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UX writingCraft conventionIntermediate

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 page
  1. Definition
  2. The sequence
  3. Structure choices that beat prose
  4. Sources
  5. Continue from here

The sequence

  1. 1

    Identify the need

    What is the user trying to find out or do, expressed in their terms.

  2. 2

    Decide what they need to know

    The minimum to act correctly, plus what they need to trust the answer.

  3. 3

    Choose the structure

    Prose, steps, a table, a diagram or a calculator. The best answer is frequently not prose.

  4. 4

    Order it

    Most important first. Users rarely read to the end.

  5. 5

    Write it

    Plain language, short sentences, active voice.

  6. 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.

Sources

Where a source establishes something narrower than the popular reading of it, the note says so.

  • 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

A DashboardA Search ExperienceAn AI ProductAn Onboarding Flow

Principles behind this

The reasoning this solution is an application of.

Practical example

A worked decision where this was the deciding factor.

Short definition

The one-paragraph version, for when that is all you need.

Related concept

Connected closely enough to change how you apply this.