Team-Up, Strategize, Execute: For a Perfect Feature

An age-old brainteaser: What came first? Chicken or the Egg. Similar is the debate on Content or Design – Which Should Lead?Content and Design walk hand-in-hand. So the best way is to Team-Up, ‘cause ‘Great content creates a Great Design’. One needs to carefully select the words to complement a design to be able to grab user attention and make them do what you want them to. In short: accomplish the goal of your website.No copywriter likes to take up the fill in the blanks job of placing content into pre-approved designs. It’s like starting about with hands tied. Copywriters are not there to replace that Lorem ipsums. It kills creativity and leaves no room for a writer to create great content. Interactive, to-the-point and appropriate content on design help give a clear message to the users.Our newly launched feature- ‘Certified Agent’ was on the cards and we wanted to help our agents grab more business from the market by acquiring an identity that builds their credibility and makes them stand out from the rest of agents who are not doing well in the market.Altogether a unique tag of ‘Certified Agent’ who can be trusted was not just a feature but a bag of responsibilities on the shoulders of Magicbricks. This is because while it gave an opportunity to agents to brag their repute and genuineness, it also helped Magicbricks users to pick the trusted agents for their requirements. So, it needed hard-core functionality on the backend too that makes these agents trustworthy. These agents are projected as – Trusted by users, have genuine listings, have complete market knowledge.We arranged interviews with the product owners to get a clear understanding of the goals of the product we were to create. While the content team scribbled the terminology used by the real estate agents and the buyers (for whom the product was being designed), our design counterparts sketched ideas for the layouts that can make the experience sharper.It was indeed a bit awkward when we started. With ideas flooding within all of us, the conflicts were now less. But then an equilibrium reached when we exchanged ideas and it became a give and take process. We figured out each other’s concerns and benefits. And a new approach started.We brainstormed on some trivial to larger screens and messages. We crafted the journey of a user on Chat. The wireframe was created once we figured out what would work the best for design as well as the copy. A perfect money-bagging copy wouldn’t work if it is not implemented well by the design. And the same goes true for the design too. The most eye-catching design may not bring in conversions if the copy fails to convince your audience.With a subtle content delineation in place, we could start with a wireframe and the layout that builds the dummy of the feature. This would define a compelling story for a product owner about the flow and how the feature will roughly on various entry points.Once the wireframe was finalized with a few hiccups, the designers began to design and writers began to finalize the copies of each module right from front-end to GTM tasks like mailers, SMS and notifications to let the world know about this wonderful highlight to Agent’s profile on Magicbricks.It’s all in the approach! When the designers and copywriters join hands right from the conceptualization till the finally cooked-up output, a cohesive story is created that has great potential.So it all lies how you start and build up. The designers may have some copy ideas, the writer will certainly have a picture in mind, how his/her copy would look. It is important to consider good as well as bad and be susceptible to discussions, disagreements, and compromise. In other words, it is an adjustment and believe us, the results are worth applauding.An age-old brainteaser: What came first? Chicken or the Egg. Similar is the debate on Content or Design – Which Should Lead?Content and Design walk hand-in-hand. So the best way is to Team-Up, ‘cause ‘Great content creates a Great Design’. One needs to carefully select the words to complement a design to be able to grab user attention and make them do what you want them to. In short: accomplish the goal of your website.No copywriter likes to take up the fill in the blanks job of placing content into pre-approved designs. It’s like starting about with hands tied. Copywriters are not there to replace that Lorem ipsums. It kills creativity and leaves no room for a writer to create great content. Interactive, to-the-point and appropriate content on design help give a clear message to the users.Our newly launched feature- ‘Certified Agent’ was on the cards and we wanted to help our agents grab more business from the market by acquiring an identity that builds their credibility and makes them stand out from the rest of agents who are not doing well in the market.Altogether a unique tag of ‘Certified Agent’ who can be trusted was not just a feature but a bag of responsibilities on the shoulders of Magicbricks. This is because while it gave an opportunity to agents to brag their repute and genuineness, it also helped Magicbricks users to pick the trusted agents for their requirements. So, it needed hard-core functionality on the backend too that makes these agents trustworthy. These agents are projected as – Trusted by users, have genuine listings, have complete market knowledge.We arranged interviews with the product owners to get a clear understanding of the goals of the product we were to create. While the content team scribbled the terminology used by the real estate agents and the buyers (for whom the product was being designed), our design counterparts sketched ideas for the layouts that can make the experience sharper.It was indeed a bit awkward when we started. With ideas flooding within all of us, the conflicts were now less. But then an equilibrium reached when we exchanged ideas and it became a give and take process. We figured out each other’s concerns and benefits. And a new approach started.We brainstormed on some trivial to larger screens and messages. We crafted the journey of a user on Chat. The wireframe was created once we figured out what would work the best for design as well as the copy. A perfect money-bagging copy wouldn’t work if it is not implemented well by the design. And the same goes true for the design too. The most eye-catching design may not bring in conversions if the copy fails to convince your audience.With a subtle content delineation in place, we could start with a wireframe and the layout that builds the dummy of the feature. This would define a compelling story for a product owner about the flow and how the feature will roughly on various entry points.Once the wireframe was finalized with a few hiccups, the designers began to design and writers began to finalize the copies of each module right from front-end to GTM tasks like mailers, SMS and notifications to let the world know about this wonderful highlight to Agent’s profile on Magicbricks.It’s all in the approach! When the designers and copywriters join hands right from the conceptualization till the finally cooked-up output, a cohesive story is created that has great potential.So it all lies how you start and build up. The designers may have some copy ideas, the writer will certainly have a picture in mind, how his/her copy would look. It is important to consider good as well as bad and be susceptible to discussions, disagreements, and compromise. In other words, it is an adjustment and believe us, the results are worth applauding.