Use your words

When we dismiss or delegate the responsibility of crafting the copy in our designs to anyone but ourselves, we are doing a huge disservice to our users.

Our goal is to craft meaningful experiences and we need to consider our choice of words to be the building blocks. Pouring Lorem ipsum into those empty containers, isn’t exactly thinking hard about words as elements that influence the efficacy of our designs.

Why the hell do we spend so much energy focussing on the layout and flow of our designs? Whether we like it or not, we do it for the words. Design is there to enhance the meaning of the content, not the other way around. Words make us feel. Words make us hear. Words make us see.

We won’t always have the luxury of a content strategist or copywriter at our disposal. It’s our responsibility to step-up and become at the very least proficient, if not a master in the art of writing.

The greatest skill we can develop as designers is learning how to use our words. After all, good communicators are good writers and our duty as designers is to communicate meaning to our users.

Technology will always change. Words are forever.

Confuscius say:

“Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know more.”