UX laws for writers.
Imagine if you could understand how users interact with digital interfaces on a psychological basis. How could this knowledge impact your work as a writer? More importantly, how could it help you to help users have better digital experiences?
UX laws are design principles that are backed by research that help designers better understand the people they’re designing for.
UX laws are not only meant for designers. In fact, everyone who works on a product design team will benefit from knowing and understanding these laws.
Although I believe that every UX writer should have in-depth knowledge of product design, I have listed the laws which I think really apply to writing. Enjoy!
Von Restorff effect
This is also known as the isolation effect. This law says that when multiple similar objects are present, the one that differs from the rest is more likely to be remembered.
This is why we are encouraged to not only spend time crafting memorable headlines but also present them in bigger sizes and probably different colors. By making the headline look different from the remaining body of text, we make it more likely to be remembered.
This principle is not only applicable to headlines; you can also use it to draw emphasis to a word or phrase that you want users to notice and remember.
Tesler’s law
One of the first things many UX writers learn is that they should simplify their writing but what of situations where this approach is not feasible?
This law says that for any system, there is a certain amount of complexity that cannot be reduced. Inasmuch as we try to simplify digital products to make them accessible to many people, we should take care not to overdo it.
This law points out that complexity is a constant. When we try to simplify products for users, we take the work away from them and transfer it to the people working behind the scenes.
Contrary to what we think, users want to feel in control and an oversimplified interface teaches them nothing.
I still think writers should make their work simple enough but should not spend too much time and energy looking for simpler words to replace technical ones. For instance, if you are designing for workers in a specialized field, technical jargon is understandable to them. If you are an outsider to the field, looking for word replacements will frustrate you and mess up the experience for your users who are already comfortable with such language.
Jakob’s law
Your users also use other digital products. This law states that they expect it to work like the other products they already know.
This does not mean that companies will no longer need UX writers nor does it mean you should not be innovative with microcopy.
Personally, this is great because now the focus can move away from writing generic microcopy to writing specific microcopy. For instance, instead of really focusing on how to tell a user that her password is incorrect, we can just use something that’s popular and that works and focus our attention on writing pages that define what problem the product is solving.
This also applies when revamping microcopy for an existing product. Try to do this while retaining some level of familiarity because users have already created expectations for this product. Instead of changing everything, you could simply change some things or you can change everything but implement these changes gradually.
Miller’s law
This says that the average person can only keep 7(plus or minus 2) items in their working memory.
This is one reason I particularly prefer progressive onboarding. Giving out information to users in small chunks ensures that our writing works better and that cognitive load is decreased for the users.
So, help users remember information and help your organization to have value for their money by not only breaking down information but also feeding it to users in bits.
Postel’s law
Be liberal in what you accept and conservative in what you send.
Let’s assume you’ve written a crisp copy that you think everyone would love and find easy to follow. You quickly put your work to the test in the real world and quickly discover that this is not the case. Users simply do not think like you nor does everyone approach a certain task the same way you anticipate.
In writing, we should plan for various outcomes. Instead of writing for just one scenario, we should anticipate more scenarios and plan for them accordingly.
We can define boundaries for input as a way to streamline data but if you see a pattern emerge, maybe it’s time to consider some tweaks.
Serial position effect
This law says that users best remember the first and last items in a series.
This simply shows that important items should either be at the top of the page or at the bottom. Reserve the middle for information that is not as important.
For instance, on a landing page, the benefit of your product plus other perks should appear on top of the page.
Those are the laws of UX that I think apply to UX writing. Feel free to check out the other ones plus, let me know what you think in the comments.
Happy writing!
