As you probably already know, User Experience (UX) is the hottest trend to sweep the digital marketing industry. Everything from websites to mobile apps is now designed in a way that's friendly to the user, but what exactly is UX?
The principles of UX are simple: create a platform that’s easier for the user to navigate and they’re more likely to stick around. However, part of what keeps people coming back to a website or using an app isn’t only usability, it’s also the content presented.
Should I focus on creating content or revamping the UX?
There’s a common misconception that a lot of people have about the relationship between content and UX. Many people see them as separate entities, with content being the material that attracts readers while UX’s job is to arrange the website or app in a way that’s easy to navigate.
In the world of digital marketing, content and UX are intrinsically related. One of the most important aspects of UX is finding a way to arrange digital content in a way that works, and by works we mean breaking up paragraphs into easy-to-read chunks, placing the content in the optimal place, and coming up with an ergonomic website design that’s easy to access. Content creation plays an important role in maintaining good UX principles in a website or application, which is precisely why good content writers are expected to sum up a page worth of information into an easy-to-read paragraph of 300 words.
In fact, most writers are automatically thinking about UX on a subconscious level when they come up with web content. They take into account the size of paragraphs when writing content that will be placed in the center of the page or on the sidebars, where there is less space to work with. Even the fonts used, header sizes, and colors are all part of a UX concept known as visual hierarchy.
While it hasn’t been at the forefront of everyone’s minds as much as UX, content strategy (CS) is equally as important. It determines what information is important and what is irrelevant and should be done away with, which ties into how well the user interacts with the material they have before them. For this reason, content is the precursor that helps determine what is and isn’t proper UX.
Don’t Put the Cart before the Horse
At the end of the day, UX is about delivering information in a way that’s accessible and easy to understand. Many developers are now taking a content-first approach to designing websites and applications. This enables them to come up with content that perfectly communicates what the company has to offer in a manner that is relatable and easy to understand – and that is the foundation of good UX.
