The impact of visual design on content
Lauren Tormey
Senior Content Designer
The University of Edinburgh
As content professionals, we’re trained in how to create clear and accessible content. But when we transfer that content into our institution’s digital systems, our content is affected by the visual design elements that either surround or house the content, such as buttons, cards, and containers.
Those elements can influence how people understand our content, and sometimes it impacts understanding negatively. For example, standout elements can stand out too much, making other content hard to see.
If visual design is not your specialism, it can be easy to overlook how visuals are affecting your content. Often the visual design is out of our control, and we’re just working with the components at our disposal.
In this talk, I will share a few examples from content my team has worked on where visuals have affected user perception. I will explain how to look out for visual impact when testing your content and how best to work with the tools at hand to make sure visual design isn’t negatively impacting user perception. I will also share how to work out if visual design is causing more harm than good, and when to advocate for design changes in your institution.
Key takeaways
Case study examples of where visual design impacted users’ ability to understand content correctly.
How to assess the impact of visual design on your content.
How to know when to advocate for visual design changes in the systems you work with.
About your speaker
Lauren Tormey (she/her) is a Senior Content Designer at the University of Edinburgh, where she has worked since completing her undergraduate degree in Linguistics there. She leads a team of three content designers who form part of a larger multi-disciplinary design team, focused on improving the University’s digital provision for prospective students.
In her nine years in higher education, she has used her editorial, CMS, and UX skills to support the creation and maintenance of more effective, human-centred content.
In her spare time, Lauren is a keen runner and an advocate for a more humane immigration system in the UK.