The cost of simple content

But how difficult can that really be for our users?

My heart sank when a senior stakeholder said this. They were referring to a task users had to complete using their product.

On the surface, the task could have been simple.

But life is messy.

People have different levels of knowledge, expectations, access needs, and mental models. They’re often distracted, overwhelmed, and just don’t know or care as much about our products as we do. 

The stakeholder’s comment was based on a flawed premise: our users do simple things, so creating content for them must be simple.

But when content fails, it’s rarely because of one bad sentence or a poorly written error message. 

It’s usually the symptom of deeper dysfunctional thinking across the whole organisation. 

And the risk of ignoring this is amplified even more now, as content architect Ian Richards points out in his blog post, “content isn’t just copy. It’s your system signal. And in the age of AI, that signal either scales — or shatters.” 

If there’s no shared understanding or structured approach to content in your organisation, it will be reflected in the user experience - whether you use AI or not. This costs time, money and trust. 

When simple falls apart

The stakeholder’s comment stuck in my mind when we started user testing. Users had to complete daily check-ins on an app on their phone after using a smartwatch.
The design looked clean and users were impressed with how it looked. But when they started using the 2 devices and completing tasks, cracks appeared in the content. 

Some issues included: 

• conflicting instructions on how long to wear the smartwatch
• the smartwatch was referred to by different names
• users had practical questions about how to use the smartwatch outside using the interface (for example, could they wear it in the shower or take it off to charge?) 

What looked like a few small content issues were symptoms of fragmented systems thinking.

When we design seemingly simple tasks in isolation, without considering how someone may use a product or service in the context of their lives, we set ourselves up to fail. This disjointed approach will result in lower task completion, more support calls, and decreased trust in our organisation.

All organisations want simple content, but very few understand the hard work that goes into making it simple.

A strategic approach to simple (content)

At Content Design London, we see examples like this at many organisations. Our job is to help teams zoom out and think more strategically about their content.

As our Director of Practice, Rich Prowse explains, to fix bad content you shouldn’t start with the content. 

Think about how that “bad” content got there in the first place. Content is what happens when people, practices, and technology collide. It’s the output of a system, not an isolated problem.

To make content simple for your users, you need to: 

1. Align teams behind a shared understanding and goal 

While your teams may work on separate parts of a product or service, they need to understand how it all fits together to make a simple and consistent experience for your users.

2. Design for how people really behave

Making assumptions about your users means you'll end up designing a product or service that just doesn't work for them, no matter how much guidance content you provide.

3. Build consistent standards that can scale

Content touches every part of your organisation, and without clear standards of how to make the content simple there is no way to scale your products and services.

The path to simple 

Delivering simple content to people isn’t simple. It’s one of the most challenging things to achieve. It requires teams to slow down before they speed up. 

But when we put in the work and commit to making things simple for our users, our teams and organisations benefit too. 

Collaboration gets easier, because shared standards reduce friction and confusion.

Users trust you more, because they can find what they need and get things done.

And you save time and money by reducing duplication, rework, and support costs.

Book a meeting

Email us at hello@contentdesign.london to arrange a meeting about your content strategy needs.