Design with clear language by Åsmund H. Eikenes is a light but still very complete toolbox on content design, full of reflections, examples, advice, methods, and activities you can use in your own work and in workshops—from blackout poetry and “and-but-therefore” stories to sorting in geometric matrices. One chapter per word. This works brilliantly as a reference and a source of inspiration.

Verbing

Verbs are the best, the author writes. Verbs give direction and drive, and show what actually happens. In content design, using action helps guide both content and users through a clear, engaging process. I have noticed this myself. Using verbs instead of nouns for everything from button labels in interfaces to how we name phases in a service journey immediately brings focus to what matters most.

Sorting

Content design is about sorting—creating order and prioritising. And sorting can be a creative exercise—who would have thought? Information can be placed visually while you work with it, to collaborate, process, and understand it, in four visual devices: square, triangle, circle, and line. From high to low, from now to later, from simple to complex. We can place information on a two-dimensional axis, a three-dimensional triangle, or four quadrants in a square—like a matrix, e.g. a prioritisation matrix. From importance—high to low—and impact—trivial to critical. That way content design makes information not only sorted, but visible.

Facilitating

There is a lot of power in a ballpoint pen, the author writes. Content design can be quite political and close to strategy in an organisation. It is not always about writing yourself, but about creating something together, writing together, supporting others in their writing process, and making joint decisions. It is about creating safe frames and being a facilitator. Bring people along, make good decisions, and lead without taking all the space.

Storytelling

A good story can inspire, give an immediate picture of the future, and move us. Lift your gaze and gather the threads, the authors say. This chapter is about making room for stories in decision-making processes—to understand users better and build shared understanding. Design is so much about the future, and what better way to talk about the future than through stories? It is about helping others imagine another place, another time, and seeing the possibilities that exist. The author writes about creative techniques like blackout poetry and “and-but-therefore” stories—simple structures for stories that help us understand user needs and motivation.

Writing

The last chapter is about writing—a skill that takes both patience and practice. We may think of writing as non-visual, but writing is simply about creating images. Concrete, precise images. We often think of text as non-visual, but text is highly visual: the visual only lives in the reader’s mind. Order and word choice play a big part in making experiences memorable. They steer what people imagine first. The first word is the entry point; the last word is what lingers.