Use Your Words
I used to think that content was secondary. That all I needed was a killer layout and some fantastic transitions and I could change the world. I treated content as secondary at best and filler at worst.
I’m a little thicker than the next guy. It took me forever to realize that content, specifically the written word is the beautiful connection between my users and the behavior that I was trying to elicit in them. The written word, when done well, could make even a simple app explode with potential and capture the imagination.
Regardless of your beliefs about the written word, you can’t deny that words take up space. They exist in two dimensions. Height and width. Without an adequate amount of space, they will contribute to confusion and anxiety. Furthermore, they live within a boundary when viewed in any current viewport. Desktop, tablet, mobile or pamphlet, brochure or instruction manual.
They exist.
So why the hell do we build things without them?
In product development, you will see lots of greeked text and gray, for placement only images. I can tell you from experience that these have NEVER resulted in a simple conversion from concept to product. Every single time the final product is tweaked to shoehorn in the content that wasn’t considered.
The content that a good writer can create is always better than what I do. I can get the ball rolling, but to turn it into a rocket ship of awesome communication, I need to hire someone that knows what they are doing.
I’d like to challenge us as makers that the words we use are just as crucial to what we are doing as the colors or materials or whatever it is you do. You can not build your final product without them, so don’t wait until the end to fit them into what you’ve already created.
Even as I write this, I can hear the chicken and the egg argument. How can you know what to say until you see what it is? A few years ago I saw this presentation, and It changed the way that I think about building things. I’d encourage you to do the same.
From the presentation:
“ To be clear, we’re not saying: wait until your client or your team has finished writing all their website content first before you start designing and building. That approach doesn’t work and just creates a different set of problems.
We believe that considering and thinking about content at each stage of a project steers us to appropriate design decisions, which delivers better websites. “
I would add products here as well.
Words are how we communicate. Yes, images clarify, illuminate and provide more context, but words can cut to the chase in a way that is unique to the written word and to the human experience.
I would argue that we would all do better to not just sketch, but write. Get the thoughts about what the thing is onto something that your users can interact with in real time so that they can see what you mean and help you.
Afterall, talk is cheap. Literally. I can refine three sentences that define what a particular object is supposed to make me feel like MUCH cheaper than the thousands of dollars it will take to shoot the photo that conveys the same meaning.
So use your words. Use them when you start, not at the end. Make them part of the overall experience, flesh it out with the written word. Don’t wait until the end to try and cram them into what you think is a final solution. Give them room to breathe.
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This is the from the archive of an ongoing series called Making Things That Matter. Each week I will send you an email with another step in the process of building products and launching ideas. Signup here to join the conversation.
