Freelance content designer and founder of Clear Language Club.
71 postsI've mostly been trapped in the world of Jira and infinite tickets for the last couple of years. But I still think Trello is a great place to start when organising projects and content and whatever else you are working on.
Sure, these days it's more bloated than it needs to be, but it does still do the essential things you need to get your bits and bobs in order. This content template is very similar to the one I tend to use and is pretty good for getting started.
It looks like I'll be spending the best part of this year designing some pretty tricky tables. There will be lots of columns and lots of rows. More data that I can shake a stick at. And making all of it accessible is really important too.
Anyway, I'm expecting lots of learning. Lots of user research. And plenty of digging into resources that are already out there and available, like this quick video explainer from GOV.UK on how screen readers use headings.
And now for something a little different with a touch of fruity language.
One of the lovely colleagues on my previous project shared this blog post by Cap Watkins with me last year and I have thought about it a lot since. Essentially, if you are having a difficult design or content conversation, how much does the issue mean to you on a scale of 1–10?
There have been a few times recently when I could tell someone felt far more strongly about a decision than I did. So, I acquiesced, with the hope that the next time I'm a ten-out-of-ten on a topic with that person involved, they'll recognize that and hear me out. If you can let go of the things that don't matter so much to you directly, you can build currency with others and earn their trust when you do wind up pushing back.
I have found this an incredibly useful mental trick. When you are in the fog of deadlines and challenging work, it is easy to feel like every decision matters and all arguments are worth fighting for. But that's not how true collaboration works.
To work effectively as a team when things get tough and tense, there has to be a bit of give and take. You can't go full steam ahead into every single conversation. It's unlikely that your way will be the right way every time.
So yeah – these are good questions to ask. Is this decision – this argument – really that important to me? Do I feel so strongly about it? Or can I let this one go and save my persistence for a problem that's more of an 8, 9 or 10 out of 10?
From this concise and extremely handy guide to content design:
Instead of thinking about what we want to say, we research what a user needs to achieve their desired outcome. What they want and what they need can be different. It’s a content designer’s job to figure that out. Once we have researched user needs, we determine what sort of content will meet those needs.
I'm aware that I talk about content design a lot on the blog and in the newsletter. That's because writing in clear language is in large part about understanding who you are writing for and what they need. And that's crucial to content design.
But I am also conscious that there are many people who write in clear language and do not work in content design. This one-page content design overview is from Shelter's style guide and a brilliant place to start.
If you want to dig deeper, I recommend the handily-titled Content Design, written by Sarah Winters and Rachel Edwards.
Whether you are new to accessibility or have bags of experience, Accessibility For Everyone by Laura Kalbag is a fantastic book.
It was first published 9 years ago by the excellent A Book Apart, which has since sadly closed down. Fortunately, Accessibility for Everyone is now entirely free for you to read online.
If you are short on time, there is a section on content and design. I'm due a refresher and plan to dip in over the next couple of weeks.