Content Design
Deciding what content a user needs and in what order, which is a design activity rather than a writing one.
Definition
Content design starts from the user need and determines what information is required, how it is structured and what form it should take. The words are the last step, not the first.
Craft convention. True because the industry converged on it. Breaking it costs familiarity, not correctness.
On this plate
Reach for this when
- Explaining a complex process.
- Designing help, policy or onboarding content.
- Content is not being read or understood.
- The content is correct and readers still cannot find the answer in it.
Common mistakes
- Writing prose when a table would answer the question.
- Structuring by internal ownership rather than by user need.
- Publishing without testing comprehension.
The sequence
- 1
Identify the need
What is the user trying to find out or do, expressed in their terms.
- 2
Decide what they need to know
The minimum to act correctly, plus what they need to trust the answer.
- 3
Choose the structure
Prose, steps, a table, a diagram or a calculator. The best answer is frequently not prose.
- 4
Order it
Most important first. Users rarely read to the end.
- 5
Write it
Plain language, short sentences, active voice.
- 6
Test it
Can someone unfamiliar act correctly using only this content?
Structure choices that beat prose
- A table, when the user is comparing options.
- Numbered steps, when the order matters.
- A calculator or interactive tool, when the answer depends on the user's specifics.
- A decision tree, when eligibility rules are branching.
- A single sentence, when that is genuinely the answer.
Structure before sentences
Do
- Lead with what the reader needs, not with context they already have.
- Use a list where there is a list, and a table where there are two variables.
- Write the heading so the section can be skipped by someone it does not apply to.
- Front-load the sentence, so the first three words carry the meaning.
Do not
- Write a paragraph that is really a list of four conditions.
- Bury the action in the last line.
- Use the same heading pattern for different kinds of content.
- Confuse plain language with simplistic language. Precision is the point.
In practice
- i.
A paragraph that was a table
Shape follows contentThree eligibility conditions across two categories, written as prose, required the reader to hold six facts to answer one question. The same content as a small table answered it at a glance.
Local chart
WRT·004 · Region III · Grid F1
This entry and the entries it is stated to connect with. Each line is labelled with what the connection means.
Sources
Where a source establishes something narrower than the popular reading of it, the note says so.
- [1]
Content Design
S. Winters (Richards), Content Design London, 2017
Continue from here
Each link says what the connection is, so you can tell a principle from an alternative from a thing people mix this up with.
Applies when you are designing
Principles behind this
The reasoning this solution is an application of.
- Help and DocumentationHEUR·010 · Heuristic
- Match Between System and the Real WorldHEUR·002 · Heuristic
- Cognitive LoadPSY·001 · Psychology
Practical example
A worked decision where this was the deciding factor.
- Fixing a Search That Returned NothingCASE·006 · Case study
Short definition
The one-paragraph version, for when that is all you need.
- Plain LanguageTERM·134 · Term
Related concept
Connected closely enough to change how you apply this.
- Alt TextA11Y·007 · Accessibility
- Heading StructureA11Y·006 · Accessibility
- UI to UX WritingAI·006 · AI workflow
- Information ArchitectureRES·015 · Research method
- ReadabilityFND·036 · UI foundation
- Inclusive LanguageWRT·005 · UX writing
- InternationalizationWRT·006 · UX writing
- MicrocopyWRT·001 · UX writing
- SEO for Content ProductsWRT·007 · UX writing
- Voice and ToneWRT·003 · UX writing
- Prototyping FidelityFLOW·005 · Workflow