The Importance of Co-Designing

Oftentimes, a design or prototype ends up in the hands of a content design team and is introduced with these infamous words:

“Can you help me with just the words right here?”

-a lot of designers

It’s a bit frustrating to hear this — because frankly, content design isn’t only about making the words better. And it’s not like we can just look at one area, because we instinctually look at everything. And sure, we help with the right words, but our job isn’t just the words.

There’s a lot of things that content design has a hand in, and designing is one of them. That’s why I urge any and all designers I work with to let me get in on the design sessions as early and as often as possible.

I want to get into these early sessions because it allows me to co-design.

What’s co-designing?

Let me borrow a definition before sharing my own:

Co-design workshops help designers partner with users to include their perspective in knowledge development, idea generation, and product development.

UX Magazine

But to me, “co-designing” means getting your hands dirty, ideating and working through the tough problems together. It’s a chance to affect the design from the get-go, not getting something handed to you and telling you to “make it better with words.”

What are some co-designing examples?

I’ve recently had the opportunity to co-design on some projects and wanted to share some of the them here:

• We hosted a working session to discuss what information was critical to surface at what point
• We talked through what the user would want to know in an onboarding flow prior to designing it
• We discussed the terminology and what words could be confusing (for users and employees)
• We structured the “About” page to deliver the most important information in a friendly, digestible way
• We created a tour within a modal to introduce a new component designing tool
• We took feedback from research discussions with customers and changed flows to better suit what users are accustomed to

What was really fun and enjoyable about all of these experiences is being able to see the progression of the designs along the way. I got to see what discussions, user research, and feedback helped shape them into their final products.

Seeing this was not only a cool experience, but it also proved to me that careful, informed iterations over time can help create some really cool designs. And that’s because its not just something created on instinct — it’s created after considering a lot of information and perspectives.

Co-designing sounds great. But how do I get involved in it?

Co-designing isn’t something that you’re just given and it all magically works. As a content person, I’ve had to fight for my seat at the table more than often.

To do this, you have to show them that you work with more than just the words. Show them other skills like research, storyboarding, wireframing, and other important tasks, you can establish yourself as a true collaborative partner who doesn’t just “do words.”

Some things I’ve done to co-design with others include:

• Setting up time to workshop or brainstorm on designs
• Sharing interesting research I found (or even did myself)
• Spinning up hypothesized user journeys framed by potential user questions
• Starting wireframes with a content-first approach
• Invite myself to meetings (sometimes a bit aggressively)
• Work in the same tools that designers prefer (lately it has been Miro and Figma)

But once you’re co-designing, it all feels seamless

You’ll know when you’ve finally hit the co-designing sweet spot. You get asked to participate in research discussions. People want to pick your brain about specific applications of a component. Your help is requested on the correct type of flow for a certain task. It all feels integrated and collaborative.

It’s not going to happen overnight, and its not going to happen on every project. Some designers are more protective about their work and want to run the show. And that’s okay, so long as you tried.

Just know that you have every right to be at the same table as the designers, researchers, and other members of the team. Content isn’t an added-on service, its also a design discipline.