Daniel’s got Mark Goush of Weblog Tools Collection (an outstanding site for WordPress stuff) and EngTech facing off over at Daily Blog Tips today. One of the questions he asked them was: “What is more important, the content or the design?”
Mark’s answer was:
Both. Design and content are both responsible for bringing users back to your blog. A beautifully designed blog without any content is useless and vice versa
Engtech’s answer was:
Design can get attention, but only content will keep it.
My answer is … ditto!
Design is the packaging for content. And great packaging helps sell content. But in terms of priority, I think great content has to come first. Followed closely by an effecient, functional package or design.
As a designer, there are times I’ve had to make hard decisions … I’ve had to ditch design elements I cherished. But it had to be done.
Although I am a designer, I’m also a marketing person. If the design doesn’t do what you want it to do, then all you’ve done is create a nice piece of eye candy.
We call those things art galleries.
Here are six quick thoughts on what great design is:
- Great design showcases content.
- Great design doesn’t distract from content.
- Great design steers readers in the path you want them to follow.
- Great design is birthed from great strategy and objectives.
- Great design takes a tremendous amount of thought and time.
- Great design is often expensive, but worth every penny.
What do you think?
