Why is content design still so hard?

If you’re working as a content designer, you will already know that it's hard:

• You’re lucky if you publish content that you’re really happy with, and it probably won’t meet user needs (that’s if you’re lucky enough to know what those are). 

• People who aren't content designers often don’t care about the things you care about. And sometimes it can feel like they don’t even like you.

• Staff in your organisation think you’re just there to push the publishing button and don’t care about your expertise.

But isn't that weird? I mean, content design as a discipline has been around for almost 15 years. Before that, we were web editors. And although some aspects of the role shifted, the job is still pretty much the same. So it’s been around for a really really long time. 

I've been talking to content designers for most of my career. And what I’m hearing hasn’t changed - if anything, the situation seems to be getting worse. Particularly now that we are adding AI into the mix.

So what is going on?

I’ve talked to a lot of really smart people about this. And I'm wondering if it's something to do with these 3 things:

1. We’re not honest about the content design role

2. We don’t value stakeholder management

3. We face inwards when we should face out

1. We’re not being honest about the content design role

A friend of mine said this when I asked him the question. And it stopped me in my tracks.

See, content design doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It sits within an elaborate infrastructure, with lots of players and lots of disciplines, all of whom have an interest in the content that gets published. And publishing is an act of validation - if something I have written gets published, then that is telling me that my content has worth.

When people were only able to publish in print - newspapers, books, journals, etc. - it was incredibly validating (still is - just ask a book author). But it was also harder to get stuff published because you had no choice but to go through gatekeepers like editors and publishers and printer.

The web changed all that. It democratised publishing: because the truth is almost anyone can publish on the web, regardless of the quality of the content. And everyone knows it. And those print alternatives? They’ve largely disappeared. 

So digital became the main game in town. And everyone wants a piece of it.

And that gatekeeper role that people with our skills used to hold in print publishing? Well, that’s no longer a given.

And that is what I think we need to be more honest about.

It doesn’t mean that gatekeepers aren’t needed - we are, more than ever, particularly now that AI is shining a big fat spotlight on published content - but it does mean that we need to do more if we really want to improve the quality of content on the web.

2. We don’t value stakeholder management

I’ve seen content designers go into meetings with stakeholders, armed with nothing other than their opinion and a knowledge of house style.

They didn’t know their stakeholders; they didn’t know what their stakeholders cared about; they had no idea what else the stakeholders were dealing with; and they had no idea how busy they were.

The result?

When these content designers suggested that - maybe - the content would be better if it was different, what the stakeholders heard was that the content designers didn’t care about them. They only cared about their own opinions, and the ‘users’ (suggesting that the stakeholders didn't care). And - more to the point - these same content designers were going to get in the way.

So what happens if stakeholders feel that way? Especially powerful stakeholders?

If you’re a content designer, you already know this. Rather than do anything to change the content, these stakeholders might just focus on getting you out of their way. And sometimes that means they’re going to go above your head to make you publish whatever it is they’ve supplied, unchanged.

But what if those content designers had known all those things about these stakeholders? Would the outcome have been different?

I think it might.

3. We face inwards when we should face out

This idea came from another friend of mine. He suggested that a possible answer to the question is that we are too inward-facing. 

Take content design communities as an example. 

Now don’t get me wrong. I love content design communities. I love having a safe space to share common problems and to meet talented people and to learn from them. And I’ve met some of my favourite people at them.

In fact, I love networking so much that I set up a women’s network at Birkbeck, University of London. And I started up 2 cross-government networks for content designers and leads when I worked in the Civil Service. 

But having a community of like-minded people never made my job easier (although it did mean I had people to laugh with about it). For me, the issue isn’t the community. At all. I love the fact they exist, and long may they continue.

The issue for me is that they aren't enough.

We know that people don’t understand what content design is and what it can do. And that this lack of knowledge is leading to all kinds of problems for us - from not including us in relevant conversations or assuming that we’re just there to do the words, etc. etc. etc.

But I'm not angry about that. I’m curious. 

Why after all this time don’t people understand content design? 

Is it possible that we think we spend a lot of time talking to non content designers about content design, but we don't? Or could it be that what we're telling them just isn't landing?

Whatever the reason, isn't it time we made it happen?

So what can we do?

I'm such a big fan of content designers. You’re smart, you’re talented, you’re ethical. And, most importantly, you care. As someone who has spent a lifetime caring - about my union members, my colleagues, my teams, my family and friends - that is important to me.

But I think it's time we stopped asking why things are like this. Instead, I want us to think about what we can do about it.

And to start with, I challenge you to do 3 things.

1. Learn how to manage stakeholders

I believe that, as a content designer, one of your top priorities is to get stakeholders on board. Before you even think about your content problem or the text you're looking at.

And that means learning how to manage them.

You know that laser focus you currently have on users? I want you to turn that on stakeholders, and I want you to care about them as much - if not more - than the end users. Maybe not for ever.

But if you've never tried, how about starting now?

And what's in it for you, apart from the fact that it might make it easier to do your work? You will benefit. Because the skills you need - negotiating and influencing among them - will benefit you in all aspects of your life. I say this as someone who had to learn to be a stakeholder whisperer as a senior union branch officer, or my members would have suffered. It took me a while to realise but those skills have helped me as much as they ever helped anyone else.

Isn't it just worth a go?

2. Be a bigger trumpet for content design

I have heard content people lament the fact that they spend a lot of time telling people about content design. It’s all very time-consuming, and wouldn’t we all prefer to be working on content problems?

Well, sure. 

But here's my question. If people don’t know about content design, who can we blame if it's not us?

And if it’s our problem and nobody else's, then we can and should do something about it.

Shouldn't we?

3. Learn how to get trust

Do you know what a mandate is? It's an explicit authority to act in a certain way. So, for example, if your senior management team were to say that everyone at your institution had to put all of their work through your team before it could be published, that would be a mandate.

Mandates are amazing - but I've not come across very many in my life. And I don't think I've ever had one as a content designer or as a lead.

And the thing is that, without an explicit mandate to be a gatekeeper on the web, you have to find other ways to get that buy-in from stakeholders. And you can’t do that by brandishing your content design skills. You don’t get credit from hostile stakeholders for knowing a house style.

Instead, you need to start thinking about how to build trust - with other members of your team, your managers, your finance people, and all your other stakeholders. That means being great at things like listening and empathy and curiosity. And, yes, caring about all of these colleagues in addition to your end users. Because if they trust you, they're more likely to let you do what you think is right.

The good news? If you’re a good content designer, you already have all of those qualities. So isn't it great that I'm asking you to use them?

About me

Hi. I'm Jane Van de Ban. After 30 years of working as a content specialist in the public sector, as well as being a senior union officer, I quit my job to focus on the things that energise me.

One of those things is stakeholder management. I think it's mean to ask content designers to deal with stakeholders without giving them the training that will help them. That's why I developed a bespoke course specifically for teams of content designers.

If you have identified stakeholder management as a challenge for your content designers, please book a free 45-minute chat with me (button above) and let's start talking.

What do you think? Am I completely off base, or is there something in it? I'd love to hear your thoughts.