Why we write before we design

We tend to write before we open a design tool. Not because the words come first, but because the thinking does, and writing is how we find out whether we have any.

It is easy to make something look right before you know what it is. The tools are good now, and a confident layout can hide a thin idea for a surprisingly long time. We have learned to be suspicious of that.

Writing the thinking down first is uncomfortable, because it exposes whether there is anything underneath. If the argument holds in a paragraph, it will hold in a design. If it does not, no amount of craft will save it. The words are not the deliverable. They are how we make sure the deliverable means something.