Stop using Lorem Ipsum!
Latin placeholder text aka Lorem Ipsum isn't just a nuisance. Web copywriter John McGarvey argues that it's a massive obstacle to building truly great online experiences, explains what kind of problems it causes and how you, too, can stop using it
If you’re a web designer, you’ll be familiar with Lorem Ipsum. There’s a good chance you’ll have used it at work today. You might even be a fan of the nonsense Latin placeholder text, chuckling away at imitators and parodies like gangsta ipsum, bacon ipsum and even Yorkshire ipsum.
If so, I hope you’ve had your fun, because the joke’s over. Lorem Ipsum is slowly destroying web design, and so it has to die. Let me explain...
A terrible substitute for what matters
Whoever started using Lorem Ipsum in web design did so for a reason. It does a good job of filling gaps on mockups, without being distracting like unfinished content. In short, it helps people focus on how your designs look, rather than what they say.
Maybe that was okay when the web was simple, when flat mockups turned into flat web pages and the idea of a good user experience was having a hit counter to show how popular your site was. But things are different now.
Lorem Ipsum causes far more problems than it solves. It’s a terrible substitute for the thing that matters most about great websites: the right content.
How can your client or boss possibly sign off on a web page if it doesn’t contain meaningful content? Sure, they can give a thumbs up if it looks good, but that’s very different to approving a design that works well and does what it needs to.
The wider message that Lorem Ipsum sends out is even more damaging. Every time you use it in a mockup or wireframe, you reinforce the idea that content is secondary. That it doesn’t matter. That you can just whip something up and drop it in at the last minute, and everything will be fine.
It’s no way to create great websites.
Content is web design
What goes on a web page and the way that page is designed are not two separate things. They’re inextricably bound up in each other. Considering one in isolation is harder than trying to separate a web designer from a brand new Macbook Pro.
Great websites are a marriage between amazing content and inspiring design. You have to create the two together. If you don’t, you might still get it right, but you probably won’t. The most common result is a beautiful yet impractical website.
Web designers are kidding themselves if they think they can do their best work without thinking about content from the start. It’s not so much that content is king, but more that content is web design. One won’t work without the other. What your site says is forever linked to the way it looks and how it functions.
So, Latin placeholder text isn’t just a simple nuisance. It’s a plague on web design, a massive obstacle to building truly great online experiences. There’s no need for it in a world where content goes right to the heart of every successful website.
Just stop using it, ok?
Killing Lorem Ipsum doesn’t need to be a huge job. It can be as simple as not using it any more. So, next time you’re tempted to reach for some handy placeholder nonsense text, stop and consider the alternatives.
If you have the budget, you can bring in a professional writer. Sit down together at the start of the project and keep working closely together. Base yourselves in the same office, talk on the phone regularly, keep an open channel on Skype ... however you do it, your aim is to match design with content for every single element of the site.
If you don’t have the luxury of being able to pay a writer, you might have to get creative. Find someone in your company who can write, create the content yourself or ask your client for help. In truth, almost anything is better than Latin nonsense, as long as it gives you some idea of how the page will work and what people should click on.
Together we can destroy Lorem Ipsum and create better websites. Who’s with me?
57 comments
Comment: 1
I commend you on the topic. I'm not sure why it's still widely adopted, but it really has no place on the web, in my opinion. Content strategy is so much more important than "fill it in later." Well spoken, sir.
Comment: 2
Comment: 3
Here are just a couple reasons why I will continue to use Lorem Ipsum.
• If the client is supplying their own content for us to drop in, it gives them a visual representation of where the text will go, how it will flow and roughly how much content they need to supply.
• If we are writing the content, it gives the client a chance to approve design and layout while the content is being written by our copywriter. The copy will then be supplied on a Word document for approval before being dropped into the site for final sign off.
Depending on the clients knowledge, more often than not any supplied content usually needs to be tweaked or edited anyway, so this can be done while the layout gets signed off with Lorem Ipsum in place.
Comment: 4
Sure, in one of those 'ideal world' situations, with a client who gets it - and wants to spend some money on decent copy - I totally agree, content is king after all. But sadly this perfect utopia rarely exists even inside the large organisations (I did some work for a pretty massive mobile phone network in the UK, and there entire marketing and branding team still just asked us to use Lorem in the mockups - provided we put full stops on the end of everything.)
