What is content?

• Pictures, videos, audio, text, any form of media that communicates to users.
• “Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration.” — Jeffrey Zeldman
  • Old web designer — Created the first “web standards” book that acts as the guideline for web design. He believes that the structure should be standardised, making it easy to access for any users on the web.

Content Pyramid Strategy

• Scope → Structure → Surface
  • Research, problem definition, strategy & scope — The very foundation of content. Learn the context behind the website or app, defining the problem it aims to solve, and the purpose of the content.
  • Usability, learnability, accessibility — The main characteristics for the structure of content. Make it easy for users to use, easy to learn & digest, and easy to access.
  • Proofread & polish, voice & tone — Finally, making the content align with the purpose of your website or app. Give it a tone of voice that speaks to the target audience appropriately.
• Essentially, don’t make your content aimless. Give it purpose.
• Examples:
  • Alot of websites design content with intention. Some content like images may appear bigger than others to grab users’ attention immediately if that particular content is more important. (BBC website)
  • Content may appear on the top of the page, making it the first piece of content users interact with — Implies that content is more important or shows data that is unique to the user. (LinkedIn profile)
  • Text could appear in contrasting colours to the rest of the page — Visual cue that would grab readers’ attention immediately because it is important. (Credit card apps)
• Most important thing is that good content design isn’t overly designed — it is designed enough to perform a particular function really well, whether it is to grab attention or highlight importance. It helps users do what they need to do as efficiently as possible.

Content isn’t only digital

• Can appear on physical objects too that lets users interact with it.
  • Content in cars that convey important information to the driver (like car speed, fuel, music playing, etc.).
  • Content in smartwatches are minimal but still convey just enough important data to the user.
  • Post stamps showing what country the letter is from or where it’s going, plane boarding passes showing the passenger’s seat number.
  • ATMs showing user’s balance.
• Whether it’s digital or physical, content is designed to guide user flow.

Content design isn’t limiting yourself to just words

It’s to figure out what your users actually need (not the same as what they want)

• Want VS Need
  • It is the content designer’s job to figure out what the user needs rather than wants, and create content solutions for it — These may come in the form of dashboards, graphs, videos, images, etc.
  • The content solution will always depend on the problem of the user, making each and every solution different.
• Examples:
  • In Amazon, your credit/debit card details can be saved to allow for easy checkout — saves the time and trouble of constantly typing in your credit/debit card details — Incredibly efficient. It is “smart content”.

How to get users to keep using your products through good content design

• Push VS Pull Content Strategies
  • Push — “Look at this new iPhone! Buy it!”
  • Pull — “This cool new phone makes your life easier and puts the entire world in your pocket. And it’s only £1,000.”
  • Push content tries to shove the product in your face, essentially pressuring you to interact with it, while pull content entices the user to interact with it through attractive means. — Makes user not worry about the price.
• Ease of Use
  • Making your product easy to understand and interact with — keeps the audience happy.
  • Knowing your target audience will inform you of their needs.
• Trust
  • Make your product trustworthy — make sure people can do what they want with it in their own way.

Brief: Smart Watch UI