Here’s a look at its 3 key flaws and how to overcome them…

If you’ve worked within the graphic design or mar-comms space throughout the twenty-first century, you’ve undoubtedly stumbled across references to “content-first design”. There’s no shortage of online advocacy for the approach and I too used to preach it; however, a recent collaborative project triggered an in-depth exploration of its limitations and improved alternatives.

Kicking off a new project, I suggested to a colleague that we begin design envisioning before drafting and structuring our written support content. She promptly suggested the best practice would be the opposite: draft the content first, then build the layout around it. The conversation gave me pause… Why was I contradicting such conventional wisdom?

For this particular project, I knew the key messages I needed to convey, but not the specifics on how, something I sought to work through within the early design process. I was looking to rapid prototyping to test questions like: Would users benefit most from a written tutorial, a video or an interactive tour, and which format would sit best alongside other objectives? In essence, I wanted to design my content to optimize its impact. Drafting anything before those decisions would have restricted our creative problem solving or would require substantial reworks later.

The longer I work within an integrated marketing and design role, the more rigid guidelines like the content-first approach just don’t make sense.

Old argument, new name.

“Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration.” Jeff Zeldman

While Zeldman’s 2008 tweet is often heralded as the humble beginning of “content-first” design, it’s really just a new title for the “form follows function” debate Louis Sullivan presented in his 1896 architectural paper and has likely been argued by someone else before him. The emphasis on content in this new iteration of the debate is unsurprising provided the digital era. In 2003, online blogging became mainstream and by 2010 online marketplaces for pre-made website templates and Lorem ipsum-filled brochures took the graphic design field by storm. While an important stepping stone in getting many businesses online, by nature, templates prioritize the aesthetic over the core purpose of the piece. This generic “layout-first” process often yields clunky or shallow experiences that fail to facilitate the desired goals or differentiate a business.

The root of the problem

Content-first design sought to correct this and its general concept is admirable: The high-level purpose and contents need to be determined first in any project, leaving the designer to expose it like the proverbial statue in Michelangelo’s block of stone. The true issue is the misnomer in the title and all it implies.

“Let’s not forget why people go online in the first place: to find interesting and useful content.” Maya Hampton, Medium

Described as “words, pictures, videos, etc,” (ContentSnare), many argue “content” is the primary reason for web usage, only… it’s not.

No one visits an e-commerce site to read the product descriptions. They don’t peruse cooking sites because they love images of food, read the news to scroll through headlines or pick up a novel because they love “content”. Each user has a specific need they want to solve… from acquiring the right product fit, determining what’s for dinner, staying informed on current affairs, or to immerse themselves in an experience. None of these needs are addressed singularly through words or images- those are simply conduits that facilitate these goals.

This common misunderstanding is only one of three fundamental flaws with the content-first approach:

1. Content is not synonymous with function or purpose.
2. Design embodies significantly more than the layout.
3. Web usage is driven by unique needs, not a generic desire to consume content.

The sheer volume of content routinely added online — over 2.5 billion GB daily (Medium) — has brought challenges like “information overload” to the forefront of every marketer and designer’s mind. With that lens, content is certainly not the solution, nor does it convey purpose any more than the design itself. Each are simply delivery methods for what both should equally embrace: the story. Failure to recognize this leaves content-first advocates pushing a rigid, linear process that unwittingly moves their designs towards the “decoration” role they seek to avoid.

“Story-first” design: An effective alternative

“Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.” Frank Lloyd Wright

☝️ Swap “function” for “content”, and Frankie and I would see pretty darn eye-to-eye!

If you’re familiar with Wright’s work, you’ll know it makes a compelling case for how intricately weaving design with the purpose builds value, preference and strong differentiation. Similar principles can be found within the film industry where the marriage of script and visuals is essential and the advertising world is rife with visual storytelling.

So how do we achieve similar success and break the cycle of siloed strategy, content and design? We put the story first. The story encourages a systems approach, where all the elements are interrelated.

I recently took a look at my most successful projects across the ten years I’ve been working as a marketing and design specialist to propose my own alternative: the Story-first design. Learn more about the framework and its “6Cs” in this followup article.

‍