Win win or no deal?
A long time ago, there was a big discussion about what is more important (content or design) in the digital world. In fact, Bill Gates talked about it in his essay back in 1996 when he predicted that content would be where the real money is made on the internet.
Although content is still extremely relevant, it wouldn’t be anywhere without design. So, which is which? What comes first, and is one more important than the other?
Why is content important?
Well first of all, content is what we can consider as any kind of information that is written by words or numbers, and maybe with some pictures or drawings to clarify what the creator means, to ease information and deliver them accurately.
Content should be useful, relevant and informative, and it might be a time-consuming task, as it will only benefit your business when it’s of high quality.
It’s essential to create content since it comes with numerous benefits to help your business grow.
What are the benefits of content?
Actually, there are many, and you need to know what is that you want your audience to be informed of, because sometimes it could be just sample words or it might need a big and beautiful paragraph, either way content goods are many and I can simplify it to you with some sentences, which are:
- Brings relevant traffic to your website.
- Forms a bond between your audience and your brand through storytelling.
- Encourages your audience to take action and perform the desired conversion.
- Helps search engines rank your website higher.
And if you noticed, I wrote this previous information with two types of writing methods, one is as storytelling, and the other is just laying down sentences, because some content needs a lot of explaining and some doesn’t.
So, what is the importance of design?
First of all, design is what we call visuals and the look or appearance, which reflect what type or specification is your job- brand or your business on line.
So, it is the thing that let people come to you if it was pretty and clear, and make them runaway when it’s not really good.
Any benefits from a good design?
The good quality of a design Speaks to your customers by representing your brand, it also ensures a lasting first impression through unique graphics, not to mention helps boost sales by attracting more potential customers, and Improves usability.
But who is the winner here?
Where a content writer may argue that content is imperative to design, and a designer vice versa, technically, they are equally important. Think of a beautiful car as the design in this narrative, but its engine as content. One is useless without the other, and only together can they fulfill their purpose.
Without design, your content looks boring. Unreadable, even. Remember, someone once designed the font type you use! On the other hand, your design may not be actionable without content. What is a banner with stunning graphics without a call-to-action?
Conclusion
Don’t pour your heart and soul into writing digital content only to find a couple of mundane stock photos and toss them somewhere between your text. And, don’t spend ages creating a stellar design only to have your text completely miss the point. Give both content and design the attention they deserve by thinking of them together.
Instead of thinking about content and design as separate entities, arguing about who gets first place, let’s look at them as a joint collaboration.