This article falls into the pile along with the ones telling us to 'educate our clients about the fold' or 'explain why you shouldn't make the logo bigger' - its totally true and correct, just not applicable to the real world of web design, it doesn't work in a production environment, with real world clients whittling everything they feel they 'don't need' from the budget and account managers pushing deadlines, and lets be honest, how many of us can really afford to be sacking clients because they don't agree with our ideals on content strategy.
Comment: 5
Whether this could work in practice really depends on the client - all too often I've seen design meetings descend into "pick the wording we want" meetings simply because placeholder text was put in that the client doesn't agree with.
In reality, the deadlines set by managers and clients do not allow for months to be spent figuring out content prior to design - yes, it's wrong. Yes, the clients and managers are idiots. Yes, the author is largely correct in his reasoning. But we gotta eat and pay the mortgage dude, and sometimes that means sacrificing your principles, no matter how much of a bitter pill it is to swallow.
Comment: 6
The Lorem Ipsum has been around since the 1500's (and not just from when the web was invented) - and for a good reason.
It is also a part of the typeface history, and if not for any other, then that reason alone, it deserves a little respect, annoying or not.
Sometimes we - especially as small freelance studios - don't have the opportunity to receive the actual content, before we start designing. We DO know what sort of content is going to end up there, but won't neccesarily have the content itself at the initiary design stage. And to designa round no content at all.. Well.. Need I say more?
Telling the client, that there's not going to be any design, before they have their web-copy ready, usually is usually not the way to work it either.
So, however annoying the Lorem Ipsum might be for some, from my point of view it is still serving it's purpose.
Comment: 7
I hope .net doesn't waste any paper in their fine magazine on this.
Comment: 8
Comment: 9
In the meantime, I don't think we can just ignore Lorem Ipsum and delay deadlines because the content is not done. Having decent creative brief with some ideas of the content, can help kick of the design-where some Lorem Ipsum is used-and complete it as the content is trickling in.
Comment: 10
This article annoys me too. And I agree with everything @helloandrew and @ logicalthings says.
Dislike.
Comment: 11
Comment: 12
What are designers supposed to do whilst they wait for the content? Then it will be up until midnight the day before going live and the design will suffer.
Good designers will know how to make a design that will fit the kind of content they hope to receive.
If the content we receive is slightly different, or doesn't fit perfectly, then we can make modifications. Websites are not carved in stone.
Long live lorem ipsum!
Comment: 13
@helloandrew:
I understand that lorem ipsum is for the purpose of design / layout only, but as a writer, there's nothing worse than a client coming to me with a bunch of stunning mockups which make no provision for the type or volume of copy that might be required.
In my experience, use of lorem ipsum encourages that way of thinking: that content is secondary, and can be made to fit whatever space is available.
@wstn, @MetalMikey666, @designlabCPH:
I take your point that things often don't work this way in the real world. But I don't think that means we can't aspire to improve things, or to at least try and explain to clients why their approach might be wrong. After all, don't they hire us because we're meant to be the experts at this?
I also think you may be missing a core point of my argument, which is that I believe the process of producing the content is part of web design. It's not something you do before or after you've created your page designs. You need to do them both at the same time - ideally (there's that word again) by having your designer and content expert working closely together.
(Also, @wstn, you're spot on about my site. I've had plans to change it for years, but there's always been a more interesting project to deal with. Can you help?!)
@IpsumusMaximus:
I'm sorry if I've offended you, and I certainly don't mean to disregard the contribution that lorem ipsum has made to design. I'm also not trying to point fingers: I've worked with some truly outstanding designers, all of whom I'm sure have used lorem ipsum. (I also genuinely admire what designers do, because as a humble writer, I can't do it myself.)
However, as someone who's spent years working with mockups which contain lorem ipsum, I have concluded that it is a barrier. It makes it harder to create content and designs that complement each other. And it makes it harder to get clients to start thinking about the whole experience, rather than just the way it looks.
@logicalthings:
I wasn't consciously trying to be trendy, but perhaps you're right; I do seem to have ended up with an article title that courts controversy. Having said that, I stand by my argument that the world of web design would be a better place without lorem ipsum! How do think lorem ipsum should fit into the design process?
Comment: 14
Comment: 15
I do agree with what you're getting at, and I always suggest as much in meetings with new clients. Unfortunately the client base of the agency I work for just doesn't allow it to happen, most of the time I get content cobbled together from sales directors, MD's, and the occasional secretary.
