Content Design
In the words of Scott Kubie “Writing ain't religion, friends; it's okay to attend more than one church." Scott’s a trusted expert in the digital writing space. He’s “a designer who writes… an influential voice in the fields of content strategy, content design, UX writing, and information architecture”. Scott authored Writing for Designers, and he recently published an article about writing styles.
Scott says there are "many ways to get writing work done" and you've got to "choose a writing method that works for your team, content and audience". Alex Kapitan, the Radical Copyeditor, agrees when he says “there is no one ultimately correct way of communicating; instead, language depends entirely on context”.
Writing for the web
As a content designer working in an academic library, when I write for the web I apply the user-centric principles of content design and my institution’s style guide.
Content design is one of many disciplines within the broader framework of human-centred design. Simply put, it’s about placing humans at the centre of our design decisions. Sarah Winters, founder of Content Design London, explains content design as "answering a user need in the best way for the user to consume it... it's a way of thinking. It's about using data and evidence to give the audience what they need, at the time they need it and in a way they expect". Sarah set the gold standard in content design when she redesigned GOV.UK and led the development of the global Readability Guidelines. She’s The Doyenne of content design and works in partnership with WeaveWeb to deliver her content design workshops in Australia.
Best practice content design
Want to see good content design in practice? Australia’s state and federal governments are at the forefront of this discipline. The government’s Style Manual* and Digital Transformation Agency win the platinum trophy for excellence in content design! The Victorian State Government also demonstrates good user interface design in their guide to designing good web content.
*Disclaimer: I admired their work so much I wrote one of their newsletters.
