What are some emerging trends and best practices in content design?

An emerging trend in content design is the emphasis on inclusive and accessible content, ensuring that designs are user-friendly for individuals of all abilities. This means using plain language, descriptive alt text, and clear visual hierarchies to enhance the user experience for everyone.

This is why content decisions are contextual and nuanced. While content design best practices provide a strong starting point, truly world-class content requires collaboration with product managers and product designers on each project. For example, a salesperson using enterprise software will be comfortable with a term like “qualified lead” because that is a common concept for the job they do. However, that is not a term that should be used in a user flow for all people. The time and work it takes to develop that type of understanding about your users is an investment in the long-term success of the product. User-centered content takes commitment, but the value is high and compounds over time!

One of the most critical aspects of content design is to prioritise your users and their requirements, shifting the focus from your organisation and its messages. Emphasising empathy, strive to comprehend your users' demographics, goals, behaviours, and challenges. Employ a range of techniques, such as user research, personas, user journeys, and user testing, to collect and evaluate user data and insights. By harnessing this information, you can develop content that is not only relevant and valuable but also fosters a connection with your users, enhancing their engagement with your brand.

Users don't want to hear our sales pitch. Instead, we need to focus on the problems that our products or services solve. Ask questions like: - What are the needs and challenges of our target audience? - How can our solutions help them? That's the message that our content should convey. User-centricity is a design philosophy that focuses on the needs, wants, and goals of the user. In the context of content design, this means creating content that is relevant, useful, and engaging to the target audience.

It’s about crafting messages that the user wants to hear, not just what the brand wants to say. The more you understand your audience, the better you’ll be at creating content that meets their needs. This understanding involves knowing their motivations, challenges, and preferences. From my experience, there is no one-size-fits-all solution in content design. It’s crucial to segment your audience and target them differently for greater impact. By tailoring your messages to specific segments, you can address their unique needs and concerns more effectively. This approach not only enhances user engagement but also builds trust and loyalty.

Think about a content pain point. For example, a simple edit to content that has to be made in several places. Wouldn't it be nice to update something once and have that change appear everywhere it needs to? That's a pain point that could benefit from a content model, with rules that define where the content publishes to when the change is made only once. Designing the same general section or component across multiple areas of your website could also be an opportunity for a content model. Smart thinking around your content model can cut production time and reduce many of those pain points, all while remaining consistent with your content and your design.

Content modeling is more than just defining and structuring content; it’s about creating a framework that ensures your content is consistent, adaptable, and easy to manage. One key aspect I’ve found invaluable is the ability to break down content into smaller, reusable components. This modular approach not only saves time but also maintains consistency across various platforms and channels. Another important benefit of content modeling is its role in future-proofing your content strategy. By establishing clear rules and relationships, you make it easier to update and expand your content as your needs evolve.

It’s important to note that content ops is most successful when integrated with product, design, engineering, and QA processes. After all, if your content team hands off strategic copy that would 10x growth metrics… but a developer uses the wrong version and no one catches the mistake, the value is lost. Content ops requires support and collaboration with all partner teams.

From my perspective, content operations is also not a one-person effort. It requires a team to sit down, discuss, and create something beneficial for all. Whether it’s establishing processes to give a solid structure to your work or creating standard guidelines that define the what, how, and why, collaboration is key. Effective content operations also depends on clear communication and alignment among team members. Regular check-ins, open forums for feedback, and transparent decision-making processes help ensure everyone is on the same page. It’s about building a culture where every team member understands their role and how it contributes to the larger goals of the organization.

In addition to following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), it is very important to always test with real and diverse users. Each person is unique, and a really interested look at them will be able to identify points of improvement that have not even been mapped yet by the guidelines.

I've seen the act of not using alt text as "censoring yourself." And that's a very good attitude to have regarding this. You're putting a lot of effort into online content. You want it understood by everyone it's supposed to be reaching. In all ways.

We often start with the intention of creating highly accessible content. However, I’ve noticed that in our efforts to be creative and think outside the box, our focus on accessibility can fade away. What remains is a checklist of bare minimum requirements that we tick off just to ensure compliance. As an acessibility specialist, I understand the true value of the practice and the profound impact it can have on many people’s lives. It’s not just about meeting standards; it’s about genuinely enhancing the user experience for everyone. Accessibility should be an integral part of the creative process, not an afterthought. By prioritizing accessibility from the beginning, we can create content that is not only innovative but also inclusive.

Ethical content is essential to building trust with your users. Incorporating ethics in your content design thinking process supports business goals and encourages user journey completion.

Practice ethical content creation by being transparent, honest, and respectful in your communication with users. Avoid deceptive tactics, misleading information, and manipulation, and prioritize the well-being and privacy of your audience.

Ethics aren't only the right thing to do, they retain customers! If you already have that trust, congrats. Now continue to keep it up once they are using your product. If your features don't offer everything, focus on what users can do.

Monitor and analyze content performance metrics to measure the effectiveness of your content and inform future content strategies. Track metrics such as engagement, conversion rates, bounce rates, and dwell time to identify trends, optimize content, and drive business objectives.

If you are struggling to ensure the backing of superiors for raising content budgets, then it is highly worth beginning to assess, then present ROI figures. These speak the language of business, and opportunity - should your content strategy align to revenue generation. Here is a great ROI calculator to get you started: https://www.honed.co/roi-calculator/

I believe, the content design landscape thrives on innovation. Emerging trends showcase a user-centric approach, with content crafted for accessibility and inclusivity. Microcontent and modular designs reign supreme, catering to short attention spans and allowing users to easily find the information they need. Artificial intelligence influences design through personalization and voice search optimization, while the rise of automation emphasizes the importance of clear, concise writing that both machines and humans can understand. Finally, data-driven decision-making is no longer a fad, but a best practice, ensuring content resonates with the ever-evolving needs of your audience.

Content performance is as important as any other aspect in the content creation process. What you create needs to have a clear goal, and when it hits that goal, it creates impact. Measuring and documenting this impact is crucial. It not only helps you understand what works and what doesn’t but also reveals the latest trends and reflects the users’ changing mindsets. Additionally, regularly analyzing content performance allows you to stay agile, make timely adjustments to your strategy, and ensure your content remains relevant and effective.

D'après mon expérience dans l'écriture de dossiers d'appels d'offres, notamment pour le secteur immobilier ou la recherche de fonds, dans ce domaine, chaque phrase doit être pensée comme une réponse à une demande. Il faut donc enlever les mots qui donnent de l'emphase mais n'apportent rien au lecteur (client, jury, etc.). Et au contraire, il faut se concentrer sur la qualité des verbes, la précisions des informations (pour qui, combien, quand, où, etc.) et écrire dans un style très direct.

Pour ma part, je recommanderais de se garder des effets de mode et d’éviter les stéréotypes d’écriture encouragés par l’IA car entre narratif et personal branding, tous les posts se ressemblent un peu aujourdhui sur LinkedIn !