The effects of themed Lipsum on design
I used to find Lipsum useful. One of the big frustrations of being an agency designer was that we designed and built, and the clients did the content.
When clients buy CMS, they think “Sweet! I’ve got this fantastic high-tech product that’s going to look after the content for me.” So while we were trying to get their site launched, the pressure is off them.
Lipsum was great at that point. Just ‘design’ and fill in the spaces with Lipsum and it didn’t stop us getting on with the project. Actually though, that’s the problem right there. How can you design a message without knowing what the message is?
Lipsum was never made for the web and isn’t right for it. Unlike print designers who design static pieces, we design dynamic interactive templates for specific pieces of content. That means we need at least some kind of content strategy before we design. We need to be informed so that we can present the right content to the user in the right way at the right time.
There are alternatives to Lipsum that are far superior and do allow us designers to design effectively; draft content or page descriptions for example.
So what’s with all these themed Lipsum generators that emerge through the twittersphere more often than I have hot dinners? They’re only there for the designers amusement right? How selfish when we should be thinking about who’s going to use the design. Themed Lipsum generators glamourise ‘non content’, encouraging bad, ineffective design.
Next time you use Baconipsum, Cakeipsum or bloody Samuel L Ipsum stop thinking about yourself for a moment. Put your foot down and don’t go any further until the real content has been worked out. Design to please your users, not yourself.
