Website Design
Which Comes First… The Chicken/Design or the Egg/Content?

It’s time for your business or organization to develop a new website. It is easy to start the process by looking at colors and logos and maybe even look at some trendy new web templates that you have found online.

You jump right in and start with all the design features that will offer your website all the visual glitz and glamour. It’s exciting to look at colors, logos, typography and templates. After all, you want your message to pop when people look at it, right? How do you even start planning a website without all these creature comforts?

Content First, Design Later

Creating a website without putting content first can be compared to shopping for a new car. You go to the car lot and your eyes gravitate toward the shiny red convertible 2 seater with wheels that sparkle. You open the door and sit in the leather seats and the new car smell immediately over takes you. All of your senses are now engaged and you are ready to throw down some cash to make the purchase. Only problem is you just bought a new home, have 6 children, and your boss just informed you that you are not getting a raise this year.  

Content Matters

The content of your website is part of the design process and it should be the foundation of that process. In essence a designer builds the car to fit your lifestyle or rather the designer builds the website to fit your content.

The content of your website tells your brands story. A great website showcases this content in a way that maximizes your brands message.

Why Content Should Be First

A designer could design a full webpage for your site with a nice 3 column design. However, once they are presented with the content of your website they realize that your content will not fit properly in 3 columns. This means the designer then has to go back and redesign the page. This only takes more time and delays the rest of the process.

Looking at and considering all of the content of your website first identifies potential issues like those mentioned above.

Forcing content to fit into an existing web design can result in additional unnecessary code which can slow down your website. It can also lead to an inconsistent look across the whole website. Fixing these issues only takes more time and money.

Don’t let the flashy colors, or the latest trends in design tempt you. Stick with your content.

Kyle Long
Project Manager