Content design systems

Content is only as good as the systems used to create them. In bigger companies, we use content systems and components to create consistent content treatments across a product ecosystem. This is crucial, because as product org’s get larger and more complex, the more it leads to inconsistencies in content design.

One way to address this of course, is by having an updated, consistent style guide.

The other way is to think about content in a system, where other non content-designers can plug in content based on rules we apply.

Here’s some past examples of how I’ve used this:

Project: Introducing a new “save for later” feature

Company: BILL

Role: Senior Content Designer

Users needed a way to place documents in their inbox on hold. Similar to “important” in Gmail, this is a way they can sort through their inbox and note which items they’re either waiting for more info on, or just need to come back to later.

It sounds simple enough, but there’s a few complexities to think about:

• What should this feature be called? Originally it was called “flag”.

• What should we call it when the user hasn’t used it yet? What about when they have, how do they remove it?

• Where does it go when it’s been actioned?

• How do we adjust the term we use, with the tone of voice to match the intent?

To solve these questions, I realized that in order to get all my stakeholders on the same page, I needed to provide a visual way to represent these considerations. This required me to create a table with a descriptor of each intent scenario, so they understood how we need to shift the terminology.

Providing various term options in a simplified way to the stakeholders allowed them to see a clear, visual representation of how the terms can affect the language used in each aspect of the flow.

Content Mapping

This table gave the stakeholders a solid visual for how the intent might shift, and the terms we use would as well.

Given this context, they better understood how we might approach it. With all of the feedback, it was decided that “save” was the best term (and my preferred choice as well).

term refinement

So given that direction, I had to explore more areas of the product where the save term would be used. Here’s how I framed it to finalize the concepts:

This table was helpful for myself and the designer to understand how this term would be applied in all instances.

So instead of simply saying “let’s call it ‘save for later’”, we have a framework for how this term can be applied anytime this feature is used…and we have solutions in place for every area of the product where this feature will be used.

Final solution

So now we have contextual content that can be applied across an ecosystem, regardless of who is using it. We can also build this in the style guide as a reference point for other designers or content designers.

How to incorporate content design practices in design systems

Work with your design leaders and engineers to figure out how content is built into your systems, and start with more foundational elements to consider how content plugs into your product.