Guidance

Content designer

Find out what a content designer does and the skills you need to do the job.

• From: Central Digital and Data Office
• Published: 7 January 2020
• Last updated: 17 March 2021 — See all updates

This describes the role of a content designer and the skills required, including:

• an introduction to the role, telling you what you would do in this role and the full list of skills
• a description of the levels in this role, from associate content designer to head of content design, specifying the skills you need for each level and the corresponding skill level (awareness, working, practitioner, expert)

This role is part of the Digital, Data and Technology Profession in the Civil Service.

Introduction to the role of content designer

Content designers make things easier for people to understand and use. This can involve working on a single piece of content or on the end-to-end journey of a service to help users complete their goal and government deliver a policy intent. In this role your work may involve the creation of, or change to, a transaction, product or single piece of content that stretches across digital and offline channels. You will be expected to:

• make sure appropriate content is shown to a user in the right place and in the best format
• start from discovery and work closely with user researchers, service designers and interaction designers

Skills required to be a content designer

You will need the following skills for this role, although the level of expertise for each will vary, depending on the role level.

• Agile working (content design). You know about agile methodology and can apply an agile mindset to all aspects of your work. You can work in a fast-paced, evolving environment and use an iterative method and flexible approach to enable rapid delivery. You are unafraid to take risks, willing to learn from mistakes and appreciate the importance of agile project delivery for digital projects in government. You can make sure the team knows what each other is working on and how this relates to practical government objectives and user needs.
• Content concepts and prototyping. You are able to visualise your work in context to show stakeholders any changes or proposals you’ve made. You know when to choose the most appropriate methods for different audiences and purposes, ranging from paper sketches to coded prototypes.
• Stakeholder relationship management (content design). You know how to identify, analyse, manage and monitor relationships with and between stakeholders. You can communicate with stakeholders clearly and regularly, clarifying mutual needs and commitments through consultation and consideration of impacts while focusing on user needs.
• Strategic thinking (content design). You can take an overall perspective on business issues, events, activities and discuss their wider implications and long-term impact. This could include determining patterns, standards, policies, roadmaps and vision statements. You know how to focus on outcomes rather than solutions and activities.
• User focus (content design). You understand users and can identify who they are and what their needs are based on evidence. You can formulate hypotheses, gain insights from data and user research and use those insights and findings to make informed decisions. You are comfortable evaluating quantitative and qualitative data. You can translate user stories and propose design approaches or services to meet these needs. You put users first and can manage competing priorities between user and business needs.
• User-centred content design. You can design content to meet user needs and make complex language and processes easy to understand. You are comfortable using data and evidence to make informed decisions about content. You have experience of writing, editing and publishing user-centred content for digital audiences. You can use content management systems to publish content. You can review and evaluate content to improve it. You understand why content lifecycle management is important and you apply a continuous improvement mindset to your work. You can understand and implement style and standards.

Associate content designer

As a trainee in an entry-level position, working under supervision, you need aptitude, potential and an understanding of the role. You will perform basic standard checks and copy edits.

Skills needed for this role

• Agile working (content design). You have experience of working in agile, including an awareness of agile tools and how to use them. You can advise colleagues on how and why agile methods are used and be able to provide a clear, open and transparent framework in which teams can deliver. You can adapt and reflect and be resilient. You have the ability to see outside of the process. (Relevant skill level: working)
• Content concepts and prototyping. You know about prototyping and can explain why and when to use it. You know how to work in an open and collaborative environment - for example, by pair-working. (Relevant skill level: awareness)
• Stakeholder relationship management (content design). You know who your stakeholders are, what evidence is relevant to them and the importance of managing relationships with them. (Relevant skill level: awareness)
• Strategic thinking (content design). You know about the strategic context of your work and why it is important. You support strategic planning in an administrative capacity. (Relevant skill level: awareness)
• User focus (content design). You have an awareness or understanding of user experience analysis and its principles. You can see the purpose of user stories and focus on user needs. (Relevant skill level: awareness)
• User-centred content design. You have basic but decent editorial standards. You know about style standards. You work well under supervision. (Relevant skill level: awareness)

