Insights
Short answer: Everyone.
Even if your project doesn’t appear to require a novel, a set of emails, or an ad campaign. Content designers can make the difference between a useful interface and one that only those who built it can understand.
Here are some signs that your team could benefit from a content designer:
- Users reach out to support to ask questions that are answered on your website or user interface
- People using your service (or on your own team) struggle to find what they need
- Even when information is available, people don’t understand what it means
- Necessary content either doesn’t exist or hasn’t been updated in years
- There is no documentation of your team’s work, and a few overworked team members carry most of the knowledge about the product and systems in their heads
- Documentation exists, but there are multiple copies; it is hard to find, and/or out of date
- Your services, systems, or priorities are likely to change regularly, but there is no plan for how to make updates
Sound familiar?
Wait, that’s a content problem?
Yes! Content is what connects people to information, and ultimately to getting things done.
So, it’s clear that your team needs some kind of content help. But once you start looking, you notice there are far more categories than you might have thought. What’s the difference between a content strategist and a content designer? Are a UX writer and a technical writer the same thing? From a person whose work is always somehow content-shaped (and with the caveat that some companies and organizations may use different names for these roles), here’s a basic guide to finding the right kind of content support for your project. This isn’t a comprehensive list, and there can be overlap between roles and categories.
UX/copywriters: Writing for users to find and understand
This one is fairly straightforward: they write or edit copy. The terms “UX Writer” and “Copywriter” often get used interchangeably, but they are distinct. A UX writer is more likely to focus on words that guide users during an interaction, like field labels on a form, or a website’s navigation menu. A copywriter is more likely to deal with content meant to inform or persuade, like blog posts, emails, or product pages.
You could use one of these folks if your project will:
- Need user-facing content to be written or rewritten
- Require translating jargon and complex topics into plain language
- Contain interaction points where the right words will be needed to help users understand what to do
Some things they can provide include:
- Copy for webpages, blogs, emails, or app screens (copywriter)
- Text for error messages, field labels, buttons, navigation
How this helps your team:
- Consistent terminology and messaging across touchpoints
- Expertise to test and optimize the experience with these interactions
Technical writers: Writing for your team
Think of a technical writer as a copywriter rooted in systems thinking and focused on the people building the product, and those who will eventually use it. These are the rock stars of documentation – anything that needs to be written not as part of the project, but for the project. In some cases, they can be highly specialized, with more in-depth knowledge of a specific topic, often scientific, legal, or technical.
Your team could use a technical writer if you need:
- Documentation for users
- Internal documentation
- Support materials
- Project support deliverables
Some things they may be able to provide include:
- Installation or authoring guides
- Release notes, API documentation, system guides
- Training manuals, FAQ pages, operating guides, and troubleshooting documentation
- Whitepapers, proposals, research findings
How this helps your team:
- Helps break down complex concepts into user-friendly language
- Solves for a missing source of truth
- Ensures people can find the information they need at the right moment
Content strategists: Writing to help solve real business problems
A content strategist has a strong copywriting foundation, but looks beyond the words on any one page. They develop a bigger picture of the content ecosystem across channels, and then plan and execute content to support specific business goals. The right content in the right place at the right time can urge people to use a new service, purchase something, or otherwise engage with your organization.
A content strategist is a great addition if you will need to:
- Have a strong focus on messaging
- Incorporate a new channel into an existing set of them (for instance, launching an app when you previously had only a website)
- Weave a larger, consistent narrative across multiple channels
- Measure and report on how different channels and pieces of content perform, based on your goals
Some things they may be able to provide include:
- A documented, cross-channel content strategy with clearly articulated goals
- Content roadmaps and editorial calendars
- Content audits and needs assessments
- Content management best practices
How this helps your team:
- Prioritize writing, reviewing, and updating the right content
- Use analytics and tools to collect feedback that tells you when content isn’t working
- Navigate what pieces of content need to change as your strategy evolves
Content design: Writing to improve user experience and product strategy
A content designer is a bit of a Swiss Army knife for implementing a content strategy; they’re a combination of writer, strategist, information architect, service designer, and UX designer. They focus on what the content should be, in what format, and how it should be organized. Coming to your project with a design mind, they’ll be a strong advocate for the user experience, making sure that users of the product can find what they need, when they need it, and understand it when they get there.
You could benefit from a content designer on your team if you:
- Need to work out what the content should be and where it should go
- Are dealing with complex user journeys
- Want to create reusable content structures (think content models, page templates)
- Plan to set the voice, tone, and style standards for the platform’s content
Some things they may be able to provide include:
- User journey maps – visual representations of the steps in a process to better understand the entire user experience
- Content and/or data schemas – structures that organize content and/or data and how they relate to each other, making it easier to use and update the data
- Taxonomies – systems of classification that organize content using categories and subcategories. When paired with a schema, taxonomies make content easier to search, manage, and analyze.
- Wireframes – rough blueprints of pages, screens, or other digital products to give a general idea of structure, function, and layout.
How this helps your team:
- Find where users drop off in the user journey due to missing or unclear information
- Prevent duplicate or conflicting terminology from propagating your application or documentation
- Identify where content could be scaled efficiently with reusable snippets or personalization
Maybe you still aren’t sure what type of content role you need, or your team has needs that span more than one of these categories. That’s pretty common, and it makes sense, because content problems rarely fit into one box. A confusing user journey might need a UX writer to fix the words and a content designer to fix the structure. A product launch might need a strategist to plan the messaging and a technical writer to document the system.
When in doubt, start with a content designer. Content designers sit at the intersection of all these roles. They can help you connect people to the information they need, when they need it, in a way they can actually understand.
Reach out to Blue Tiger at hello@bluetiger.digital to discuss your team’s needs and how our content designers or other team members can help.