Structure First. Content Always. | Journal | The Personal Disquiet of Mark Boulton
►http://www.markboulton.co.uk/journal/structure-first-content-always
Let’s be really clear about this. It is unrealistic to write your content – or ask your client to write the content – before you design it. Most of the time. Content needs to be structured and structuring alters your content, designing alters content. It’s not ‘content then design’, or ‘content or design’. It’s ‘content and design’.
Designers have always been involved with content. We’re not just concerning ourselves with what is visual. So how can we help our clients understand that when we say:
Content First !
We don’t really mean :
I’m going to sit on my hands right here unless you give me my content. Finalised, proofed and signed off. Thank you very much.
No, we don’t mean that. What we mean is:
We’d really like to understand the type and structure of the content for this project. Don’t worry, you don’t have to write anything yet, just help us understand.
Dialogue structure / forme / contenu.