How people read
A collaboratively developed, universal content style guide, based on usability evidence. Created by Content Design London.
Information architecture core concepts
Some core concepts of information architecture, used for a recent client project
Using behaviour change to make more user-focused content
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Why it's time for charities to embrace content design
Content design can help you take a significant step towards more impactful communications. Read about what content design is and the potential for the charity sector.
Content-first prototyping: prioritising what service users need
‘Content-first’ prototyping means we base our design on the information people need to complete the task safely and successfully.
Content design for charities and the third sector: a guide
Learn what content design is, why it matters to charities, and how to implement it in your organisation with this comprehensive guide.
Tracking the impact of our content design work
Sharing insights into the user’s experience can help us show why content design matters
Designing letters as part of the whole user journey
Content designer Adele Murray explains the importance of designing content for the whole user journey and shares insight on how we did this for Get your State Pension.
Six workshops for all content designers to try
When you want to get your product teams thinking more about content, or need to foster good relationships and collaboration, a workshop can…
How to write good questions for forms - NHS digital service manual
Guidance for people working on forms, questionnaires and transactional services.
Don't be afraid of the Big Long Page
why using content-hiding interactions to shorten a page creates problems for users, and what to do instead.
Content design patterns
I've spent some time this week thinking about content design patterns in the context of the UK planning system. I know how to live! If you don't know what the heck that means, this post from 2016 by Natalie Shaw remains a fantastic explainer.
Why you should use the correct heading structure in your content
Heading structure really is important for lots of reasons. And I have to tell you, I'm a bit of a stickler for it in Word or Google Docs documents too. If I see headings that are just body text made bold, you betcha I'm applying sensible headings to them instead.
Thoughts on the 'dumbing down' content argument
If you make your content easy to read, you aren’t ‘dumbing down’, you are opening up your information to anyone who wants to read it.
Start building a plain language culture today
Plain language is only effective and sustainable when it becomes a culture. I want to share: what I mean by a plain language culture how the people at our agency have built such a culture how to nurture such a culture among any writers, whether they write as individuals, as members of teams, or as p
The complete guide to content design for product owners
This guide is for product owners or product managers with unresolved questions about content design.
What is content design?
Content design is answering a user need in the best way for the user to consume it. But let me expand on that a bit more.
Why plain language and Plain English are different
So, this is a good piece. First, it includes some backstory on the Plain English Campaign and an exciting founder rift I didn't know about. But more importantly, it highlights the problem with claiming to write in clear language if you don't test your content with real users. Is it really clear? How do you know?
This is why whenever I run workshops (did I mention I run workshops?), I always introduce plain English alongside the principles of content design. That includes creating content based on user research and evidence. To write clearly, you need to understand who you are writing for and what they want to achieve.
The principles that guide our content design and communications in Funeralcare
It's all well and good using clear language, but you still have to get the right tone and choose the right words. It's even more important when writing about difficult or sensitive topics. The Co-op team do lots of great work and this piece by lead content designer, Helen Lawson, is a fine example.
The joy of plain language; my Bob Ross inspired approach to content design
A good article by Jonathan Vaughan from the Royal National Institute for Deaf People. I like the section on reading age as well as the idea of thinking about and writing for one person at a time.