I wasn't trying to say that the core of your argument is in any way wrong, I agree, content is as much a part of the 'web design' process as photoshop mockups, but sadly, I'm rarely able to get it to work out like that in the minds of clients and managers. The few projects I've done where the client understood such things - or the client was myself - having copy and content together at an early state has really helped.
Comment: 16
As far as design standpoint goes, the final comp sent for sign-off should never include Lipsum. A lot clients look at it and say, "what does this mean?"
But, when developing, Lipsum saves my life. It's the best way to test how responsive your layout/design is.
Comment: 17
Having said that, to suggest the the web design process can't begin until content is approved and dropped into place seems to be doing any decent design agency a serious disservice - how content will be laid out, what the customer journey will be like and how the information will be 'architected' (shudder) is one of the first stages in the design process - it's the framework given to the designer upon which they work up the visuals themselves. Once that's all agreed, Lorem Ipsum is used so that both designer and copywriter can crack on simultaneously.
Whether the client is supplying content, or I'm writing it, the two have to go hand in hand right from the beginning of the process, and there's no way we could realistically wait for completed content before starting on the design stage; in fact, I'd challenge you to find a client that would ever supply suitable content without seeing the design context into which it's going to sit.
Up with Lorum Ipsum! (as long as the client understands why it's worth paying to have decent content written as well as paying to have a decent design / layout in which to sit it)
Comment: 18
I don't think it has to be an all-or-nothing proposition, though. In fact, one method I'd encourage non-writers to check out is creating a message hierarchy (which can be done with the client during a kick-off meeting). http://webstandardssherpa.com/reviews/designing-for-content-creating-a-m...
It helps to establish 3-5 different primary messages that can inform the UX and design process. They can establish baseline content for headlines, or subheadings, but they aren't full-blown content efforts that would otherwise delay the process. They're purposefully quick-and-dirty for the goal of having actual content earlier in the process both for deliverables *and* to serve as a common lexicon for client and team. Would love to hear your thoughts on that... :)
Comment: 19
It's probably worth me reiterating that I'm definitely NOT advocating getting content ready before beginning the design process. I think the two need to run alongside each other - and actually, I'd like to see much more close collaboration between writers and designers generally. It can be a really productive partnership.
@steph:
Hello! That's an interesting link. I've worked with clients to build a 'messaging framework' or 'messaging strategy' before, which I think are similar ideas. It's a great way to agree the most important points at the start, and then keep them in everyone's minds so all elements of your site work towards common goals. It can also help to ensure a level of consistency.
However, if you want to go a step further, I think you can use that message hierarchy to build a quick-and-dirty prototype site. I've worked closely with designers before to do this. You can see how everything actually fits together and works in practice, and even test the site with the kind of people you expect to use it.
It's a really valuable process: it lets you refine and try out different ideas, and helps you avoid falling into the trap of thinking everything has to be perfect first time round. Often, the insights gained can result in quite significant changes - and a better end product.
Comment: 20
Comment: 21
Personally, I think lorem ipsum copy is as beyond politicizing as a gray box bearing the letters "FPO" is. As someone who has worked at HUGE ad agencies, then at GIANT media empires, and, ultimately, freelancing for said agencies and empires I can honestly say that the realities of inconceivably tight deadlines and ambivalent client reps would render such a defiant stance nothing short of career suicide. Frankly, it seems a bit too idealistic and (often) unrealistic to wait for final copy before beginning ones creative process in a particular project.
A designer needs to possess the creative vocabulary necessary to overcome and adapt as the message changes. The core business objectives are what my design tries to solve. The targeted persona is whom my design speaks to. The actual words may vary and often do--even after the site has launched.
Comment: 22
Comment: 23
Beside that, I think it's often not possible to use real content on a mockup respectively a site that is not finished yet, where only the layout is ready. So I think it's not that easy. One step would be to use more suitable placeholder text, but it's still a placeholder, not matter which one it is.
Comment: 24
I DO agree that content is as important as is stated above, and should be handled separately from the design. Without excellent content, it's useless for visitors. Without excellent design and UX considerations accounted for, even the greatest content will be lost on visitors.
Comment: 25
I agree with the fact that is quite stupid to design a UI without any content but there are also cases where you have to use some kind of placeholders to fill up the page.
