Playing with Words: My UX Writing Internship Experience
I’ve been told that curiosity is one of my strong points. Never really sure if it was a compliment or a mockery, but one thing I know for sure is that being curious trains my critical thinking skill. And that turned out to be one of the many essential elements a UX writer has to have.
Growing up, I was introduced to many things. My parents not only opened the door, they also encouraged me to try various skills. But instead of focusing to master one thing, I kind of decided to try everything out bits by bits. Yet none of them seemed to work out for me. I gave one thing a shot, got overly-enthusiastic about it for a blink of a moment, and became blasé about the whole thing. And before I knew it, it’s turned into a classic vortex of “what’s next?” That being the case, I spent a chunk of my life searching for that so called passion.
It wasn’t until last year that I was introduced to the UX world, specifically UX writing. I’ve loved and been writing for as long as I can remember, but writing for products has never crossed my mind. Heck, I didn’t even know what it was! But it somehow lit up the fire in me, and once I got to know more about it, I knew that this is what I wanted to pursue in life.
Long story short, I had the opportunity to become a UX writer intern at Blibli. And after many projects and tasks, here are a few things I managed to pick up along the way about UX writing:
Words are powerful
Just like how we would communicate on our daily lives, the words used in digital products need to be as conversational as possible. UX writers need to make sure the user feel as if they’re communicating with a real person, or even a friend, rather than a robot or machine. Every day for 6 months of my internship is filled with deciding which words or phrases to choose — from little buttons, tickers, to push notifications — every word is carefully selected to make the copy sounds more human. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The word choices also need to be concise, and of course, useful. After all, UX writing is all about solving user’s problems through building a more user-friendly product.
Your words are powerful. They can build people up or bring them down.
Clarity above all
When in doubt, choose clarity. Sure, a copy needs to be concise, but sometimes we can’t have both. This situation happened to me countless times, and I had to redo every sentence from scratch, making sure that the copy is as clear as crystal. It’s true what they say, “easy reading is damn hard writing.” But at the end of the day, as UX writers, we want to make sure that our copy is as useful and informative as it can get. And when users feel satisfied and happy with the product, the pleasure is ours, isn’t it? ;)
It’s never just about the words
There’s more to UX writing than meets the eye. UX writing has the power to make or break the user experience. And as Uncle Ben says, “with great power comes great responsibility,” UX writing includes everything from researching, practicing empathy, exploring multiple angles/POVs, and of course, crafting copy. These skills, of course, need to be honed over time. I personally still have a long way of learning all of this, but I believe that practice makes progress.
Working with the UX team as an intern here has provided me a whole new perspective of design thinking and empathy, and has given me a creative nudge to think differently. It wasn’t always an easy road, especially for someone with no background or experience in the UX field. I had my fair share of rough days, but along with the help of my mentors and teammates, I managed to take baby steps and tried to get at least 1% better every day. I will be forever grateful for this experience, and I can’t wait for the next great things in store for me!
“In the end, it’s the people who are curious who change the world” — Neil Degrasse Tyson
Stay curious, friends!
If you’re interested in applying for a full-time position or intern, Blibli is currently hiring! Send your resume to recruitment@blibli.com and get the chance to work with our PM and UX team and create our own unique stories.
