The reason there’s discourse between copywriting and content design is because the two are invariably intertwined. All content designers are copywriters. And all copywriters who work on websites are content designers.
This snobbery round content designers being more virtuous because they’re solving customer problems (outside, in) versus copywriters who act as a mouthpiece for organisations to sell (inside, out) is nonsense.
You’ll be told that content design is about data and insight.
That “Content design is the discipline of finding what your audience wants and giving it to them where and when they want it…”, this begs the question, what’s the different between content design and UX design, then? As this is their modus operandi too.
“...in a way they can digest it.” This is what copywriting is, surely.
Similarly, copywriters will look at insight and data to see if writing that blog, SEO article, social post, product screens, about us page, video script, infographic, is worthwhile.
Google’s algorithm is literally called “Helpful Content”, how could you know if the content is helpful without audience insight, content mining and data science offering opportunities about what customers and prospects want to know, where they expect to find and how they want it communicated.
A website is great but no one goes to a [enter any company website] for shits and giggles. They go because they’re either researching a specific product they’re already aware of or they want to complete an administrative task, like buying a coat or changing their address.
Perhaps the difference is copywriters get people onto the website and content designer triage them once they get there.
But then the tone and branding is lost in one click.
And just because you’ve got people there, doesn't mean you've not used any form of behavioural science, insight or artistry with words.
Then again, just because a content designer has solved a problem, it doesn't mean they haven't used those exact skills to get them through the journey.
So perhaps there is no difference between copywriting and content design.
It's all "stuff" that's on the internet.
And that "stuff" is powered by words.
We're internet writers or commercial writers but this title doesn't take into account all the technical knowledge we need to brief and build web pages, tools and components.
Nor does it taken into account the content auditing, modelling and taxonomies we have to develop and adhere to.
Plus the page structuring, journey, error messaging, next-best-action, etc.
Both copywriters and content designers are on the hook for those.
It's more architecture... I'm trying really hard not to draw on the tired house analogy.
But it is, we're the people who design the structure of a web/app page or passive/active interactions.
And then supervise its construction.
We should also be involved in the design of the web or app itself to make sure it's fit for content, but that's a whole other blog post.
Also, because we're responsible for web/app pages and journeys, and interactions that direct people there, we're responsible for the whole brand and customer experience.
So perhaps we're Experience Architects.
But whatever you call us, we mustn't forget the key skill that sets us apart from all other disciplines.
Writing.
It existed before the internet, before the Industrial Revolution and its invention heralded the start of human civilisation.
It's the one thing we consume from the moment we wake up to the moment we sleep.
Without it, pictures, videos, data, tech and journeys would be useless.
So stop the fighting, guys. We're all writers.
