Digital

  • 5 things I learned from my first content crit

    4th December 2019 by

    Just days into my role as a new content designer I faced a baptism of fire – my first content crit. This meant the whole content design team – 10 of us – gathered to give frank feedback on my first content piece. No pressure! I rise from the flames to share what I learned:…

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  • 8 common content design myths that content designers want you to stop believing

    12th November 2019 by

    There are lots of assumptions, misconceptions and myths about content design that just won’t die. Here are just a few and why they’re not true. 1. Content design is about words This is a popular one. Words are one way to present complicated content, but they’re not the only way. Examples of other types of…

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  • Developing content standards for better public services

    16th August 2018 by

    We’ve produced a set of content standards to help colleagues in the Scottish Government, and our public sector partners, deliver effective content. Our ultimate aim is to help improve public services. Why content standards are helpful Everything that public sector organisations publish should meet their users’ needs. Our standards will: provide tools, techniques and processes you…

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  • What content designers do when they’re not writing

    13th August 2018 by

    This post was inspired by Leisa Reichelt’s excellent summary of what user researchers do when they’re not researching. Content designers: work as part of cross-functional service teams in the Scottish Government support public sector colleagues who are designing new services, or improving existing ones create and maintain content on mygov.scot People who haven’t worked with content designers…

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  • Empathy in user focused design

    5th April 2018 by

    Last month, a member of my family was rushed to hospital and needed heart surgery. (Thankfully, they’re doing well now.) I had to make sure that, once they were home, they had the care and support they needed. So I found myself on the receiving end of the kind of content I produce. In the…

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  • Pair writing content with subject matter experts

    25th November 2016 by

    This is a blog post by Reece Cargan, senior content designer on mygov.scot During our work writing content for mygov.scot, the content team use a mixture of different writing methods as part of our content design process. One technique is ‘pair writing’. We have blogged in the past about designing content for mygov.scot, and explained…

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