I for instance rarely use lorem but I use some real articles from blogs/websites that are in the same industry as my client. I mean it looks much more better if you use "Lady Gaga did I don't know what yesterday" instead of having a "lorem" H2.
The article writers attitude is a bit rough but come on, we get the point.
Comment: 26
Comment: 27
Comment: 28
There are some good reads about content strategy out there
http://bit.ly/gHPXM9 by @kissane
http://bit.ly/lQriCX by @leenjones
Comment: 29
To be honest, until very recently I happily produced mockups full of Lorem Ipsum way before I even saw a shred of content from the client. And guess what? More often than not when the content arrived it wasn't perfectly suited to the layout I had produced and the areas I'd left for it to go. I got sick of this, and now only design with content in hand.
This is clearly a divisive issue, but in my opinion I can't design a page to its best potential if I don't know what's going in it, in that situation what exactly is it I'm designing? A generic one-size-fits-all template? No thank you. I've also not found this to be an issue for clients, it probably means the project takes longer, but that's fine by me if I can deliver a better solution. And if they ask me to use Lorem Ipsum I put my foot down, hasn't failed yet.
Comment: 30
We design websites but we don't just visually design them, we put a lot of work into the navigation, the structure, the experience etc as well as how it looks. The visual design has to showcase and complement the content, and how can we create an effective design without knowing the content?
The content plays a huge part in the process, for example if you design a site which is very playful and uses lots of bright colours, and the client hands over the dullest monotone content then that design just does not fit the content. Likewise the opposite is true, issues such as tone, length, message etc of the content plays a huge part in the design and we can't reach our full potential designing without content.
We don't need every finalised item of content before we start the visual design, but examples of length, tone, style, terms etc should be available before starting.
Trying to shoe horn content into a design is the wrong way round, we should be creating visual experiences which showcase the content perfectly and we can't start that process until we know the content.
Comment: 31
Put copy in front of many clients, and the first thing they'll do is start reading the copy. Put lorem in front of them, and they've got nothing to read - so they'll focus on other things, the things you need them to agree on at that stage.
I've actually seen this happen several times at the wireframe stage: rather than use Lorem, someone's put in realistic copy, and all the discussion has been about the words, not the wireframes.
Of course, the further you get down the road, the more "real" content you can introduce - and final designs need to be signed off with real content.
Comment: 32
My preferred way is to discuss the key messages, tone, length and all the other things you mentioned upfront as part of the initial web design brief as of course the tone / message may well reflect the look and feel of the site design. So equipped with all the information and a strategy that both the designer / copywriter and client are working towards I see no way that placeholder text such as Lorem Ipsum could have a negative impact unless like 'stephay22' has posted that sometimes "Lorem Ipsum can look too perfect", but as long as you educate the client up front Lorem Ipsum can be a useful design asset. If people don't want to use it and have their own methods - great. But 'advising' others not to use it is quite absurd.
Comment: 33
I'm just saying, Can't we all just be friends, Lorem and Ipsum both?
Comment: 34
Comment: 35
A lot of people here argue that the idea behind the article is absurd and John lives in Disneyland, but various well-respected agencies like Happy Cog and 37signals are simply not using Lorem Ipsum in their everyday work. In fact, Jason Fried blogged about it six years ago:
http://37signals.com/svn/archives/001083.php
Also, Luke Wroblewski in 2009:
http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?927
You might argue that these aren't your everyday agencies/designers but Death to Lorem Ipsum is something that's already been practised in the real world.
Comment: 36
Words are an essential part of the design process, indeed words - when written well - can be the design itself.
With the rise of the web standards movement and the focus it has brought to content, not least the welcome re-emergence of a real understanding of the benefits of semantic markup, the days of Lorem Ipsum - meaningless, non-semantic placeholder text - are, we would hope, numbered.
A core part of our taught programme centres around ensuring our students understand that words - and a considered tone of voice - are a part of any design. We don't expect them to be copywriters, but we do expect them to understand the importance of the written word. The blind use of Lorem Ipsum runs counter to this. Better to put some thought into the words you think your client should use, the tone of voice they might adopt, then - if needs be - hire a copywriter.
Language, and an understanding of how to use it, is as valuable a tool in the designers' toolbox as any other and should be developed. Think of it as another string to your bow and, should your focus be on the bottom line, one more service to offer.
