Why I still believe in content design
It might not be for everyone but it's critical for every product
A lot of my colleagues and friends in the content design discipline have been talking about this article by Nicole Alexandra Michaelis: “Why I no longer believe in content design.” It hit a nerve for many of us, especially after layoffs decimated so many of our teams. But as much as I found myself nodding along with many of Nicole’s points, I still believe there’s a path forward for content design.
In her article, Nicole laid out a number of reasons why she’s no longer excited about content design:
Product leaders aren’t aware of what content design is
CDs are brought in way too late, essentially treated as overqualified (micro)copy-editors
CDs create beautiful documents and design systems copy components that nobody looks at
CD has low visibility, with no time for content-specific user testing or to set up success metrics
I’ve seen all of these in practice far too often. I’m sure anyone working in content design has too. But I don’t think we should use these challenges as evidence that we should throw our hands up and work as copy-editors while we wait for the world to change. Spoiler alert: It’s never going to unless we force it to.
The reality is that content design is a nascent discipline. If you aren’t up for educating people about what you do and why it matters, advocating for a seat at the table and changing minds along the way, you shouldn’t be a content designer. And I say that with all the love and compassion in the world. It’s exhausting and frustrating, but it’s necessary as we build out this discipline.
If you aren’t up for educating people about what you do and why it matters, advocating for a seat at the table and changing minds along the way, you shouldn’t be a content designer.
Content design is often, frustratingly overlooked and de-valued. But let’s be clear — we have done some of this to ourselves. At the risk of being tarred and feathered, I’ve watched plenty of CDs give up and become copy-editors and then complain that they aren’t included in important conversations. Look, I get it. It is so fucking exhausting to keep pushing. But I’ve also consistently seen CDs who don’t give up and keep pushing become integral members of their product teams (even the same teams that others weren’t able to break into). I’ve seen their cross-functional partners become some of their biggest fans — and help advocate for more CD headcount as a result.
The reality is that content design is best-suited for people with a certain skillset. Nicole’s article talks about the skills we need in content designers and I couldn’t agree more (resilience, stakeholder management, leadership, etc). When I hire for content designers, writing skills are the bare minimum. I expect that anyone who applies can write. What I’m really looking for are people who are proactive, comfortable advocating for the best experience for users, assertive but collaborative, with experience identifying impactful content design projects and using metrics to prove the impact of their work.
When I hire for content designers, writing skills are the bare minimum.
And, frankly, those skills are necessary to be successful in almost any role at a tech company. Granted, product managers and software engineers don’t generally have to prove the value of their work. But product designers were in the same boat we were until relatively recently. And they got to where they are by becoming tireless advocates for the value of their discipline and proving that value.
You can talk all you want about the importance of your work but it’s numbers that really talk. If you can’t measure the impact of most of your work, you’re doing the wrong work.
So here’s what I propose:
If you’re mentoring or hiring people who are considering making a move to the industry — be honest about what it takes to be successful. What one person finds draining, another person finds exhilarating. Help people make the best decisions for themselves.
If you’re hiring a content designer — be upfront about the maturity of the discipline and your expectations. Make sure it aligns with the skills and experience of the person you hire. Asking someone who’s only worked on established CD teams to create a discipline from scratch at your company may not be the best fit. Don’t bait and switch just to get someone in the door. You’ll set your entire discipline back at your company.
If you’re a content designer who’s sullied on the industry — don’t feel like it’s the only option for you. There are so many career opportunities out there for people with content and product experience. If content design isn’t for you, there’s zero shame in looking elsewhere.
If you’re a content designer stuck on a team that doesn’t understand what you do — stop telling them and start proving your worth. One A/B test or metric that captures the impact of your worth is more valuable than dozens of copy-edited sentences. When all else fails, UserTesting.com is cheap and easy to do yourself. Relentlessly prioritize the work that has measurable impact — at least for now. Say no to everything else.
If we give up on our discipline, it’s only a matter of time before there’s no discipline left. And ultimately we owe our users a better experience than that.
Two things in this piece make me uncomfortable:
1) The idea that content design is still nascent/maturing and <that's why we have to prove its worth>. The immediate ancestor of content design is copywriting. And copywriting has been around for over a century. Before I was a content designer, I was a copywriter. And in every copy role I've ever held, across a 20-year career, I've had to advocate for the discipline. What it is, why it matters, how we help. It was always a daily battle to sit at "the table". I've always been paid less than my design peers. I've always been outnumbered by designers. Content design isn't devalued because it's nascent. It's devalued because it revolves around content. And sadly, a lack of respect for content is endemic in our industry. It has been for decades. <This> is the wider problem.
2) "Writing skills are the bare minimum" – when we say this about ourselves, I feel like we're helping to devalue our skills. Good writing is not a given. It's hard to reach a point where you write well and have a true command of language. When we pass this off as entry-level, we're feeding the mindset that deprioritises content: "it's just the words, we're all taught to write at school". I know content design has to prove its value beyond writing. But doing this shouldn't actively devalue the skill of writing itself.
But how long is it going to take to build the discipline? According to Sarah Richards, the lady who likes to say she invented Content Design, the discipline has been around since 2010. Some companies have seen entire content teams go in the last year. No one would dream of doing that to visual designers.