UX Writing Guide - my working process
In theory, if a company has a solid, well-written style guide, the team should be able to use it.
But what is a style guide?
It is a guide with writing principles that inform all the copy and content of a company’s products. More than just establishing rules and guidelines, it's the cornerstone that shapes the brand's personality and voice, giving it a unique identity.
It is how we should write for the product.
Benefits of a company’s content style guide
Besides helping in team deliveries and improving time use, it:
- has an accessible location to guidelines and brand tone of voice
- keeps copy consistent
- helps team members in their writing
- establishes best practices
- makes translations and adaptations easier
- is for all companies of all sizes
- is a great start to scale work and deliverables
Now the process
1- Decisions made by stakeholders
As I worked in a big company, our designers asked for guidance on writing, formatting, and tone of voice.
We had multiple products, each with a tone of voice, but all had the same formatting and fundamentals.
Our UX team worked worldwide, so we needed something simple, easy, and straightforward to read.
2- Collected more material and bench-market research
I collected data and researched how to make one guide for the company. It was organised on Figma, with benchmark research.
3- Organised with the stakeholders a triage
Since I didn’t know what they were expecting, I researched, and we decided what would be added.
A nice touch is the accessibility topic. I am increasingly interested in it. I’ve been attending conferences and lectures about accessibility in writing and design.
4- Added to excel
It was an excellent way to organise the work and thoughts.
Even though Figma is amazing, Excel helped me to see it in topics and pastes.
5- Checked important topics
I saw all the benchmark research, compared it with what we had, and selected what was essential to the team.
However, the copywriting and marketing teams had worked with tone and copies, and I still had to add UX writing principles, formatting, and how-to Dos and Don’ts.
6- Show to colleagues, especially the accessibility team, if we missed any point.
This was our first test. And it had positive feedback from the team and a great perspective on accessibility!
7- Re-organised and double-checked.
We received good feedback, adapted some points, and reduced the guide’s size slightly. We had to keep it simple.
8- Think about its layout.
In this part, we had the design team help and orientation. They have a designer accessibility specialist, who was super important for this development.
*it is for internal purposes only. Sorry I can't post here some screenshots
9- Tested with the team if it is clear.
We tested when it was set and done, asked for feedback, and checked whether we missed any points and whether it was clear and straightforward to understand.
The strategy was to introduce it to the company and small teams. Since more than 100 people are using the guide, we decided to split it into smaller teams’ attention and be available for any further questions.
We prepared a workshop for this to happen.
10- Available to all in the company.
It is available on our intranet server; anyone can see and access it.
And, of course, we left our contact to assist if needed.
Lesson learned: There's no formula or correct template. What matters is what the team needs and how we, as Content Designers, can help them.
