuning a bio in the about page or updating a product description. A good Content Strategy might also include content audits to determine if older blog articles need archiving, and gap analyses to detect opportunities for fresh content that could rank well on Google. Maintenance tasks might involve detecting and refreshing content that's gone stale.
Content Strategy impacts heavily on User Experience Design. Think of how a stylish-looking banking app will frustrate and fail if the content is insufficient, poorly structured, or unclear.
When planning a Content Strategy, many designers refer to the User Experience Honeycomb, shown here. Note that while my graphic is not a honeycomb, it captures the essence of the original model in that the concept of value is central and touched on by all other considerations.
Usable
Useful
Desirable
Valuable
Findable
Credible
Accessible
IMO the model makes a great deal of sense. In the context of a banking app, for example, content that serves no purpose – and is therefore not usable – deserves no place on the screen. Icons that trigger dropdowns or reveal hidden content must be intuitive and easy to find. Few things are more irritating than poorly-placed icons, or icons whose purpose is a total mystery.
And of course at all times the product or service must inspire trust, deliver value, and be presented in such a way as to evoke at least a tinge of desire. And as far as possible – as mandated by the Content Strategy – these considerations must apply not only to User Experience Design but to content site wide.
Content refers to text, video, images, and a slew of other media that's known to work well on websites. Examples include:
I avoid AI when writing content. It's not so much that AI-produced content is often inferior and easy to detect, it's more that it stifles creativity and in repeated tests has been shown to hasten the onset of early stage dementia.
Not necessarily, but in the initial stages of a design it often helps if wireframing can be done with real text rather than Lorem Ipsum. The main obstacle here is that many clients are unwilling to commit to actual, signed-off copy until they see something approaching a finished design
One problem I've often come across involves intricate designs set up with the expectation that two lines of content will be needed, only to find that the client has used three or four lines instead, and wonders why the design breaks. One solution is to be more flexible when designing "fussy" interfaces, another is to be frank with clients and ensure they're fully aware of the design's limitations.