Finding your way as a UX writer
I was just off a 14-hour flight, and I stood in the middle of one of the most famous intersections in the world.
Nothing was familiar.
The cars drove on the “wrong” side of the road. The people spoke a language that I didn’t know, and the signs didn’t use letters that I recognized.
It was my first time outside of North America, and I was standing in Shibuya, Tokyo.
Yet, the next morning I ventured out with some colleagues and we spent the day navigating the subways and seeing the sights. I was there for a week and absolutely loved my first trip to Japan.
Years later I heard an episode of the 99 Percent Invisible podcast that gave me an interesting perspective on that experience. I realized that some smart and talented people–wayfinders–had done a great job designing an experience I could navigate and enjoy.
It’s a pretty good metaphor for my job. I’m a technical writer on a design team. When we do our job properly, we help people get around a product and use it successfully.
Here are some lessons from that podcast that apply both to wayfinding and to technical writing for software.
Lesson №1: Signage is the least effective tool of wayfinding
I’ve spent plenty of time at conferences for tech writers, and I’ve observed a lot of whining about RTFM and resentment toward people who don’t value the intricate help systems that tech writers create and maintain.
As a profession, we’ve got to focus not on ourselves or our systems but on our users.
Signs are a system for wayfinders to use when designing an experience in a public space. But they aren’t the only system or tool. In fact, “signage is the least effective tool of wayfinding. Good architecture is among the best.”
I’d like to rework that statement to apply to writers.
Documentation is the least effective tool of user experience. Good design is among the best.
I don’t mean that you shouldn’t write documentation. I wouldn’t suggest that an architect should omit signage in his plans for a building.
Documentation and signage are but a part of an overall design toward a specific goal. Your content is an important part of user experience (UX) design. So, writers, you should work on documentation, but remember its context and focus on writing content that has more impact, like just-in-time microcopy.
Lesson №2: If you can see your destination, you don’t need signs
You’ve probably seen help content or microcopy that regurgitates the calls to action on a page.
Tempted to do that yourself? Don’t do it. You’re not helping anything.
It’s easy to get tunnel vision as a writer. We’ve got a new feature coming out and I always write tooltips, help docs, and knowledge base articles for new features. Or maybe: The developers put that text string in the UI, so I guess I’d better write something to go there.
Don’t write something just because you always have. Don’t write something just because it was mocked-up or built that way. Write because you’ve determined that the user needs what you’re writing.
I’ve always enjoyed being the person in a meeting who suggests less content than is mocked up. People look at me with puzzled looks, as if to say, “I thought he was a writer. Why doesn’t he want more words?”
Take a step back and make sure your content is adding value. Sometimes less is more.
Lesson №3: Wayfinding is there to give you a sense of calm as you navigate an unfamiliar environment
If you’ve ever been nervous or agitated with new software, you understand how an unfamiliar environment can upset someone.
As a writer, you should be working with designers (or developers, if you don’t have designers) to identify trouble spots in your product. Sometimes the entire experience needs to be fixed, but sometimes you might just need to give users some timely info.
Simply adding a little explanation or context in microcopy can alleviate a lot of fear or unease.
It’s not hard to identify trouble spots.
First off, trust your instincts. You probably know of areas that aren’t ideal experiences. Look at those areas and figure out what would help them improve.
Next, turn to user feedback. Your access to user feedback may differ, but with a little creativity, you can get user feedback. Some ideas:
- Feedback on Net Promoter Score surveys
- Support incidents
- Social media
- User research sessions
You may not be able to address everything, so look for high-impact improvements or quick-win improvements. As a writer, you may know that an entire experience needs to change, but could a copy change help in the interim? Go for that quick win.
But it’s not just new users that you need to help. What about when your product itself is changing? Think redesigns, new features, UI elements being moved.
Figure out how you could provide content that helps users feel more comfortable with change, which is almost always awkward for users.
Lesson №4: Wayfinding should work whether you’re literate in it or not
This metaphor could be stretched in a couple directions.
You could say that your UX should have enough cues in it that anyone can use it. That’s fine, but I’ll focus on something more specific to writers: You could say that your content should be clear to as many people as possible. There are several ways to make your content clear to a wide audience.
- Consider your terminology.
Use the language that your users use when they talk about your product. Do you know how they talk about your product? Do user testing. Look at user feedback. - Consider novice and expert users when you write UI copy.
Consider progressive disclosure of information. Move from the abstract to the concrete. (Like moving from microcopy to a help topic.) - Consider non-native English speakers.
Write clearly and use simplified language. Use active verbs, and choose clarity over cleverness. - Consider non-English speakers.
Should your content be localized? Whether it is now or not, be preparing for localization in the future with style guides, glossaries, and well-structured content.
As a writer, you probably know about these considerations already, and you know that each could provide its own specialized career path. Don’t let that stop you from striving toward improvements in all four areas. Your users deserve it.
Epilogue
After arriving in Tokyo and standing in Shibuya Crossing, I woke the next morning and met my colleagues for some sightseeing. We crossed the street from our hotel, entered the train station, and wound through its passages until we reached the train platform, boarded a train, and spent a successful day exploring the city.
There was no user guide. There was no single solution that taught us how to get around.
Without too much thought, we relied on station maps, transit maps, station design, signage, announcements, progress indicators, and probably many other designed cues to navigate.
Likewise, as you guide users through your product, you’re not limited to one solution. Design your content experience to guide subtly and elegantly.
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