“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” This phrase, attributed to Mark Twain, Winston Churchill, Henry David Thoreau, Ben Franklin (who knows who actually said it originally) perfectly encapsulates the paradox of content design. The better the content, the less you notice the effort behind it.

I used to run writing-for-the-web workshops. I would start each session with: “Welcome to writing for the web. No one reads websites.” Cue the nervous laughter. But it’s true. Users scan. They skim. They glance at headlines and pick out keywords. They don’t read; they hunt for what they need.

As content designers, our job is to get them there faster.

The art of saying more with less

There’s an expectation that writing is just about getting words on a page. But in content design, it’s about removing them. Cutting. Refining. Making every word work harder so the user doesn’t have to.

Yet, paradoxically, this takes more effort. The less content we produce, the harder we’ve worked. The more seamless the experience, the more invisible our labor. It’s a skill that requires time, thought and iteration. But so often, that’s misunderstood.

“It’s just a few lines of copy…”

“It’s just a few lines of copy. Can you take a quick look? You won’t need a Jira ticket for it.”

Every content designer has heard some version of this. Just tweak this. Just move that. It’s only a sentence or two. But behind those “few lines” is a whole strategy; understanding the user, the context, the journey, and the business goals. Those “quick changes” can unravel clarity, accessibility, and consistency. And undoing bad content decisions later is far more expensive than getting it right upfront.

Mindset: Write for mobile first

If you can say it in ten words, try five. If a button label is six words, try three. If a paragraph can be a sentence, make it one. The discipline of writing for mobile forces clarity. It also reflects reality, that is, most users will see content on a small screen first.

This mindset is key. Not just for mobile, but for all content. Shorter isn’t just better, it’s necessary.

Kill your darlings (again and again)

“In writing, you must kill all your darlings,” William Faulkner famously wrote. We’ve all fallen in love with a beautifully crafted sentence that ultimately serves no purpose. The best content designers learn to let go. Ruthlessly. If it doesn’t help the user, it doesn’t belong.

The irony of content design is that our best work is the work you never notice. And the harder we work, the less there is to show for it.

So the next time someone asks, “Can you just take a quick look?” … take a deep breath. Smile. And know that every “few lines of copy” are so much more than they seem.