Patrick Iverson’s specialties lie in design and front-end development — creating identities, websites, editorial layouts, and typographic systems. These are things I genuinely love. But there are parts of the work that fall outside that scope, and content is the most important one to get right.
Why content outranks design
Copywriting is not a designer’s strength — which is exactly why it needs a specialist. Many clients feel the same way about writing their own content, and it shows. If you do not enjoy what you are doing, the result is going to be flat. Copywriting and photography are the two things a business cannot afford to skimp on. You could have the most beautiful logo and website in the world, but if the content is weak, nobody will take you seriously.
The designer just said that content is more important than design. If you are a designer you have probably heard “content is king.” This is why I have stopped taking clients who do not have a copywriter or strategist on the team. Users are smarter than most of the internet gives them credit for. They know when a photo is not authentic and is just there for decoration. They need to be engaged and connected with what they are reading.
The collaborators who make the work better
Patrick Iverson has a strong working relationship with Melanie Lux of Lux + Associates, a strategic communications firm that has been around for decades. Melanie is a true professional, and she generates quality content. That makes the design work more enjoyable and makes the final product dramatically better.
The same is true for photography. Instead of someone taking photos with a phone, a real photographer takes portraits and architectural photographs that earn the design they sit inside.
These professionals and specialists are worth their weight in gold. Design and clean, semantic code are critically important, but without good content, good design is not possible. Keep that in mind when you begin your next project, or when you analyze the strength of your current marketing efforts. Patrick Iverson has been building brand identities and custom WordPress websites from Santa Fe, New Mexico since 2003 — and the best projects always start with strong content and strong collaborators.