Much is being made in the digital media world about the shift from product design to user experience design. This article from Fast Company does a great job of laying out some of the most essential ideas behind quality user experience design, including ideas like designing with a long-term vision in mind, and being focused on the customer (but not necessarily being driven by the customer).

But these ideas go beyond designing products and digital applications, they apply to any work we as content marketers do for our clients. Whether you’re creating a new look and feel for a brand, or writing a set of e-books, or even something as simple as renaming a company, you should always be thinking of how the work will be experienced by the end-user. How does a certain color palette make the viewer feel? Where and how will the reader consume an e-book? What does a name look like when someone says it to someone else?

These aren’t revolutionary ideas, but you’d be surprised how often we stray from thinking about experience, and focus too much on creating polished products that are pleasing from a design or strategic perspective. One of the best examples of this idea of experience is Uber. They crafted a company with the intention of changing an experience, not changing a product or service.