The content-first approach puts content ahead of design elements and aesthetics to create user-friendly products with content that is easy to find, read and understand.
While content-first prioritizes content, it doesn't necessarily mean design is disregarded. On the contrary, the content-first strategy recognizes that design and content must work together seamlessly to create an effective website or app. It aims to ensure that your product's design approach aligns with its content and, thus, maximizes the impact of both. There are other approaches too, such as task-oriented design which focuses on task-completion.
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Design considerations are still essential in the content-first design approach but are addressed from a user-centered perspective. With a focus on the user's needs and preferences, designers can create products that look good and enhance the user's experience. This means it is necessary to create page layouts and visual elements that complement the content and help users navigate the site quickly.
If you choose to adopt this strategy, it's important that you think about two key elements that will help you prioritize content over design:
Improves User Experience: When designers prioritize content, they improve the quality of the experience since users visit websites or use apps to find relevant information.
Promotes Content-Informed Design Decisions: When content is available, designers can design the experience accordingly. For example, they can choose tone, voice, language and message that complement and enhance the content. Effective UX writing is essential for this.
To start a project with the content-first approach, it's essential to understand what you want to achieve with your website. To establish a strong foundation:
Consider the purpose of your website or app (the “why”). Determine what you would like to communicate and how your content will help you achieve those goals. This step is crucial because when you prioritize content over design, the focus is on the effective delivery of the message.
Think about the story you want to tell (the “what”). Consider how your content will convey a narrative that aligns with your brand's values and resonates with your audience. This will also help you create a product that engages users.
Identify the actions you want users to take on your website or app (the “how”). Whether it's to make a purchase, fill out a form, or contact you directly, try understanding the expected user behavior from the outset.
A content-first approach in web or app design is simple, but requires some adjustments to your design process. Here are some steps you can take when adopting this method:
Conduct a Content Audit: Start by auditing your website's existing content. Identify which pages and sections of the site are most important and analyze how the current content performs.
Conduct Competitive Analysis: Investigate what your competition is doing regarding content; for example, what message do they communicate? What are the key features of their website or app? How do they use visual design to communicate brand values? Also, make a list of positive and negative aspects.
Conduct User Research: While competitive analysis is good, you must not copy their mistakes! Moreover, your users may have different needs than your competitors. Do your field research and conduct interviews to understand your users better.
Create a Site Map or a User Flow: A site map is a visual representation of all the pages on a site, and a user flow documents the steps users take to accomplish their tasks on an app. Both are valuable tools to identify what type of content your users prefer and help you check where the content would have more impact.
Create a Content Inventory Document: This list features all the content on your website, such as text, images or documents. It helps you identify gaps in content and avoid duplicates or unnecessary items.
Use Proto-Content to Avoid Unnecessary Design Iterations: Using proto-content, or low-fidelity content, instead of generic placeholder text like "Lorem Ipsum," is especially helpful when creating designs for localized content since it enables designers to understand how the design will look and feel with real content in different scenarios and languages.
Create a Limited Number of Layouts: Standardizing formats for groups of pages can improve usability since consistency informs users about what to expect next, so ask yourself: how many pages should follow the same format? For large websites, experts recommend using 5–7 templates, fewer than that for smaller products. To help you visualize the layouts, create sketches of them.
© Interaction Design Foundation, CC BY-SA 4.0
The content-first approach is a great way to create effective websites and apps that deliver the message clearly and concisely. Here are some best practices and considerations to keep in mind when using this approach:
One of the main goals of the content-first approach is to make it easy for users to find and understand your content. To achieve this goal, you should use clear, concise, easy-to-read and easy-to-understand language. Avoid jargon or technical terms that may confuse your audience.
During your content creation process, make a note to prioritize your content based on its importance. This means placing the most critical information at the top of the page, so users can quickly find what they need. Use headings, subheadings, and bullet points to break up large blocks of text and make it easier for users to scan.
If you're creating a website for a global audience, consider localization when developing your content strategy. This means translating your content into multiple languages and adapting it for different cultures. Remember that certain words or images may have different meanings in other parts of the world.
Before launching your website or app, test your content strategy with real users to see how they interact. Conduct user testing sessions where participants perform tasks on your site while you observe their behavior. This will help you identify any issues with navigation or usability.
