{"id":18857,"date":"2023-02-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techforgood.cymru\/resource\/why-content-design-is-important-for-your-charity\/"},"modified":"2024-09-24T08:14:10","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T07:14:10","slug":"why-content-design-is-important-for-your-charity","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/promo.cymru\/cy\/resource-articles\/why-content-design-is-important-for-your-charity\/","title":{"rendered":"Why good content design is important for your charity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Content design. Designing content.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s more important for your charity\u2019s website than you probably think. <\/p>\n

It’s important because you will have a website and people will read (or scan) your site. <\/p>\n

It’s especially important if your readers are stressed, have cognitive difficulties or are overwhelmed in any way. Your content wants to help them, not add to their day\u2019s challenges. <\/p>\n

This means your content needs to be accessible (easy to understand).<\/p>\n

Even if your website looks nice, bad content will make it less accessible (harder to understand).<\/p>\n

This article shows you what content design is through 3 examples: 2 web pages and 1 online form. Looking at examples is a good way to start thinking about content design. <\/p>\n

We\u2019ve already written about how to use content design to help people access your services more easily<\/a>. Read that after this article. <\/p>\n

About content design<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Content design is a way of designing the words, forms and other written or video content you use on your website and other online places. It blends skills from service design and copywriting. Its methods can also be applied to documents and anything that people will read.<\/p>\n

Content design combines care <\/strong>and insight<\/strong> to create accessible content<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Care = being thoughtful and considering how your users will experience<\/strong> the content you create.<\/p>\n

Insight = using evidence and data<\/strong> about people\u2019s needs, behaviour and experiences<\/strong> to inform decisions about content. <\/p>\n

Content written without care and insight into your users will be harder for them to read and understand. They are more likely to not find what they need and leave your website.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main difference between many other forms of writing and content design is that content designers generally don\u2019t move without research. It can be desk research, usability research, expert research, any kind of research really but there has to be data and evidence of what the audience wants and needs.\u201d<\/em> – Sarah Richards<\/a><\/p>\n

Example 1: Website content design<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Here\u2019s an example of good website content design<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n
\"A<\/div>
A screenshot of the gov.uk page showing UK bank holidays<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The page title is clear and the page does exactly what the title says.<\/p>\n

Right away you can see when the next bank holiday is. It\u2019s visually memorable too. <\/p>\n

And you can scroll down to see the next one, and the next one. Good for mobiles.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also little to distract you. Sentences and labels are short. Other menus are discrete. And you can easily see where you are through the \u2018breadcrumbs\u2019 above the page title.<\/p>\n

Now look at this example taken from Directgov in 2009<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n
\"A<\/div>
A screenshot of the 2009 government webpage for bank holidays<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The page title covers two things. That\u2019s not ideal, and besides, users think ‘when do the clocks change?<\/a>‘ not ‘when is British Summer Time?’<\/p>\n

Your eyes and brain have to work harder to see when the next bank holiday is. To find other holidays you have to look both across and down the table. <\/p>\n

And there\u2019s a lot of other menu items and content going on. Perhaps some of it is useful, but you have to work to decide that. And some of those sentences are much longer than they need to be. Phew!<\/p>\n

Example 2: Forms and interactive elements<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Forms are another important place to think about content design. It could be a form on your website or a form on a document. <\/p>\n

Whatever the form, filling in one that’s been designed without care and insight is difficult and can lead to people abandoning it unfinished.  <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example of a good form. <\/p>\n

\n
\"A<\/div>
A screenshot of the gov.uk Find a job webpage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Notice how simple the page title is: \u2018Find a job\u2019.<\/p>\n

Now look at the blue area. See how simple the labels on the form\u2019s two boxes are? And the example text is short, direct and uses common words.<\/p>\n

\u2018Advanced search\u2019 uses the same words and is in the same place as on many other websites – it\u2019s where the user would probably expect it to be. <\/p>\n

The search button is placed close to the form\u2019s boxes. Buttons and checkboxes are more about visual design, but it\u2019s helpful here to understand how they support the overall design of the form.<\/p>\n

Also, there are only two boxes to fill in. This is good because once you go beyond two choices, people take exponentially longer to decide what to do – Hick\u2019s Law<\/a> proves it.<\/p>\n

You can try out the form<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now look at this example from DirectGov\u2019s jobs site in 2012<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Screenshot<\/div>
A screenshot of the 2012 government webpage for finding a job<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Notice that it tells you four times that this is a page to search for jobs, instead of only once. That\u2019s a lot of words distracting you.<\/p>\n

Look at the form. The ‘help’ text repeats itself. It uses abbreviations and acronyms (what\u2019s an SOC code?). <\/p>\n

There\u2019s three boxes to attend to, even if you decide to leave the third as it is. <\/p>\n

And the search button is a bit distant from the rest of the form. This is more a visual design issue, but it reflects the overall poor design (though remember this was back in 2012!)<\/p>\n

Accessibility and inclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Taking care with your content includes considering how inclusive it is, and whether it inadvertently enables oppression of people and groups. We\u2019ve written a resource to help you create inclusive and anti-oppressive content<\/a>. Content Design London also wrote about the importance of inclusive content design<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Following accessibility guidelines<\/a> also makes your content accessible to those who would otherwise struggle with it. This includes:<\/p>\n