The trees are stunning in Boston this spring. Friends and family tell me the dogwoods and cherry blossoms are blooming more fragrantly and abundantly than usual. But I think there’s more to it. Last spring I had ACL surgery, and spent most of May indoors. Having missed a year, I have a fresh take. I’m seeing the trees as though for the first time.
It’s been a stressful few years. As I re-learned to walk and spent hours each week in physical therapy, I spent less time writing. Less time reading. Much, much less time thinking about the role of content design in our lives.
Now I’m back.
Content design is changing
In the time since I last wrote, content design has changed. Here are a few of the things I’m noticing, with my fresh eyes.
- What is “content design”? It’s a new term to me. It seems to be the area where content strategy and execution sit hand in hand. Where once I called myself a content strategist who also did UX writing, I now lead a content design team.
- Generative content is real. And it’s both less and more than we anticipated. As content designers, we are now responsible for taming, training, and effectively using this new tool. (Noz Urbina recently podcasted about LLMs being the equivalent of an enormous team of interns.)
- People are different. To be fair, people change constantly. But Covid affected the digital and physical world so dramatically that I see entire populations responding differently to data privacy, social media, and technology as a whole.
I’m sure there’s more. Getting back into the practice of writing isn’t quite like riding a bike (which I have found is, in fact, like riding a bike). But with so many things to reflect on, I look forward to posting more of my musings, and hearing feedback from the content design community.
Marli Mesibov: Content Strategist & Writer 