Content designer

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A content designer is tasked with communicating information in the best way possible. [1] An effective content designer is expected to be skilled in language(s), psychology, user experience (UX), graphic design, and the technical requirements of front-end development. A content designer is an expert across various media, and is skilled in drafting compelling text, images, and videos.

Contents

Content designers are skilled researchers who investigate their target audience to create effective content. They can act as user advocates during engineering and design processes with a goal of making content easily accessible for their audience. Furthermore, they manage and update the content to ensure its up to date and useful.

The term "content designer" originated in big technology, however, it is also used in online marketing, sound design, or government publishing. Content designers can work on the web, in print, or on digital services and applications. [2]

Content design in government

Content designers working for government have to explain complicated information as clearly as possible. It is a form of User centred design.

Content design is not editorial writing. According to Sarah Winters (was Richards) of Content Design London: [3]

If you approach a new piece of web content with ‘how shall I write this?’, that’s writing or editorial. If you approach it from ‘how am I going to get this across to the audience in the best way possible?’, that’s content design.

Content designers use data and testing to understand what people need and then try to meet those needs. This can help citizens understand their rights and obligations, and use government services.

Content designers make information easy to find, simple to understand, and accessible to everyone.

Content designer is a defined role in the UK government civil service [4] and in the Australian government. [5] In the UK government:

Content designers are responsible for creating, updating and reviewing content around the end-to-end user journey and are comfortable using evidence, data and research.

In Singapore, the Design Skills Framework includes the roles of Content writer and Content strategist, [6] rather than a Content designer.

Content design in marketing

Content designers are often involved in online marketing, and usually focus on animated graphics, texts, videos, and sound depending on the message and the target audience. Most content designers produce their own content from scratch and work on their project individually, often using social media. [7] The duties of a content designer vary, depending on the type of company, and the projects they are developing. [8] The format of the content usually specifies a more specific title such as animator for motion graphics, writer for textual content, instructional designer for educational content, or a programmer for automated program/data-driven content. Most content designers must create or draw original work which is relevant to a specific topic or message they wish to communicate. [8] An important function of this job type is being able to adapt to new advances in coding and design. Content designers also create new codes and templates, and often keep themselves updated by acquiring new technical skills. [9]

Web developer vs. web designer

Content designers who specialize in programming might deliberate the role of a web developer versus web designer. Web developers deal with the non-design aspect of building websites, which includes coding and writing markup and site hierarchy, including: client-side coding, server-side coding, and database technology. [10] Web developers require a more intense education than web designers in order to create a website. Generally, web developers excel at coding and the technical aspects of web programming. Web designers create content, whereas web developers must create code that is easy to read; together they create user-friendly, and an overall enjoyable experience for the user to navigate. [11]

Web designers use graphics and graphic design software to create visuals for a website. They then use coding to make it available online. Designers are creative and use both intuition and imagination. However, web designers express more concern with the look of a website than how technically sound it is. They often rely on a web developer to build a website from the ground up and know all the specific languages for that website. [12]

Overall, online representation of a business through websites as a result of web development has made an impact on modern day society. Web developing serves a platform to promote online marketing for a business allowing it to gain global exposure. Millions of online users are able to engage with their favorite businesses thanks to web developing. [13]

Web design and development introduce a convenient way to maneuver through websites. A simple design that easily engages users is an effective outcome. Web designs are constantly updated in order to stay relevant for its users. The aesthetic of a website translates how well users are attracted to use a website. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graphic design</span> Interdisciplinary branch of design and of the fine arts

Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of design and of the fine arts. Its practice involves creativity, innovation and lateral thinking using manual or digital tools, where it is usual to use text and graphics to communicate visually.

Web design encompasses many different skills and disciplines in the production and maintenance of websites. The different areas of web design include web graphic design; user interface design ; authoring, including standardised code and proprietary software; user experience design ; and search engine optimization. Often many individuals will work in teams covering different aspects of the design process, although some designers will cover them all. The term "web design" is normally used to describe the design process relating to the front-end design of a website including writing markup. Web design partially overlaps web engineering in the broader scope of web development. Web designers are expected to have an awareness of usability and be up to date with web accessibility guidelines.

Desktop publishing (DTP) is the creation of documents using dedicated software on a personal ("desktop") computer. It was first used almost exclusively for print publications, but now it also assists in the creation of various forms of online content. Desktop publishing software can generate page layouts and produce text and image content comparable to the simpler forms of traditional typography and printing. This technology allows individuals, businesses, and other organizations to self-publish a wide variety of content, from menus to magazines to books, without the expense of commercial printing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Information design</span> Communication and graphic design

Information design is the practice of presenting information in a way that fosters an efficient and effective understanding of the information. The term has come to be used for a specific area of graphic design related to displaying information effectively, rather than just attractively or for artistic expression. Information design is closely related to the field of data visualization and is often taught as part of graphic design courses. The broad applications of information design along with its close connections to other fields of design and communication practices have created some overlap in the definitions of communication design, data visualization, and information architecture.

