“Content informs design; design without content is decoration. Content has the same relationship to design that product has to advertising. Good ads are based on the product; good designs come from and facilitate the content. This is one reason we bring content strategy to every design assignment, and one reason we insist on working with real content, not lorem ipsum (placeholder) content. Nothing is sadder than a beautiful design that works great with lorem ipsum but doesn’t actually support the real content.”

A Design Apart: Q&A with Jeffrey Zeldman | Sparksheet

Filed under: Interviews, Zeldman

12 Responses to “A Design Apart Q&A”

1. A Design Apart Q&A... (Zeldman) » TechNews.AM said on 19 November 2009 at 7:17 pm:

   [...] breaking news across the technology sector. We are still in Alpha, so please bear with us. A Design Apart Q&AZeldman  4 hours ago “Content informs design; design without content is decoration. [...]

2. 
   Evan Skuthorpe said on 20 November 2009 at 5:42 am:

   Spot on.

3. 
   Jeffrey Zeldman said on 20 November 2009 at 8:25 am:

   Thanks, Evan.

4. 
   George said on 20 November 2009 at 9:38 am:

   This is the most compact piece of great design advice I’ve read for a long time. Every sentence is a best practice tip. A must read for everybody in the industry.

5. 
   Jeffrey Zeldman said on 20 November 2009 at 10:45 am:

   (Blush)

   Thanks, George.

6. Georgi Varzonovtsev (11/09): This is the most c... — BackType said on 20 November 2009 at 12:08 pm:

   [...] A Design Apart Q&A on Jeffrey Zeldman Presents from 2 hours ago [...]

7. 
   P. Colin Manikoth said on 20 November 2009 at 4:38 pm:

   Long time reader, first time commenter….

   I will be presenting to an executive board ready to shoot holes not only into the design, but also the process. This quote validates the info. architecture, wireframing, user testing, and site analysis stages.

   This quote is the reason I have a Del.icio.us tag for “zeldman”.

8. 
   Jim Pietrangelo said on 21 November 2009 at 6:21 pm:

   Most Elegant.

9. News Feeds - Borsten bloot said on 22 November 2009 at 11:21 pm:

   [...] A Design Apart Q&A “Content informs design; design without content is decoration. Content has the same relationship to design that product has to advertising. Good ads are based on the product; good designs come from and facilitate the content. This is one reason we bring content strategy to every design assignment, and one reason we insist on working with [...] [...]

10. 
    Dan Levy said on 23 November 2009 at 2:24 pm:

    Thanks again, Jeffrey, for answering our questions so thoughtfully. And thanks to everyone else for checking us out! You’ve got quite the community here.

11. 
    forex robot said on 30 November 2009 at 11:10 pm:

    Nice post & nice blog. I love both.

12. Content informs design! « The Daily Life said on 19 December 2009 at 6:09 am:

    [...] Jeffrey Zeldman Share this shit… [...]