What’s the best way to show design comps? Do you use FPO images and Latin text? Do you try to make the comp look as close to the final web page as possible?
 
Using FPO images and placeholder text can eliminate the need to have real content prepared for an initial design review, but the question here is, can your design be effectively communicated missing content? And does FPO content mislead or prohibit the client from seeing the final results?

There are times when FPO content is better (at least for the designer) than final content. A designer can pick an image that looks a certain way to strengthen the design or insert just the right amount of text to fill a space. When real content becomes available it may not fit in an allotted space or clash when juxtaposed with other content or the design itself. When this happens a seemingly solid design becomes useless.

Real content gives the client something to recognize, relate to, and judge. A design can be approved because of good content or tarnished in an instant by a typo. People know how to read words and most know how to interpret a photograph, but graphic design is a language few understand and content helps bridge the gap.

I like to have real content. It doesn’t have to be final, but it does have to represent the intended message in the amount of text and types images used. If you put in anything that can be interpreted as real content is must be error free. This is not my rule; it’s reality. No one ever found a typo in Latin, but clients love to point them out in real copy and they’ll dwell on these errors while the design suffers.

Sometimes FPO content is the only option available and other times real content is essential to validate a design and get it approved. Each client and project is different. However, it seems to work best when real content is present in layouts. Regardless of the situation, one needs to assess the client’s ability to visualize and present the design accordingly – easier said than done.