Lorem Ipsum Never Again
January 3rd, 2007
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet…. Some designers could probably recite the rest of the paragraph.
Ah, the life of the Lorems and the Ipsums. Invariably, when I used to show a client a design that represents a block of text containing the ubiquitous “Lorem Ipsum” text, their first response was
Wow! What language is that?
Followed sometimes by
That can’t stay in the design. Joe, did you send over the text for the design?
And even occasionally by
Oh good, Latin. Can we keep that? It will make people think we’re more sophisticated.
Alas, the everpresent, ultra-convenient pseudo-Latin paragraphs have been banished forever from use here at Art of Mission. It is just too distracting. Instead of focusing’ attention on the design, it detracts from the design’s subtleties by bringing up thoughts and plans of copy-writing in anyone who sees the design for the first time
The absolute best filler text for design is the actual text copy that will be in the final version, or something close to that. If the actual copy cannot be acquired, a second best (distant second, I might add) is something recognizable in plain English. I sometimes use the selected passages from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which can be gotten in its entirety at Bibliomania. Alice in Wonderland is fairly easily recognizable and is not likely to be mistaken for final text, and it’s playful enough that the reader will (hopefully) immediately understand that the text is meant to serve as representative filler text.
The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down what seemed to be a very deep well.
Good-bye Lorem, hello Alice.
10 Responses to “Lorem Ipsum Never Again”
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January 4th, 2007 at 01:24 PM
I don’t do a lot of design mockups – hardly ever – but I agree that it does distract clients quite frequently. I think it also plays a negative effect in the mind of the client that can impact the overall design. There is a strong connection between content and the presentation of content that I think it would be a worthwhile study to see how clients react to the Latin text compared to the recognizable text of Alice in Wonderland.
January 9th, 2007 at 01:11 PM
We had someone once at the University tell us that Lorem ipsum wasn’t proper latin, and this was despite us letting him know that it was just dummy text.
I always prefer to use the actual text as it would appear on the final site. Usually I ask them to give me the actual copy first and then I work around that, but sometimes they don’t have it ready and as such I usually fall back to using Lorem ipsum.
I might try using something else on my next project. :)
January 9th, 2007 at 02:28 PM
It’s got to be some psychological issues where the brain sees information that it thinks it should be able to understand, but not quite – thus exerts more attention. I would imagine..
What about putting up Alice in Wonderland, but translated into another language… say French, or German – something recognizable, but unfamiliar to the reader. Would that have the same effect as Lorem ipsum?
January 9th, 2007 at 03:26 PM
I have done it both ways. If I use client actual copy, then they start talking about how they want to change it. If I use Lorem, then I get almost verbatim the statements you quote.
I think I’m going to some text from the Hobbit or something.
January 9th, 2007 at 06:39 PM
Heh… the Hobbit. That’s a great idea. The opening line from The Hobbit is pretty unmistakable.
Tony: I haven’t tried using another language, though I expect that would lead to confusion of its own.
January 9th, 2007 at 09:26 PM
The best idea for dummy text that I ever heard is Shakespeare.
”...slings and arrows”, anyone?
January 9th, 2007 at 09:53 PM
By the way, that Bibliomania is painful on the eyes.
Have you tried Project Gutenberg? http://www.gutenberg.org/
January 10th, 2007 at 08:25 AM
I always hit wikipedia and grab some copy from there.
They’re never short on content.
January 10th, 2007 at 11:47 AM
That Gutenberg is nice. Good find Michael. Wikipedia is good too – thanks for that idea Jon.
January 12th, 2007 at 09:40 AM
Depending on the client, malevole’s text generator is kinda fun.