Content First or Design First

Am debatting whether I should but content first on the page and then begin to look at how to lay it out but I have in my head already what I want it to look so I might just start with a list of links to websites that I think have really good design. This list of sites will then give viewers a little background to where I would like the site to go and how I would like it to look. The bottom line being that I have still no idea what the website will do let