Comment: 37
I have worked with both actual copy and lipsum text. I usually find is easy to do a more meaning full design, if the actual content is there. But the content need to have a good hierarchy and needs to be well written.
On the other hand, When you only have to care about visual representation, you are not surrounded by limitations.
I think what's unreal about this article is that it require to have the perfect client who can understand and afford a professional writer. And it assumes that copywriting is a designers job.
Comment: 38
You can't be serious when you are saying 'just stop using it'!! Situations demand including time-frames, which is one important factor in every design work. In that case, it's not just about text, rather every design is projected best when used the actual final elements including images, color, size etc etc. But as I said, practically, depending on the condition, you can or cannot be spending all your work hours trying to figure out what will be the text like; ideal design conditions are void when considered practically!! Yours is more like an imaginary ideal practice!!
Comment: 39
Interesting article!
Comment: 40
Testing cars with real people instead of crash test dummies would be better too, but well let's not. Crash test dummies are a pretty good, cheap, legal alternative. As is the Lorem.
Comment: 41
In our case, we design the website knowing the content. But when we convert the visuals into templates we need to fill the content area with dummy text as many clients bring the real content after the design.
Comment: 42
Comment: 43
Comment: 44
Comment: 45
Many designers don't understand enough about web and the limitations of some development to know what can and can't be done with their design as well as often times there just isn't anyone who can provide real content.
Someone also mentioned before that Lorem Ipsum is problematic because it just doesn't represent our language well, but as a an in-between remedy I've been using Fillerati, so at least I can see some real words.
As much as I'd like to just agree that Lorem Ipsum needs to stop being used because it's not ideal content, it's like saying stop developing for IE6 and IE7 because it sucks ass. As much as I want to, the conditions aren't right to really make that happen in most all cases. I don't think Lorem Ipsum is really a problem as long as everyone who's part of the process knows how to work with the tools and content they are given and know how to adjust to it when everything is finalized and in place. I would KILL to have real content every time I'm handed a mockup but that almost never happens.
Comment: 46
I've been pedaling the idea that you shouldn't use Lorem Ipsum in design for a while. John makes some excellent points, and I have a few of my own to add:
Every page that a user views, is a miniature story, with a start, a middle and an end. A narrative. If you use placeholder text in your design process how can you _possibly_ evaluate the flow the user experiences throughout the page, the way they read and interpret the message, and the way they react to the direction you're trying to give them, nothing has context.
Secondly, it allows the design to lead the content, forcing whomever might be writing the copy to pad and bloat their message with horrible 'white noise' in order to fulfill the design requirements set out in the mockup that has vast swathes of placeholder text. Worse still it may lead them to crop and hack their copy in order to cram it in to the small space again defined as a requirement of the design, because it looks 'good' or 'balanced'.
Aside from the argument against using Lorem Ipsum, what's the argument _for_ using it? I don't really see one.
Writing copy is simple. We're not talking about the work of Shakespeare, we'll even let you off on your bad grammar and spelling. It's simply about giving a rough 'gist' of how the real content might read.
So long as the core message of the copy remains the same, your narrative will remain intact, and your design will compliment and enhance your copy, not define it's requirements.
Robert
Comment: 47
Basically, you can have a site with just two colours and no pictures, forms, special effects or fancy styles... but you can't have one with no content. It's got to come first, and placeholder text just doesn't do the job.
Comment: 48
Comment: 49
This has been a subject i've began to get increasingly concerned about. My gut feel is that designing in isolation from content means that you will miss a trick - surely content has to be at the heart of this process? You mention "message hierarchy" - I'm not sure what this is but if it is broad strokes on what the site site needs to say then that sounds like a great starting point.
I don't work with huge clients so a clear process (with equally clear pricing) is key for me and my clients. I increasingly feel that getting the design signed off before pouring in the content is a disjointed process but I feel I've got my hands tied a bit.
I love the idea of evolving the content & the design simulaneously but I'd need to do this in a clearly priceable manner (simply quoting hourly rates won't wash).
Very interesting. Food for thought indeed. Thanks also to commenters who provided great links.
@Joel_Hughes
Ps sorry for any typos - not good typing on my iPhone
Comment: 50
> How can your client or boss possibly sign off on a web page
> if it doesn’t contain meaningful content?
Because with Greek, Arabic, or Chinese he can't tell :-)