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The Argument Against Filler Text

If you’re thinking that filler text seems pretty boring and uncontroversial, you’d be wrong. Surprisingly, there is a very vocal faction of the design community that wants to see filler text banished to the original sources from whence it came. Perhaps not surprisingly, in an era of endless quibbling, there is an equally vocal contingent of designers leaping to defend the use of the time-honored tradition of greeking.

The argument in favor of using filler text goes something like this: If you use real content in the design process, anytime you reach a review point you’ll end up reviewing and negotiating the content itself and not the design.

This will just slow down the design process. Design first, with real content in mind (of course!), but don’t drop in the real content until the design is well on its way. Using filler text avoids the inevitable argumentation that accompanies the use of real content in the design process.

Let’s Just Agree to Disagree

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

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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.