I'm truly passionate about how audiences use sites or apps. This is why I created the style agnostic tool Wirefy. It allows you to build responsive wireframes that will focus content and functionality rather than styles and design. I use it to help people focus on the importance of content strategy instead of what font they should be using. Fonts and colors come later.
I believe in the content of a site. If your audience can't access and understand your content then we've failed as communicators. When I create designs, I keep this in mind. I strive to fit the design of a site to the content, rather than fit the content into a design. This helps the design fall into the background of the site. It essentially becomes invisible. I do this as a way to let the design enhance the content rather than distract the audience to it. Great design should be invisible.
Creating content-driven designs go beyond the visual elements that you can see. They include the technology that powers the site engine under the hood. Often times, I hear requests for certain features or that certain technologies should be used for a particular project. But that should never be the case. In the same way that design should be invisible the technology involved should be the same. The technology is there to enhance the process of accessing content. Nothing more. If you need to have it be flashy and spin around then you've lost your focus on the content. Your readers might say wow. But ask them five minutes later about what they read and most of them won't be able to tell you. Simple is always the best approach. Take the technology that Snowfire created. It allows you to build your site in about three minutes. It's a fantastic example of keeping the user and the content in mind.
Over the years I've been fortunate enough to write about my passion for content-driven designs for both online and offline publications. When I started my career I wasn't formally trained as a web designer. Instead, I started as a print designer for a small advertising agency in California where I was given the opportunity to build a quick landing page for Subway Restaurants. After that experience, I left in love with the web and primarily how users interacted with it. Since then I've continued my studies into users and what content makes them click and tick. I've had the pleasure of partnering with some amazing brands.
