How to Maximize the Impact of Content Design
Summary
Key Insights
-
•
Failing to provide clear 'how' and 'why' in content design can cause product backlash despite technical success.
-
•
Spreading content designers thinly across many unrelated teams leads to poor focus and missed context.
-
•
Amy Tibido coined 'dusting the content' to describe superficial content fixes without addressing deeper UX problems.
-
•
Most content design teams working with multiple teams mirror outdated and unsustainable 'move fast and break things' culture.
-
•
Content designers working on a single dedicated team gain focus, context, trust, and influence equal to product designers.
-
•
Not all product teams need content design equally; prioritization using business impact, team openness, and logistics is essential.
-
•
Canceling office hours helps content designers maintain accountability and focus rather than scattering effort.
-
•
Treating content design as full stack design involves engaging in strategy, concept design, UX, and product outcomes, not just writing.
-
•
Equal pay for content designers and product designers at Intercom aligned compensation with shared accountability and impact.
-
•
Content design’s underpayment contributes significantly to gender pay gaps given the field is 74% women.
Notable Quotes
"Just because you can solve a hard technical problem doesn’t mean you’re solving a real problem for real people."
"Amy Tibido used to call what I was doing dusting the content — tidying the words on the surface without solving the underlying problem."
"In the absence of clear message or strong value prop, people assumed Facebook was always listening to all their conversations."
"Working this way is unsustainable at best and set up for failure at worst."
"Content designers should work on just one team at a time and no longer run office hours."
"We defined full stack content design where content designers are accountable not just for user experience, but for overall product success."
"Content designers now have the same pay bands, equity grants, benefits as product designers – equal pay for equal results."
"Most content design teams aren’t healthy; their output is overly constrained and management cannot do anything about it."
"Content designers are almost always paid less than their peers, which contributes to the gender pay gap in design and tech."
"The oldest lesson is that failure is a far better teacher than success, but this year I found resilience in something stronger: hope."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Artificial intelligence is reshaping our workflows. Our roles are shifting."
Ebru NamaldiDesigning the Designer’s Journey: Scaling Teams, Culture, and Growth Through DesignOps
September 11, 2025
"Digital and physical services must be designed as the same thing, not separate products."
Samuel ProulxInvisible barriers: Why accessible service design can’t be an afterthought
December 3, 2024
"We have an eight-type framework for measuring design ops, but it’s a starting point, design ops is never done."
Kristin Skinner Kamdyn MooreGroup Activity: A Deep Dive Into Value and Outcomes
October 23, 2019
"Getting people who don’t communicate well to at least work together on a single thing is the first step to innovating together."
Jon Fukuda Amy Evans Ignacio Martinez Joe MeersmanThe Big Question about Innovation: A Panel Discussion
September 25, 2024
"Organize synthesis before the research happens by aligning on themes and goals with moderators and track leads."
Smitha Papolu Nova Wehman-Brown Melissa Schmidt Adam MenterTheme 3 Discussion
June 4, 2019
"If you find yourself feeling persecuted or on the drama triangle, you're probably not feeling valued by your team."
Ellen ChisaThe Values of Design
November 29, 2023
"Inclusive design isn’t about a 1, 2, 3 checkbox. It’s about interpersonal work unraveling historical inequities."
Zariah CameronStreamlining an Inclusive Design Practice
October 3, 2023
"When we start being intentional about inclusion, we gain clarity in Design Ops."
Saara Kamppari-MillerTheme Three Intro
September 9, 2022
"As a design ops manager, I try to alleviate decision fatigue for design managers so they can focus on the decisions that need their input."
Michelle ChinThe DesignOps Starter Kit
September 29, 2021
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
What are practical ways to split accent colors for accessibility without breaking brand recognition?
What roles can information architects and service designers play in the emerging field of AI context engineering?
What strategies help UX researchers treat their personal professional development as a managed project?