Content design

Content design makes things easier for users to understand.

A lot of organisations publish content that only says what it wants to say. Instead, content design focuses on giving users the information they need, in a format that meets their needs.

Content design works closely with UI designers, service designers, and user researchers to inform the content they design.

Contents

Principles

Consistency in language, spelling and tone improves the user experience by increasing trust, clarity and brand recognition. It also enforces recognition over recall.

Content that is accessible and inclusive doesn’t exclude any users. With inclusive content design, all users can access, understand, and relate to content. Making content accessible and inclusive also ensures the content is legally compliant and helps promote inclusivity.

Good content hierarchy and information architecture make websites easy to use. It helps users find what they need and gives them a good user experience. Content hierarchy is like the structure of a book. The content hierarchy is the order things are arranged in the book. There are chapters, sections, and pages. Each level has its place, and it helps you find what you need. Information architecture is like how a library is organised to help you find the books in it. It's not just about where books are placed, but also about making sure the signs and labels are clear, so you can find the right book easily.

It is important to keep the information on your website or product accurate and up to date to improve the user experience. Maintaining and managing the content lifecycle removes unnecessary information that can clutter user journeys, improves sustainability, and can help you to spot gaps in your user journey.

Content-first design means we base our design on the information people need to complete the task safely and successfully. Doing your content first and then building a responsive prototype, allows UI designers to create flexible layouts for a clear content hierarchy and navigation path. This ensures a consistent and accessible content experience across different devices and platforms and prioritises your users. It enhances usability, making it easier for users to find what they need quickly and intuitively. Agreeing on your content first can also streamline prototyping. It gives service, product and UI designers the information they need to understand the project’s requirements and reduces frequent design updates due to content amends and updates. This makes better use of your resources, manages costs, and reduces the danger of working out of scope because some ideas weren’t developed in an earlier phase.

Content style guide

Start with content based on the user flow and journey. Use plain English and ensure content is best suited to the outcome the user is trying to achieve.

UX Writing best practice

Clear, concise user-centred content improves digital user experiences, leading to greater user satisfaction and product usability.

Following UX writing best practice is important because it helps users to navigate, understand and use products or services effectively.

  • Make your content as concise as possible – remove unnecessary words.
  • Use plain language.
  • Avoid metaphors.
  • Avoid jargon and technical language (unless you’re certain the audience understands it and it’s relevant).
  • Avoid ambiguity – never expect the user to assume. Explain things fully by telling the user exactly what is happening and what they need to do.
  • Use an active voice. For example: Do this: Create an account to log into the portal Not this: An account must be created before you can log into the portal.
  • Positive framing – don’t put blame on the user.
  • Inclusivity and accessibility – consider your word choices, use plain language, and check bias and that your content is accessible to screen readers.
  • Structure content for skim readers and to reduce reading time (readability).
  • Think about mental models and pattern recognition when choosing language and structuring your content.

A good general guide to UX writing is provided by Nielsen Norman Group

Word choice

Choosing the right words is important to create a good user experience because it makes information accurate, easy to understand, accessible and relatable.

  • Be careful of homographs and homonyms (words with multiple meanings) – especially those that aren’t that obvious. This helps to improve accessibility for some disabilities and users whose second language is English.
  • Plain language – go for the simplest way of saying something. Avoid complicated, big words.
  • Avoid colloquialisms.
  • Avoid slang.

Grammar and punctuation

How you use grammar and punctuation can make information clear and easy to read, improving the overall user experience.

It can also prevent misunderstandings and frustration when using technology to support accessibility.

Forget everything (well most of) what you learnt in school!

  • Don’t overuse punctuation as it creates pauses in reading and makes the content less understandable.
  • It’s okay to break the rules if it makes the information easier to understand. For example, it’s okay to use commas (,) instead of semi colons (;) as it improves readability.
  • Contractions are fine to use – they can make the information easier to read.
  • Use sentence case for titles, headers and sub headers.
  • Always avoid using all capital letters for words and sentences.
  • Use full stops at the end of sentences to help screen readers know when the content has ended.

Tone of voice

To make a positive impression with everyone we deal with, we need to: make sure we understand who we are (our personality), and how we communicate (our tone of voice) ensure that we always come across consistently.

This is particularly important for us because some people we deal with aren’t marine or hydrographic experts and most of our global customers use English as a second language. Of course, the way we communicate our key messages may vary depending on who we are talking to. For instance, we might emphasise different aspects of our story when communicating with a government official, a mariner or the local community.

But, our tone of voice will always remain the same. These tools help you to do this in making digital products and services.

Our personality

Our brand personality has been formed over many years and represents who we are, how we behave, and what makes us ‘tick’. It shapes how we work and how we communicate. Our personality influences the way people think of us, judge us and, ultimately, whether they trust us and our brand. It’s made up of many characteristics which we have distilled down to three main traits. Together, these make up who we are.

Authoritative

We inspire confidence and always portray the world-leading knowledge and experience we have. Authoritative means:

  • we are experts in our field
  • we educate and inform our audience
  • we are respected
  • we qualify what we say with facts, sources or quotes

Engaging

We tell our story in a compelling way. We are always approachable and actively encourage collaboration. Engaging means:

  • we welcome two-way dialogue with others and prefer collaboration
  • we are open and respond positively to new ideas, people and organisations
  • we recognise the emotional as well as rational impact of what we say and do
  • our authority doesn’t come across as patronising or distant

Dynamic

We are always active, forward-thinking and energising. Dynamic means:

  • we convey a sense of pace and a positive future
  • we are creative and innovative
  • we focus on what needs to be done and finding new ways to do things
  • we seek to grow our knowledge and understanding

Our tone of voice

Our tone of voice is the way we sound. It reflects our personality. To be effective it should be evident in everything we say and do – not just in our official reports and publications, but in emails, presentations and all our everyday conversations.

The three main elements of our tone of voice help us to communicate more engagingly with our audiences.

Clear

Whoever they are, our audiences need to understand us. This is especially important because of the technical nature of what we do. Being clear means we:

  • make sure we are easy to understand
  • explain technical terms when we use them
  • are consistent with our messages
  • are concise
  • use language and reasoning that others can easily follow and understand

We don’t:

  • ‘dumb-down’ issues but always explain clearly
  • waffle or over-elaborate
  • use acronyms unnecessarily

Confident

Being confident helps us to build authority and trust. Being confident means we:

  • share our knowledge, expertise and experience
  • qualify what we say with facts and evidence or quote our sources
  • are clear and succinct, prioritising key messages
  • are truthful, but positive without over /under selling
  • are clear when we don’t know something or don’t know the answer

We don’t:

  • talk down to people
  • come across as arrogant or pompous
  • exaggerate, overstate or overestimate

Cordial

We need to balance clarity and confidence with being warm and approachable, as we don’t want to come across as arrogant, clinical or unapproachable. Being cordial means we:

  • are welcoming and friendly
  • want to engage with others
  • are active and dynamic
  • are open, co-operative and responsive
  • talk to our audiences in a human way

We aren’t:

  • remote or impersonal
  • patronising or condescending
  • uninterested in other people’s concerns or viewpoints

Content Strategy

Our content design is informed by GDS Content Design but balanced alongside the ADMIRALTY Brand tone of voice to create meaningful, consistent and valuable user-focused content. It makes messages more effective and ensures a good user experience.

  • Content lifecycle
  • Sign off process
  • Testing content with users
  • Content management
  • Content audits
  • Channels and formats (pdfs…)
  • SEO (search engine optimisation)
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