5 content design goals for 2021 (and beyond)

Let’s leverage content design best practices to elevate how we communicate and collaborate in any context.

Photo by Damian Zaleski on Unsplash

Everybody loves a little content design. (At least I like to think so.)

In design, development, research, writing, or other roles, our ability to communicate about and around what we do can make or break our experience. Loose communication wreaks havoc on communities: Vague emails, unclear meeting notes, and unintentionally alienating language can spin good intentions into opportunities for misunderstanding.

Yikes.

But have no fear: Content design is here.

While 2021 is well underway, it’s never too early (or too late) to think about elevating our communication across disciplines with a little content design.

Let’s explore five high-level goals we can pursue to better connect, converse, and collaborate with others.

1. Make conscious language your default.

2020 generated a buzz around conscious language and how to use it, but we should do the work to ensure this phrase doesn’t become just another industry buzzword.

In 2021, we’ll need to break past the basics and dig deeper into word etymologies and roots so that we can better understand how our phrasing choices can empower –– or disempower –– users of different backgrounds and identities.

Whether this goal takes the form of hiring word-obsessed English majors like myself or conducting your own linguistic learning, we have ample work ahead to write with all voices in mind. Audits, user interviews, and content testing are only the beginning –– the most surefire way to build more inclusive communication is to push beyond empathy and field real feedback so that we can write in a way that’s responsive to our surrounding world.

2. Establish channels for open and consistent communication.

What open and consistent communication looks like will vary from team to team, but it’ll most often involve regular updates, syncs, and messages about project progression, collaborative efforts, and calls for expertise. Think ongoing email threads, meeting minutes, project spreadsheets to keep project stakeholders aware, invested, and involved. If you actively create content to keep these stakeholders informed, you’ll be on the right track.

For UX content teams specifically, the ideal UX writing workflow involves being embedded in a larger product team from ideation through to final implementation.

For many small-knit content teams like mine, this goal may not be realistically within reach. But we can find a happy medium by facilitating open communication with other UX and product areas.

At Red Hat, our User Experience Design (UXD) content team is two-strong. We field team requests using a Google form and tackle microcopy reviews on a case-by-case basis. We’re embedded on some projects, but Red Hat’s portfolio is too vast for us to make every design critique and every meeting. To work around these limits, we make ourselves available as mainstay resources. From heavy-hitting content reviews to quick content questions, we’ve created steady channels through which designers, developers, and researchers can tap into our expertise.

We support our UXD team through several channels tailored to specific content needs. Small content teams like ours might benefit from categorizing content needs and designating an established route for each:

• Quick questions: We answer one-off questions about UI copy or microcopy best practices over Slack.
• Project-specific feedback or long term contributions: For more in-depth or ongoing project help, we set up recurring meetings and goals to guide content audits, reviews, and edits.
• Questions about UX writing standards: We point our teammates toward PatternFly’s UX writing style guide, our open source (and ever-growing) resource for writing accessible user experiences.

Every team’s approach to this goal will be different, but should be driven by one common action: Supporting open communication to facilitate strong, informed collaboration.

3. Use content and content design methods to expand your social web, on the web.

From building Twitter communities to joining online focus groups, there’s no shortage of ways to connect with fellow UX and open source enthusiasts spark –– and participate in –– industry conversations. And now, with an emphasis on online engagement, networking doors are wide open for professionals from around the globe, not just in your primary location.

Keep your eyes peeled for articles, posts, videos, and podcasts that make you think. Why do they resonate with you? How could their insights be built upon, debated, or improved? Reach beyond tapping like to not only let other creators know you’re seeing their content, but also share more about how you’re engaging with it.

Examples of LinkedIn comments that provide content feedback and spark further conversation.

4. Use content and content design methods to empower others.

Across Twitter feeds, Facebook groups, email threads, and more, we can channel content design best practices to supply useful information, all while supporting a positive online experience.

Take, for example, replying to a tweet that calls for advice about making the leap into a new industry. A useful reply might focus solely on forwarding relevant resources like links to websites, books, and videos. A content design reply would fold this focus into a more conversational exchange that:

1. Establishes a positive tone.

2. Links the recipient to helpful resources.

3. Encourages open communication for further support.

The end result? A message that invites its recipient to take action, engage with mentioned resources, and feel welcome to ask questions along the way.

This is your Twitter reply on content design: Friendly, informative, and inviting.

Assisting others online isn’t rocket science. But approaching our messages with content design and brand voice in mind guides us toward communication with more clarity and impact.

5. Normalize writing multiple drafts of just about anything.

Update emails, Slack messages, articles, outlines… You name it, and I’ve probably got a draft for it. Consider drafts your content sandbox, a safe space to test out different words, phrases, and organizational approaches. When it comes to communicating, lean on a verb that governs most other projects:

Iterate.

The first version of this article looked quite different from where we are now. I’m sure the same can be said for the bulk of most design, development, and research projects across the web. Embrace iteration in your writing, even if you’re not in a content-focused role. Tinker. Keep what you like, toss what you don’t. Then tinker again.

With these content design goals in mind, we can communicate more effectively across open source and UX — one word, post, or message at a time.

Have a story of your own? Write with us! Our community thrives on diverse voices — let’s hear yours.