Collaboration is key when using the content-first approach. Involve stakeholders from different departments in the design process, including marketing, sales, customer service and IT. This will help ensure that everyone's needs are being met and that the final product is effective.
Explore the benefits of using proto-content to improve your UX design.
Here's an overview of the content audit process, which involves analyzing and evaluating existing content on a website or app.
This article discusses the importance of creating a content inventory document or a comprehensive list of all the content on a website or app.
Content‑first design flips the conventional workflow by starting with the actual words, visuals, and messages users need before any wireframes or layouts exist. Traditional design often begins with frameworks, templates, or UI elements and makes content to fit afterwards. That approach can lead to filler text, disjointed messaging, or layouts that fail to support key user goals.
Content‑first design makes the content the foundation, shaping structure, navigation, and interaction around it. This shift helps make sure UIs (user interfaces) convey the right information at the right time, producing user experiences that feel purposeful and aligned with business objectives rather than retrofitted for convenience.
Get a greater grounding in our article What Comes First in Mobile Design: Tasks, Content, or Mobile Optimization?.
A content‑first strategy helps create clarity and consistency. Since design decisions stem from real content, not placeholders, teams can avoid mismatched visuals and awkward filler.
Prioritizing content means users find essential information faster, boosting engagement, trust, and conversions. Pages load with purpose: less missing content and more relevant microcopy, CTAs (calls to action), and instructions. Also, it streamlines collaboration between designers, copywriters, and stakeholders since everyone works from the same “source of truth.” Content‑first methods reduce costly rework later because layouts do not need re‑engineering to fit content. Ultimately, it leads to user‑focused products that can communicate clearly and perform better in real‑world use.
Discover helpful points about an essential subject in our article Consistency: MORE than what you think.
Starting with content-first means collecting the “real” words and assets early. Teams begin by defining the project goals and identifying what users need to know or do on each screen. Content audits and stakeholder workshops uncover missing or outdated information.
UX writers draft key pieces—headings, calls‑to‑action, onboarding text—before wireframes exist. Designers then structure layouts to fit this content naturally, not force it into pre‑made boxes. This process involves early collaboration between UX writers, designers, and subject experts. When teams build around authentic content, they can avoid generic placeholders and ensure the interface feels intentional, readable, and aligned with user tasks from the start.
Enjoy our Master Class UX Writing: How to Use Words as a Design Power Tool with Torrey Podmajersky, Author, Speaker and UX Writer at Google.
Strong content‑first design relies on research to identify what users really need. UX teams use qualitative methods such as interviews and quantitative ones such as surveys to uncover user goals and pain points. Content audits evaluate existing material for accuracy and relevance.
Card sorting and tree testing reveal how users group and label information, shaping navigation and copy structure. Search query analysis highlights the language people use, informing terminology. Usability tests expose content gaps or confusing messaging by observing how users struggle—or succeed—with real tasks. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods ensures teams build around authentic, user‑driven content that answers questions, reduces friction, and supports core workflows.
Climb to a higher level with tree testing and discover helpful design truths from users.
When teams skip content‑first thinking, design often leads while content lags behind—and it shows. Arbitrary placeholders cause layouts that do not fit real copy later. Marketing or development teams may cram long headlines or instructions into tight spaces, breaking visual balance.
Content mismatches cause inconsistent voice, missing calls to action (CTAs), and confusing navigation labels. Users see vague, filler‑heavy pages that frustrate instead of guide. Ignoring content‑first makes for costly redesigns, too, as teams scramble to retrofit UI for actual words. The biggest mistake is to treat content as decoration instead of the backbone of the experience.
Find another dimension of content and why it is essential in our article How to Craft Effective Mobile Experiences: The Role of Content Strategy and UX Writing.
Microcopy is the short, functional bits like button labels, error messages, and tooltips. It becomes a crucial pillar of content‑first design, guiding users through tasks, clarifying actions, and reducing uncertainty. When UX writers craft it early, microcopy shapes layouts: for example, knowing if a call‑to‑action reads “Submit” or “Get My Free Guide” impacts button size and placement.
It sets the tone and builds trust, too. For example, friendly microcopy on payment forms eases anxiety. Content‑first teams write microcopy up front so designers design around real words, not filler. This creates cohesive interfaces where even the smallest bits of text support user goals and make the experience feel intuitive.