Junior content designer

A junior content designer is a graduate with a degree in a relevant subject or an individual with some relevant work experience in content creation. At this level you will:

• explain content decisions
• work collaboratively
• work independently after being given direction by more senior content designers
• independently identify user issues and needs
• support content team administration and publishing processes
• engage with and contribute to the cross-government content community

Skills needed for this role

• Agile working (content design). You have experience of working in agile teams, including an awareness of agile tools and how to use them. You can advise colleagues on how and why agile methods are used. You can adapt, reflect and are responsive to feedback. You have the ability to see beyond the process. (Relevant skill level: working)
• Content concepts and prototyping. You know the different types of prototypes, from paper sketches to coded prototypes and you understand when to use them. (Relevant skill level: awareness)
• Stakeholder relationship management (content design). You know who your stakeholders are and you work to understand their needs. You understand the importance of managing relationships with your stakeholders. (Relevant skill level: awareness)
• Strategic thinking (content design). You support the creation and development of strategies and policies. You contribute to iterating and improving processes and guidelines. You understand how activities meet strategic goals. (Relevant skill level: working)
• User focus (content design). You are aware of user experience analytics and principles. You understand the purpose of user stories and focus on user-centred design more widely. (Relevant skill level: awareness)
• User-centred content design. You have some experience of writing and editing digital content and have some experience of using content management systems to publish content. You understand the importance of content standards and style guidelines and can apply these to your work. You understand the importance of using data and evidence to make content decisions and you know the right questions to ask to get data to shape and iterate content. You work well under supervision. (Relevant skill level: awareness)

Content designer

Content designers are responsible for creating, evaluating, updating and reviewing content at all stages of the end-to-end user journey. At this level you will:

• be comfortable using evidence, data and research to make content decisions
• build relationships across government to focus on the needs of the user and to influence stakeholders
• contribute to and use the style guides and content patterns
• engage with and contribute to the cross-government content community

Skills needed for this role

• Agile working (content design). You are aware of and understand agile methodology and can apply an agile mindset to your work. You can work in a fast-paced, evolving environment and use an iterative and flexible approach to enable rapid delivery. You are unafraid to take risks, willing to learn from mistakes and appreciate the importance of agile project delivery to digital projects in government. You are able to make sure the team has a situational awareness of each other’s work and how it relates to objectives and user needs. You can use a range of tools and platforms to plan and manage your work. (Relevant skill level: practitioner)
• content concepts and prototyping. You understand different prototyping techniques, from paper sketches to coded prototypes and can use them to visualise content in context. You can choose the best option to make content understandable to different audiences and to demonstrate a proposed approach to content changes or improvements. You can show the value of prototyping to the team. (Relevant skill level: working)
• Stakeholder relationship management (content design). You can identify important stakeholders and communicate with them clearly and regularly. You can tailor communication to their needs and work with them to build relationships while also meeting user needs. You know how to build and reach consensus. You work to improve stakeholder relationships, using evidence to explain decisions made. (Relevant skill level: working)
• Strategic thinking (content design). You contribute to content strategies and policies, and can create content patterns or standards. You provide support for content improvement projects and focus on outcomes rather than solutions and activities. (Relevant skill level: practitioner)
• User focus (content design). You can identify tasks that will provide insights into a problem. You can formulate hypotheses, gain insights from data and user research and make decisions on findings. You understand the range of different users who might access content and services and can identify their needs based on evidence. You can translate user stories into content that meets users’ needs and propose suitable design approaches. You can use quantitative and qualitative data about users to turn user insights into outcomes. (Relevant skill level: working)
• User-centred content design. You design content to meet user needs and make complex language and processes easy to understand. You can present the right information in the right format for what users need. You have robust experience of writing, editing and publishing digital content with experience of using content management systems and content production processes to publish content. You write in plain language in a way that users understand, making information accessible to all. You understand government accessibility requirements and can design content that works with common assistive technologies. You use data, research and evidence to review and evaluate content to make improvements. You consistently and effectively apply content standards and style guidelines to your work. You work to continuously improve content and understand why content lifecycle management is important. You can work autonomously. (Relevant skill level: working)

