Sep 8, 2022
Content design is about increasing the odds of being heard.
Content design is less about saying, more about increasing the odds of being heard.
Companies always think about what we want to say. But you can say all the right information and the person on the other end never receives it -- because you weren't thinking about them. Are they able and open to hearing you out?
This is why being precise and detailed often falls flat, and it's why legalese does a terrible job. You are dumping information and tossing the burden over to users, who are now less likely to read it because it looks scary and time-consuming.
Content design is about thinking WHAT to say and WHEN to say it, to make it more likely for your users to hear you out and understand your message, whether that's task instructions, legal disclaimers, a sales pitch, or product education.
- "What do we want to say?" vs. "What do users want to know?"
- "What should users know?" vs. "What are users open to knowing?"
If words appear in your product and no one uses it, did the words really exist?