Find the answer to What is Micro-copy and How do We Deliver Good UX with it? in our article about that very question.
Content‑first and mobile‑first design complement each other. Mobile‑first strips experiences down to essentials, forcing designers to prioritize. Content‑first ensures those essentials are the right words, visuals, and CTAs (calls to action).
Starting with content guarantees mobile interfaces are not just simplified; they are meaningful. Instead of shrinking desktop text onto a phone, teams decide what users truly need on small screens. Mobile layouts then wrap around crucial content, neatly making every word count. Together, the two approaches lead to streamlined, user‑focused designs where messaging drives structure and clutter disappears. They share a goal: clear, task‑ready experiences that work in any context.
Discover helpful insights about mobile-first design.
Content‑first design and content strategy overlap, but they are not identical. Content strategy is the overarching plan for creating, managing, and governing content across a product or brand. It answers the question, “What content do we produce, why, and who maintains it?”
Content‑first design is a design process that starts each project or screen with actual content, instead of retrofitting it later. Think of content strategy as the big picture (voice, governance, lifecycle) and content‑first design as the tactical execution (designing from the words up). Together, they ensure that both the what and the how of content creation produce consistent, user‑centered experiences.
Explore how content strategy has such a massive bearing on where design solutions go.
In a content‑first workflow, wireframes do not start as empty boxes; they evolve from real headlines, buttons, and error messages. This grounds prototypes in authentic scenarios and prevents layouts from “breaking” later when the real content arrives. Writers and designers collaborate from the start, and they shape wireframes to fit text flow and hierarchy.
This way, prototypes become more realistic for testing, as users see actual copy instead of placeholder text. This permits usability tests to reveal whether labels, CTAs, and messages work. By integrating content early, wireframing and prototyping can yield stronger, more validated designs—and fewer painful adjustments once development begins.
Discover how to use prototypes to pave the way to more effective designs.
Agile teams adopt content‑first thinking by treating content as a sprint deliverable, not an afterthought. Before design starts, writers join sprint planning to identify key copy needs, such as form instructions or onboarding messages. Story mapping includes both interface steps and supporting words. Writers, designers, and developers collaborate in the same sprint cycles, so content and layout evolve together.
Teams draft “proto‑content” early, refine it through iteration, and then test it in prototypes. This approach prevents last‑minute filler, aligns cross‑functional teams, and ensures each sprint produces fully usable increments, including the content. The result is faster, cleaner releases with messaging baked in from day one.
Get a greater grasp of how to leverage agile design and enjoy the many benefits of this approach.
Heidvogel, L. (2023, February 2). Content‑First Design: The Value‑Added UX Approach. UX Writing Hub. https://uxwritinghub.com/content-first-design-in-ux/
Linda Heidvogel describes how content-first design places real content—words, messages, and structure—before visuals. She reflects on her own UX education and highlights how wireframes using Lorem Ipsum often create misaligned flows and require costly redesigns. By including writers early and treating content as foundational, she demonstrates how teams build more logical hierarchy and seamless user journeys. This article underscores the practice of writing draft copy before design. It offers clear, real-world advice for UX teams and helps them recognize how content-first approaches prevent layout issues and create purposeful, user-centered interfaces.
Roe, S. (2019, November 12). How I use content‑first design to influence strategy. One Design Community (Medium). https://medium.com/capitalonedesign/how-i-use-content-first-design-to-influence-strategy-cf79d16260f1
This article explores the strategic impact of content-first design within product and UX teams. He describes designing with real content before layout, showing how collaborating early on words can reshape page structure and increase clarity. Through the team project at Capital One—reimagining onboarding by writing conversation-style form copy first—he demonstrates that content-first decisions influenced organizational strategy and improved conversion rates. The article confirms that content drives design goals rather than vice versa.
Loranger, H. (2024, April 10). Layout vs content: design a site where content is king. Nielsen Norman Group. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/layout-vs-content/
This article explains why content should lead layout decisions rather than be forced into a pre-defined structure. She demonstrates how prioritizing “real content first” avoids awkward design gaps, enhances usability, and ensures information flows in natural reading order. The piece emphasizes that layout (white space, grids, hierarchy) must serve content—not overshadow it—and gives designers practical strategies to align structure with messaging. Because NN/g backs it with usability research and real-world examples, this article offers essential guidance for building purposeful, content-driven interfaces.
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