”As if any self-respecting writer would think of creating content that was dreary, inhuman and disadvantage-driven.”

It’s what I’ve been (secretly) thinking for years.

However, I will defend the power of words to describe the as-yet-intangible content in the strategy. When we’re planning video/design/photography content that hasn’t yet been created, we need to describe what it’ll look like.

Some strategists might be at a place where they can brainstorm and plan with video and pictorial content but, as words are simply easier to create, I still think the written word rules. And writers are still the undisputed monarchs of the internet

I’m hoping that many more designers and companies will knuckle down and spend the time needed to create rich visual/textual, and for that matter aural, content that blends words and images in layered and permeable ways that help us take the web somewhere fundamentally more useful. Alas, the ubiquity of cheap/free potential design assets and tools, coupled with client audiences still largely ignorant of the benefits, methodology, or even existence of alternative techniques or critical thinking, means that for every one great example there will be a thousand lumpen failures. Plus ultimately not many people actually care enough!

Prezi – I think kinetic typography can be fun and sexy, and I see the appeal – beats a drier-than-Ryvita PowerPoint slide deck it’s true…but – my feeling is that those sorts of sparkly bits are best suited (on the web at least) to quick intros, short sales pitches, ‘soundbites’, or lecture notes. For one thing, it’s too proprietary and one of the biggest challenges still facing the web is to try and provide ‘platform-independent’ content.

Totally with you on how under-valued illustration is these days – you only have to look at ALA to see how much it can add in a subtle, sometimes even subliminal, way – so it’s a fantastic way to differentiate from the competition – plus it speaks to your ‘densify’ point. The RSA Animate videos are good examples to me of enlivening and enriching content in an edu-taining way (http://comment.rsablogs.org.uk/videos/)

Sorry for the long comment, I lacked the time etc.

Now I’m going to go finish this content brief. Let’s see… “add some pictures and videos and stuff…”