Typography may be your primary concern as a designer, but it’s not the most important aspect of your web site. The content is. Whether you write it yourself or have the luxury of a talented copywriter, your web site (or app) achieves diddly squat without it. You may think that navigation is important, that information architecture and content structure are significant, that brand guidelines are a key consideration. You’re right—but only if content comes first.

It doesn’t matter how easy your site is to navigate if there’s nothing on the page. No-one cares how well your content is organised if it doesn’t make sense. What’s the point of a brand font if the tone of voice of the content is utterly wrong? Unfortunately, the quality of your client’s content may be out of your hands, but you—the designer—have the responsibility to make sure it’s presented clearly, that it’s legible, and that it can be read comfortably. Whether it’s blog articles or image captions (for the aforementioned portfolio site), headlines, snippets, lists or feature carousels, the legibility, readability and, ultimately, accessibility of the content is paramount.

Espen Brunborg.