This is going to be brief summary of the importance behind timely content delivery.
When you approach a designer/developer or studio one of the things they will more than likely stipulate in the contract and proposal is delivery of content. Specifically, the timely delivery of content. At least I can speak for myself here.
Why are we such sticklers about content delivery, often time stating that delays in content delivery can cause delays in the overall project timeline? After all you are asking us to design, the design of the website shouldn’t rely on the content, right?
Actually quite the opposite. The design should in all cases build around the content. The design is there after all to organize, making the content presentable and usable no matter how little of it there may be. The design is of course comprised of a slew of other elements such as branding but for the most part the architecture of the site is designed based on what will be presented and what the purpose of the site is.
Yes in the early stages of the project we can use “dummy” text as a placeholder as long as we have spent the time doing the research/planning and have put together a general diagram consisting of site flow, pages, content areas etc. But… until we are all (including you) able to have a look at the final content, picking apart the pieces, we will not see exactly what needs to be done.
There are in almost all cases, in my experience, going to be certain details that just will not be accounted for until we see final content. How you envision it’s presentation and how we design to deliver the content.
So we go about setting a timeline for content delivery based on the overall estimate of the project. We do so allowing ourselves ample time to style and build a site around your content, taking into consideration the unforeseen. If the content does not reach us on time we have to reconsider and decide if there will be adjustments necessary in the total project timeline.
Imagine if content is delivered only days before the project is to be completed?
Now I realize that content will undergo changes, especially given that you have extra time here and there to proofread. That is ok we can adjust for spelling, grammar etc, but it is important that we have a working draft of actual copy. “Dummy” text will only take us so far.
The bottom line is that you have hired us expecting that we will produce an exceptional product the will deliver the results you are seeking. As your designer/developer this is exactly what I would like to do, nothing less, but we have to be willing to work together in order to create that exceptional product. On time and within your budget.