Senior content designer

A senior content designer is an expert practitioner who develops content strategy and solutions for large-scale problems and high-profile events. At this level you will:

• take responsibility for content quality, manage small teams and mentor content colleagues
• write and map user stories
• review the work of others to assure quality lead on cross-government content projects
• engage with and contribute to the cross-government content community

Skills needed for this role

• Agile working (content design). You understand the role of content in multidisciplinary teams and can articulate this and advocate for it. You work collaboratively with colleagues from other disciplines in multidisciplinary teams. You can identify and compare the best processes or delivery methods to use and measure and evaluate them, helping the team decide the best approach. You help teams manage and visualise outcomes, prioritise work, define scope and agree a minimum viable product (MVP). (Relevant skill level: practitioner)
• content concepts and prototyping. You can build and create a variety of different prototypes, from paper sketches to coded prototypes. You can choose the most appropriate option to visualise content in context for different audiences. You can effectively combine prototypes with other content and design outputs to test with users and show to stakeholders. You can establish content patterns, test and iterate them. (Relevant skill level: practitioner)
• Stakeholder relationship management (content design). You can negotiate with and influence stakeholders and manage relationships effectively. You are able to influence decisions, deal with challenging situations and remove blockers. You can build long-term strategic relationships and communicate clearly and regularly with stakeholders, supporting mutual needs and commitments while focusing on user needs.(Relevant skill level: practitioner).
• Strategic thinking (content design). You can help lead the design and implementation of strategies, evaluating their impact and progress to make sure business objectives and the needs of users are being met. You lead and direct strategic content improvement projects, focussing effort in the areas of greatest priority and make sure goals and objectives are met. (Relevant skill level: expert)
• User focus (content design). You collaborate with user researchers and performance analysts to advocate effectively for users. You understand the different types of user research, evidence and data and how they’re used at different stages of a product development (alpha, beta, live). You can formulate hypotheses, gain insights from research and make decisions based on findings, clearly explaining how decisions have been made. You can evaluate quantitative and qualitative data and can prioritise and define approaches to best understand users. You can champion user research to focus on all users. You put accessibility requirements at the heart of approaches to designing content and encourage others to do the same. You guide others and make recommendations on the best tools and methods to use. (Relevant skill level: practitioner)
• User-centred content design. You have a deep understanding of end-to-end journeys and how content is affected within these journeys. You can identify where journey fixes or content improvements need to be made. You have responsibility for assuring the quality of content from more junior colleagues and coaching and guiding them to improve. You make sure content is regularly reviewed and evaluated, contributing to continuous improvements and iteration. You encourage a continuous improvement mindset in teams and more junior content colleges. You deliver through others and direct and critique their work. (Relevant skill level: practitioner).

Lead content designer

A lead content designer is an expert practitioner and leader who directs a team of content designers. They assure the content quality across whole teams and make sure content aligns to strategy and objectives while meeting the needs of users. At this level you will:

• work closely with service managers, programme directors and senior stakeholders to resource teams, resolve problems and develop future projects
• promote the content design discipline, engage with the cross-government community and keep up to date with industry changes

