Content and Design: Working Together
Content and design are two of the most important things to consider when developing websites for clients. Ensuring that they both work together is key.
Often many designers will find it challenging to start without content. Copywriters and strategists on the contrary find it difficult to write without a design concept. What’s the best way to move past this sticking point?
As a digital agency, we’ve come across this issue in the past so we’ve put together a few simple tips to help get the ball rolling.
What is content?
To those that are not so familiar, let’s quickly explain.
Content goes much further beyond written words. Think about images, videos, audio, podcasts and much more. Content is all about conveying information whether that entertains a user, makes them laugh or even cry.
2014 will see content be incredibly vital to the success of a brand’s digital marketing campaign. Both on-site and off-site content need to be thoroughly planned, whether this is simply website copy, advertising, YouTube videos or social media.
Why does a content strategy matter?
A content strategy can hold the whole project together and when successfully managed, it can provide some fantastic results. A consumer’s experience with a brand starts the instant that they see content whatever type it may be. It even comes down to if they can visibly notice the features or the words that have been written.
Without great content, a product or service can fail very quickly. Whilst good design takes a long time, so does effectively planning content so it’s important to coordinate the two at the very beginning.
Getting started
When content and design are working together it’s often far easier to break it down. Smashing Mag recently recommended the following steps –
Who – is it important to convey this message? This speaks to purpose.
What – are we trying to say? This speaks to clarity.
Why – do we convey and sequence the information for maximum impact? This speaks to persuasiveness.
Where – on the website should the message appear? This speaks to context.
How – do we convey and sequence the information for maximum impact? This speaks to persuasiveness.
Thinking about the client and their objectives, there are several other options to consider.
Target Audience – Think about who the product is being aimed at and their personas. For example, are they students? Professionals? Male? Female? Personas are a major factor in digital marketing so ensuring that you’re aiming your design and content to the correct audience is key.
Overall Message – This will relate to the overall objectives. This needs to be considered from the outset. Is there a particular strapline that needs be shown? What needs to be said to lead into the particular call to action?
Amount of Content – Depending on the objectives and target audience, this is a key consideration. Some websites will require a vast amount of written content whereas for others, it’s essential to keep it short and snappy.
Clear Call to Action – The wording needs to be clear, concise and help the user get to where they need to go. The design also needs to represent this.
Top Tips
Check out a few of Parallax’s top tips to ensuring that content and design work together.
- Ensure that somebody has the responsibility of managing the content strategy. If this is managed effectively, it’ll lead to a well polished final product and happy client.
- Plan all of the content as early as possible. Leaving the content strategy until the last minute will cause a lot of issues. Make sure that clients explain what they want to achieve and what they need to include as soon as you can.
- Designers and content writers need to work together. Don’t let either tread on each other’s toes and both should feel free to make recommendations. Communication is vital and key to the process.
- For larger website development projects, make sure that there is a project manager responsible for ensuring it all goes to plan. Here at Parallax, our digital agency has several project managers that oversee each and every website design and build process.
What are your thoughts on how content and design can work together as part of a digital marketing campaign? Get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.