Let’s Just Agree to Disagree

Before things get too heat­ed, let us jump in and say that both sides make valid points. 

Using real con­tent dur­ing design can dis­tract design­ers and design review teams alike away from the design, and insist­ing on always using pub­li­ca­tion-ready con­tent can be a real drag on the design process. 

On the oth­er hand, if you use poor­ly for­mat­ted filler text you may get a com­plete­ly false sense of how your design will inter­act with real content. 

We pro­pose a com­pro­mise: Only use filler text that has been edit­ed for length and for­mat to match the char­ac­ter­is­tics of real con­tent as close­ly as pos­si­ble, and use real con­tent where pos­si­ble, and where it doesn’t cre­ate too much distraction. 

Relax and do what­ev­er fits with your design process. Don’t set a lot of restric­tive hard-and-fast rules. 

Use filler text where it helps your design process, but use real con­tent if you’ve got it, as long as it doesn’t dis­tract and slow down your design process. Design is an evo­lu­tion­ary process, and filler text is just one tool in your progress-push­ing arse­nal. Use it where it makes sense to use it, and pull it once the nat­ur­al process indi­cates that it’s time to roll out a descen­dant built with real content.

C/O https://placeholder.com/text/