Skills needed for this role

• Agile working (content design). You know how to coach and lead teams in agile and lean practices, determining the right approach for the team or the project. You evaluate and review the approach through the life of a project and can iterate and pivot accordingly. You can think of new and innovative ways of working to achieve the right outcomes. You act as a recognised expert and advocate for the approaches proposed, continuously reflecting on the work of the team and constructively challenging them to improve processes and delivery. You regularly assess and review capability within teams and make sure individuals have the skills needed to deliver. (Relevant skill level: expert)
• Content concepts and prototyping. You can explain and demonstrate the value of different prototyping techniques to teams and encourage them to use these in their work. You can guide teams to build and create the most appropriate ways to visualise their work in context for different audiences. You can direct the team in the creation, testing and iteration of content patterns. (Relevant skill level: working)
• Stakeholder relationship management (content design). You manage long-term strategic relationships with stakeholders, identifying where new connections need to be made and existing ones nurtured. In directing the strategic approach for stakeholder relationships, you can establish stakeholder objectives, making sure these are clearly represented. You act as a point of escalation if stakeholder relationships break down or become challenging for more junior members of the team. You can influence important senior stakeholders and arbitrate when blockers are escalated. You facilitate discussions across high-risk and complex areas or projects under constrained timelines. (Relevant skill level: expert)
• Strategic thinking (content design). You lead, design and implement strategies and policies in line with wider business and government objectives without losing sight of user needs. You evaluate the implementation and rollout of strategies to make sure objectives are met. You take ownership for team and programme strategies and make sure they are iterated in line with business needs and objectives. (Relevant skill level: expert)
• User focus (content design). You give direction on which tools or methods are best for teams to use. You have extensive experience of meeting the needs of users across a variety of channels. You understand complex user journeys and can direct solutions to meet different needs within these journeys. You can bring insight and expertise in how user needs have changed over time to make sure these are still relevant and being met. You can apply strategic thinking in how to provide the best service for the user while also considering business needs and the wider cross-government context. (Relevant skill level: expert)
• User-centred content design. You direct the approach to content lifecycle management to make sure content is regularly reviewed and evaluated by teams. You oversee teams’ work to make sure the right content is being produced to meet the needs of users. You have extensive experience of creating, iterating, managing and overseeing content across multiple channels. You encourage teams to review and evaluate the effectiveness of processes and systems and support them to iterate for improvements. You are accountable for the production of high-quality, user-focused content. You can identify gaps in content design skills and capability and can help teams grow and develop. (Relevant skill level: expert)

Head of content design

A head of content design is an expert practitioner with broad industry experience who can define and assure best practice while influencing, leading and mentoring others. At this level you will:

• develop a strategy for content that meets the organisation’s objectives
• lead a team capable of executing that strategy
• work with senior stakeholders to influence organisational strategy
• prioritise and collaborate with counterpart colleagues across government
• champion good content design practice within government and industry

Skills needed for this role

• Agile working (content design). You know how to coach and lead teams in agile and lean practices, determining the right approach for the team to take and evaluating this through the life of a project. You can think of new and innovative ways of working to achieve the right outcomes. You are able to act as a recognised expert and advocate for the approaches, continuously reflecting and challenging the team. (Relevant skill level: expert)
• Content concepts and prototyping. You know about prototyping and can explain why and when to use it. You know how to work in an open and collaborative environment - for example, by pair-working. (Relevant skill level: awareness)
• Stakeholder relationship management (content design). You know how to direct the strategic approach for stakeholder relationships, establishing and promoting the meeting of stakeholder objectives. You can influence important senior stakeholders and provide an arbitration function. (Relevant skill level: expert)
• Strategic thinking (content design). You can lead the design and implementation of strategy, directing the evaluation of strategies and policies to ensure business requirements are being met. (Relevant skill level: expert)
• User focus (content design). You know how to give direction on which tools or methods to use. You are experienced in meeting the needs of users across a variety of channels. You can bring insight and expertise in how user needs have changed over time to ensure these are met by the business. You know how to apply strategic thinking in how to provide the best service for the end user. (Relevant skill level: expert)
• User-centred content design. You have experience of creating and iterating content across multiple channels. You can be accountable for content decisions. You can train and guide your team. (Relevant skill level: expert)

Read more

• Civil Service Jobs
• Read about the government’s design community
• Blog: the importance of content designers in government
• Blog: looking at the different ways to test content

Published 7 January 2020
Last updated 17 March 2021 + show all updates

1. 17 March 2021

   We have updated the guidance about what a content designer does and the skills you need to do the job. This page now shows the most up to date skills needed to be a content designer in government.

2. 7 January 2020

   First published.

Contents