Designers have had a torrid love affair with Lorem Ipsum for ages. Actually a lot longer than you could possibly imagine. With roots in classical Latin literature, Lorem Ipsum has been the print industry’s standard dummy text since the 16th century, popularized in the 1960s. It has become the de facto placeholder text in web design, too, used in place of meaningful content during the design phase.
“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.”
Huh?
Lorem Ipsum has come a long way since then. Now there are Lorem Ipsum generators that allow designers to be truly creative:
Cupcake Ipsum
“Cupcake ipsum dolor sit. Amet I love liquorice jujubes pudding croissant I love pudding. Apple pie macaroon toffee jujubes pie tart cookie applicake caramels. Halvah macaroon I love lollipop. Wypas I love pudding brownie cheesecake tart jelly-o. Bear claw cookie chocolate bar jujubes toffee.”
Zombie Ipsum
“Zombie ipsum reversus ab viral inferno, nam rick grimes malum cerebro. De carne lumbering animata corpora quaeritis. Summus brains sit , morbo vel maleficia? De apocalypsi gorger omero undead survivor dictum mauris. Hi mindless mortuis soulless creaturas, imo evil stalking monstra adventus resi dentevil vultus comedat cerebella viventium.”
Huh?
So creative, you designers. Lorem Ipsum any writer would love to drop their little words into. But hey, today (whether you like it or not) content (yeah, that “word” stuff again) is rearing its proud head, leading the way for weary word worriers to come out of hiding. Writers who don’t think content should be pigeonholed into whatever space you deem it to live. Those other creatives, probably just as creative as you, who have an intimate relationship with the power of content. Of telling compelling stories people want to hear. Stories, sometimes short, the you’d like them to be. But stories sometimes bigger than the Lorem Ipsum your designs left them with. If you thought of content as useful, helpful, engaging and relatable…if you understood how the right content could connect to people in ways that earned their trust and loyalty which would ultimately lead to greater engagement and profit. would that change your attitude about Lorem Ipsum? Let’s talk about that.