A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebases for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines, all of which fall under the umbrella term of "game programmer". A game programmer should not be confused with a game designer, who works on game design.

A technical writer is a professional communicator whose task is to convey complex information in simple terms to an audience of the general public or a very select group of readers. Technical writers research and create information through a variety of delivery media. Example types of information include online help, manuals, white papers, design specifications, project plans, and software test plans. With the rise of e-learning, technical writers are increasingly hired to develop online training material.

Web development is the work involved in developing a website for the Internet or an intranet. Web development can range from developing a simple single static page of plain text to complex web applications, electronic businesses, and social network services. A more comprehensive list of tasks to which Web development commonly refers, may include Web engineering, Web design, Web content development, client liaison, client-side/server-side scripting, Web server and network security configuration, and e-commerce development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Technical writing</span> Type of written communication

Technical writing is a specialized form of communication used by many of today's industrial and scientific organizations to clearly and accurately convey complex information to a user. An organization's customers, employees, assembly workers, engineers, and scientists are some of the most common users who reference this form of content to complete a task or research a subject. Most technical writing relies on simplified grammar, supported by easy-to-understand visual communication to clearly and accurately explain complex information.

Technical communication is communication of technical subject matter such as engineering, science, or technology content. The largest part of it tends to be technical writing, though importantly it often requires aspects of visual communication. Technical communication also encompasses oral delivery modes such as presentations involving technical material. When technical communication occurs in workplace settings, it's considered a major branch of professional communication. In research or R&D contexts, it can overlap with scientific writing.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motion graphic design</span> Subset of graphic design

Motion graphic design, also known as motion design, is a subset of graphic design which combines design with animation and/or filmmaking, video production, and filmic techniques. Examples include kinetic typography and graphics used in film and television opening sequences, and station identification logos of some television channels.

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An online producer oversees the making of content for websites and other online properties. Online producers are sometimes called "web producers," "publishers," "content producers," or "online editors."

Web content development is the process of researching, writing, gathering, organizing, and editing information for publication on websites. Website content may consist of prose, graphics, pictures, recordings, movies, or other digital assets that could be distributed by a hypertext transfer protocol server, and viewed by a web browser.

Graphic design careers include creative director, art director, art production manager, brand identity developer, illustrator and layout artist.

A Website content writer or web content writer is a person who specializes in providing content for websites. Every website has a specific target audience and requires the most relevant content to attract business. Content should contain keywords aimed towards improving a website's SEO. A website content writer who also has knowledge of the SEO process is referred to as an SEO Content Writer.

User experience design, upon which is the centralized requirements for "User Experience Design Research", defines the experience a user would go through when interacting with a company, its services, and its products. User experience design is a user centered design approach because it considers the user's experience when using a product or platform. Research, data analysis, and test results drive design decisions in UX design rather than aesthetic preferences and opinions, for which is known as UX Design Research. Unlike user interface design, which focuses solely on the design of a computer interface, UX design encompasses all aspects of a user's perceived experience with a product or website, such as its usability, usefulness, desirability, brand perception, and overall performance. UX design is also an element of the customer experience (CX), and encompasses all design aspects and design stages that are around a customer's experience.

A chief web officer (CWO) is the highest-ranking corporate officer (executive) in charge of an organisation's web presence, including all internet and intranet sites. As a corporate officer position, the CWO reports directly to the CEO. A CWO will generally be very skilled with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, ASP, SQL, et cetera. It is not as common a role as the growing chief digital officer.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to web design and web development, two very related fields:

References

  1. ↑ "What is Content Design?". 14 March 2014.
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ "Content Design v Editorial". 21 August 2016.
  4. ↑ "Content Designer role description".
  5. ↑ The Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) (9 July 2018). "Building Digital Capability Program - Learning Design Standard - Content Design" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-05-22. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  6. ↑ SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), Workforce Singapore (WSG), and Design Singapore Council (Dsg) (7 January 2019). "Skills Framework for Design". Archived from the original on 2020-05-22. Retrieved 17 August 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ Gauer, Yael (7 April 2015). "25 Stats Content Marketers Need to Know". Contently. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  8. 1 2 "What Does a Content Designer Do?" . Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  9. ↑ Andrews, Michael (14 December 2015). "What is Content Designing?". Story Needle. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Web Development" . Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  11. ↑ Holliday, Lauren. "Web Design Vs. Web Development: What's the Difference?". Skilled Up. Archived from the original on 7 November 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  12. ↑ Cousins, Carrie (15 October 2013). "What's the Difference Between a Web Designer and Web Developer?". designmodo. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  13. ↑ Pritchard, Erin. "Why Design Is Important for Content Marketing". Vertical Measures. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  14. ↑ Laszlo, Arp. "Why is website design so important?". SunriseProWebsites. Retrieved 3 December 2016.

[1]

  1. ↑ Raposo, Daniel (1 April 2022). Design, visual communication and branding. England : Cambridge Scholars Publisher. pp. 1–15. ISBN   9781527580558.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
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