Content first, design second.
WHY
Designing before you have content means designing around placeholder text, then discovering the real content does not fit.
The result is content squeezed into a layout rather than a layout that serves the content.
WHAT TO DO FIRST
List your pages Write each page, roughly, in a document Decide what images you need Then design around what you actually have
THIS ALSO REVEALS
Pages you do not need Pages you have not thought about Content you do not have and must create or commission Whether you have anything to say on a page you assumed you needed
THE PRACTICAL APPROACH
A document per page, with a heading, the main points, and the action you want.
Not polished. Enough to know what the page contains.
WHAT THIS PREVENTS
The site that is ninety per cent finished for six months while someone writes the content.
That is the most common reason websites do not launch, and it is entirely avoidable.
GATHERING WHAT YOU HAVE
Existing brochures, proposals and emails frequently contain most of the text already.
