Content Design Spectrum
A horizontal flowchart titled “Content Design Spectrum” spans from back-end(s) to front-end(s). It shows five sequential stages of content development:
1. Content Model – Objects, Relations, CTAs, Attributes (semantic structure)
2. Content Type – Required content attributes (logical structure)
3. Content Format – Specific content structure (organisational structure)
4. Content Design – Words + Media (rhetorical structure)
5. UI Design – Interaction (behavioural structure)
Each stage includes a shape symbol and explanatory labels, with a GDS logo at the bottom.
A horizontal diagram titled “Content Design Spectrum” shows a flow from Back-end(s) to Front-end(s) across five stages:
1. Content Model – “Objects, Relations, CTAs, Attributes” (semantic structure, represented by a turquoise pentagon)
2. Content Type – “Required content attributes” (logical structure, turquoise pentagon)
3. Content Format – “Specific content structure” (organisational structure, turquoise pentagon)
4. Content Design – “Words + Media” (rhetorical structure, green triangle)
5. UI Design – “Interaction” (behavioural structure, pink circle)
Each step answers a key design question, from “What’s available?” to “How packaged?”
The image is branded with the GDS (Government Digital Service) logo in the bottom left corner.
A grey cloud-shaped diagram centered on a turquoise hexagon labeled “IA” (Information Architecture). Seven spokes radiate outward, each representing a design tension or trade-off:
1. body <> head(s)
2. cookies <> snowflakes
3. bottom-up <> top-down
4. flexible <> brittle
5. big <> small
6. slow <> fast
7. help <> harm
The image suggests that good IA involves balancing these tensions. A GDS (Government Digital Service) logo is shown in the lower-left corner.
In yesterday’s session, Rick from GDS unpacked how #contentdesign, #IA & #UI intersect, & why structure matters as much as surface:
Content is infrastructure.
Design from the inside out.
Model small. Stay flexible.
Cookies, not snowflakes.
#GOVUK #DesignSystems #HCID2025 #EduSky #RikWilliams
