First, a brief example of the offending text known as "Lorem Ipsum" you will likely recognize:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
After first hearing about the argument, I really wanted to get aboard the "Outlawing Lorem Ipsum" train (Choo! Choo!). Like many designers, I have to work hard not perpetuate a bias toward bashing a technique you no longer hold elitist knowledge over - in other words, as soon as something's no longer just for the cool kids, it's deemed no good for anyone - and naturally, we must make an example of mid- to late-adopters.
But once I read the main arguments against using Lorem Ipsum, it completely lost value. Doing away with the technique offers no solutions over the real concerns being pointed out, most of which involved designer/client communication.
Why they hate Lorem Ipsum
To give fair attention to some of Lorem Ipsum's most outspoken opponents, I found a very compelling statement in this adaptive path essay/interview by Kate Rutter. The concept is that clients should think more strategically about their content up front. I don't know any designer who wouldn't benefit from that, but if life was easy, everyone would be doing it, right? So, for those times where your client has thought strategically up front, I would probably use their "strategic" copy, rather than Lorem Ipsum. I think we can agree on that, but for the other 99% of the time where your client needs to see something before they can finalize enough approved copy for you to design around, the standardized method that has worked for years, might just work for you.
That's a very high road to take, and as designers, we do have a responsibility to encourage our clients to become more effective, improve their process and write better content. At the same time, heavy-handed, elitist attitudes are what brand designers as hard-to-work-with snobs who care more about typography than human interaction, not a likely road to successfully winning hearts and minds of business owners. So, the outcry doesn't end there.
One recurring example is a strawman-type argument whereby painting a picture of a designer being cornered with that deer-in-headlights gaze as a room full of clients get confused and angered by this never-before-seen block of sample text beginning "Lorem Ipsum." The scene suggests lighting of torches and zombie-like board-roomers approaching the designer chanting something like, "Don't understand... must eat brains."
Back to reality (for a second) -
Honestly, to anyone who has experienced this unbelievably confusing moment with clients who think the lorem ipsum is actually intended for production… was it really that hard to clarify the misunderstanding? Did you seriously walk away from the meeting not having educated them with a ten second explanation? I’ve actually found it more confusing and distracting to try and input semi-dummy text that the client didn’t provide… “Where did you get that copy? Why would we say that? We haven’t used that word in two years, etc.”
I’ve found it a very powerful way to show clients that my role is to design, while theirs is to provide content. It very clearly communicates the much more confusing division of labor, and how their new CMS will give them the control over their site they so desire.
To the angry mob – your goal of creating a purely strategic content-driven society is a noble one, but you are ironically distracted by the lorem ipsum text itself! Focus on the real issues that plague designer/client communication, and more useful (and usable) solutions.
Finally, here's something we can all agree on: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet... [ Note to self: replace placeholder text with actual thing we can all agree on as soon as possible. ]
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