Most of the time, good content design means not saying ‘please’. It’s a superfluous word that gets in the way of the main message. So why is it so hard to stop?

It’s easy to get in a tangle writing guidance for GOV.UK. Usually, it’s because too many people want too many different things from one piece of content. As a content designer, you need to know how to manage this.

How do you get started in content design? How do you go about getting your first content design job, and what’s it like to start work as a new content designer? This Scroll content designer talks about getting his first content design role, and has some sound advice for new and aspiring content designers.

Agile ways of working can be a bit baffling if you’re not used to them - and this is especially true of user research. As a user researcher on a multidisciplinary team, you need to be able to explain what you’re doing in a way that makes sense to everyone, so you can bring everyone along with you.

What do content designers on services do all day? How is the work different from other content design work? What skills and qualities do you need to have, and what tools might you need to use? Find out what it’s like working on a service, and whether this is the right content design role for you.

Good style guides need to be relevant, not generic; usable - not just good on the shelf; and empowering - a style guide should give a mandate to content designers. It should be the hill that we can die on. Here’s how Scroll designed a style guide for HSE Ireland.