"Lorem Ipsum" is popular placeholder text that designers have been using to simulate realistic blocks of text since the 1500s.
During the process of design, often it's more important for the artist doing the layout to know where the text goes and how much of it goes there than it is to know which specific words will be used. That's why we will often use blocks of Latin, usually starting with "lorem ipsum."
Stressing out too much about the specific copywriting in the design phase of a project is a mistake that gets a lot of projects into trouble.
If you get a design back from any designer and you see "lorem ipsum" or any extended variation of placeholder text, that is just the designer's way of showing you what it will look like without getting bogged down in the writing process, which often isn't complete yet.
Sometimes a designer may paste a handful of text from an unrelated asset of your business into a text block just so that the placeholder copy is specific to your brand instead of the traditional "lorem ipsum." Don't fear, this is not the designer misunderstanding your request... It's the designer personalizing the work so that it feels more natural when you see it, helping you visualize the finished product better. At the design stage, there should be a mutual understanding that this text will be revised and replaced long before anyone sees it.
If you have specific copy instructions or finished text blocks, please don't hesitate to share those with the designer as soon as they are ready so that you can see your requested content in the product with as much time as possible to allow for changes or adjustments.
Remember, design is a composition of images, text, colors, and shapes. Sometimes you need to see the canvas in order for you to write the right copy that fits.
If you'd like to learn more about the history of Lorem Ipsum and its uses, click here.
Your friend in marketing,
Ashley Wilkes
Lucky's Pro Tip: It's been said by many copywriters that the medium dictates the composition, and it's common for webpage copywriting to be done after the design is complete. However, if there is a specific text line or block of text that you know must be incorporated into a design, give that to the designer upfront upon requesting the task – because, under those circumstances, it's better to have that built into the design than the other way around.
For the vast majority of marketing projects involving webpages, development works most quickly and efficiently when the production steps take place in this order:
1. Give the designer everything you have in the way of creative direction or assets, and let them work their magic.
2. Get the design developed into a live webpage.
3. Start the final draft of the website design copy.
4. When you have the design in hand, replace the Lorem ipsum or placeholder text with the perfect copy to complete your project.