- SharePoint 2010 - 5 Hot Features to Look Forward To
- Selecting a CMS: How to Build a Short List
- Alterian Drops Immediacy, Morello Web CMS Brands
- Installing SharePoint 2010 on Windows 7
- How SharePoint 2010’s Metadata Services Increase Usability
- Gartner’s Top 5 BPM Predictions for 2010 And Beyond
- Open Text Reports Good Q2, Vignette Contributes to YoY Spike
Get the NewsletterContent First? A Relationship Between Words and Design
A recent post on Content Management Connection's blog made a lot of sense. In it, the online community for technology practitioners, software companies and end users, discussed the need to be content first, design second.
Their point is that you wouldn't buy a suit for a stranger without first having her trying it on, so why design websites around content that doesn't exist yet. It's an interesting concept, but not as simple as it sounds.
While it's true that when projects are started and designers are tasked with putting together comps of possible designs, the actual content for a site is usually just a gleam in the project manager's eye. Rarely do design projects start with the final copy. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Simple Design, Fewer Words?
As we've learned time and again, there are a lot of words being used — too many, in fact — to describe actions that don't mean anything. A good simple design may require fewer words.
While designers aren't copy editors, and don't pretend to be, we work with words more than you think we do. When copy is presented to us, it's never merely just words, it's also layout. Once stripped of indents and creative character spacing, designers can design around, with, over and under the words. Most times we don't use all the words; they are not all necessary.
Content & Design: A Symbiotic Relationship
Content Management Connection says that "the aim is to separate and maintain a clear division between content and its target representations." Yet, it's a symbiotic relationship between words and design that we seek. Design should complement the words, and words should seamlessly integrate within the design.
An Evolution of Content and Design
It's true that their Content First strategy serves the greater good and is not a malicious attempt to undermine good design. Yet by claiming that "design is an iterative and horizontal endeavour. It’s done when its done." implies that unlike words, design can't evolve.
But design is constantly evolving, especially web design, to embrace new media, social marketing and advertising. Good content management, as we know, is one that lets content change over time without having to start over. It lets us edit, manage and share our content. Web development and design is no different.
In the end, CMC and designers are working towards the same goal and agree that "content folks and creative team need to work much more closely together."
Was this article useful?
Email It
Stumble It
Add RSS2 Reader Comments
Leave a Response
Processing...
From our Job Board View all jobs
| 
Jobs RSS feed
| Post a job right now
Featured Events View all events
| Events RSS feed
| Add your event
- Feb 17, 2010 – Webinar: 4 Essential Strategies for Advancing Your Website's Business Impact
- Feb 26, 2010 – Intelligent Content 2010
- Apr 21, 2010 – Drupalcon San Francisco 2010
- May 5, 2010 – CMS Expo 2010 (Evanston)
- Oct 7, 2010 – HartmanEVENT 2010 - Social Media & Mobile Usability
To summarize my own thoughts on this, I would have to say the truth is somewhere in the middle. I know that sounds rather unhelpful, but, in my experience, there really is a middle ground here.
Having worked at a creative agency for many years, and then at a major publisher, I have seen an evolution of the web as a medium for content distribution and consumption that is not dissimilar to the evolution of any medium: it is settling into an accepted form, through trial and error (and a bit of measurement), that shouldn't be ignored.
Personally, I have learned to rely more on the guidance of an Information Architect over a pure designer on my most successful projects. Yes, there are some very good designers out there - but leading with pure creative - the kind of stuff delivered by a typical creative agency - is a big mistake in most cases. The way people consume content on the web has nearly matured to the same place that newspapers are at: there really isn't much you can do with a page of information, creatively speaking, that won't get in the way of reading the page. Sure, you can also interact with a web page, unlike a newspaper, but even interaction is pretty programmed these days.
As implied in the "Content First" post, doing anything wildly creative on your site has cost/complexity implications that are simply not worth the bother. While creative agencies work to push their compelling vision - more often than not, it just gets in the way of the user experience and drives up the cost to build and maintain the site.
The web has already landed on standard forms for the presentation of content. Just go with it. Rely on Information Architects and User Experience talent to get your projects going, and use designers to develop the elements - NOT the layout or page structure.
In my opinion, the Content First post hits the mark pretty squarely.
hi marisa, i think that you've pulled a slightly different meaning from my words to reach design can't evolve. whilst i still think content comes first, it doesn't stay there and serves as a catalyst to bring the content and creative folks together, earlier. that's the dream.