We heard the phrase “content is king” often used. Without really examining what that content actually is. I suppose anything from court documents to porn is really content. Unfortunately designers share the fate of the content’s success or lack of success. Designers, particularly freelancers, are eager to take on the responsibility of a new project without much regard to the nature of the content the client has to offer.

Jeffrey Zeldman:

Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration.

So what really has content? I suppose content can be anything providing value to an individual or group. Drudge and Daring Fireball are highly trafficked sites which seemingly have little on the presentation side but my feeling is that it is result of quality content over time. Obviously I would consider the NYTimes.com abundant in content and high on presentation.

Take Twitter for instance, a social network based on the simplicity of just 140 characters. However it’s a developers’ playground for how the content of Twitter is delivered. Tweetie, Twitterific, TweetDeck and Twhirl are all examples of delivering the same content in different forms of presentation. Content is an abstraction until you experience it.

After reading Stephen Kings‘ book On Writing it would seem content is generated from thin air. In fact Alan Moore has liken the writing process as sorcery. The process may not be quite so metaphysical but think of all the forms of entertainment you enjoy. The Wire or the Sopranos were just figments of one’s imagination. Radiohead’s last album was just a thought before it was a reality.

The consistency by which your content is continually delivered is a determinant of your content‘s continual success — eventually enriching the design associated with it.