Lorem Ipsum is for Amateurs
A very brief write-up on why you should not use Lorem Ipsum dummy text in your designs!
Why I am writing this article?
Well, as a designer I was never in favour of using dummy text in my designs. They do not serve any creative purpose at all. So to reassure me that I am thinking right, I tried to find out some articles related on the same thoughts. And found many of those. I have listed them at the end of this article.
So, just a couple of days ago, I came across this tweet
And after reading the whole thread, I wanted to write down my thoughts on the same and share them with you all.
What is Lorem Ipsum?
It’s nothing but a dummy text which is used by many graphic designers, print designers in their design as a text filler. It has no meaning as such. The definition given by Wikipedia is…
In publishing and graphic design, lorem ipsum is a placeholder text commonly used to demonstrate the visual form of a document without relying on meaningful content.
The lorem ipsum text is typically a scrambled section of De finibus bonorum et malorum, a 1st-century BC Latin text by Cicero, with words altered, added, and removed to make it nonsensical, improper Latin.
As it clearly mentions that it’s nonsensical and improper, it could lead our client to a different point of decision.
Why not use Lorem Ipsum?
“Lorem ipsum (dummy text) creates a disharmony and kills the creative consistency in your design.”
It also makes the process of taking design decisions very difficult and time-consuming. Because the client/stakeholders will always be assuming what the real copy will look like or sound like. So, basically, dummy text makes difficult for stakeholder to empathize with the new design we create.
Now look at the following image and see which quickly makes sense to you
So, what’s the solution?
The solution is simple. Work with real copy. It helps and compliments the design.
I know, I know, as a designer you want to focus on design only. But recently I came across a nice article on Medium by Jess Eddy “Tips for designers to become better copywriters”. It’s very helpful.
Also, if you want to use some real human names, email id, etc instead of Lorem ipsum then there are some amazing tools like Craft Data by InVision
Wrap up
This is my personal opinion to improve your design process by not using lorem ipsum dummy text. What’s your take on this? Please let me know!
Some useful links
- Tips for designers to become better copywriters, from the experts
- Why Testing with Real Content Is Better Than Lorem Ipsum
Featured image by King Paulo Vasquez
