Thom Wong, Bulb

Hi, my name’s Thom and I’m a writer at Bulb, a renewable energy supplier in London.

How did you get into UX writing?

There’s a very long version of this that includes teaching, law school, government policy, taking the first copywriting job I could find, and so on and so forth.

The short answer is I joined the right company at the right time willing to give me a shot at it.

What does a normal day look like?

Is it cheating to say there’s no such thing? Most days start with a pod standup. Then a quick check on priorities. Of course, with only two dedicated writers and a comms team of four, and requests coming from anywhere in the business, that can fluctuate rather quickly. There’s a lot of variety in my work, but generally I’ll be writing emails, notifications, and error messages, the holy trinity of user journeys.

What are the top 3 apps you use?

I wish I could surprise you and say I have no specific writing app preference, but that’s just a lie. I start all my writing in iA Writer, and eventually it ends up in Figma, Google Docs, Mailchimp, or even as HTML in Github. As much as I hate it I don’t know what I’d do without Chrome. By sheer amount of time I would guess Slack is my top app.

Where do you go and what do you do for inspiration?

I’m inspired by all the brilliant writers out there who painstakingly chronicle their processes for us mere mortals. For reasons that are beyond me they often write weekly newsletters and give them away for free. So basically I read a lot and then to give my brain a break I’ll hit up a gallery and let all that brilliance seep in.

What’s the best thing about your job?

Knowing the words I write make a real difference for a lot of people. Bulb is approaching a million members, and a sizeable proportion of them read and rely on my words every day. I don’t think I can overstate how satisfying it is to write words that make people’s lives easier and better.

What are the biggest challenges you face as a UX writer?

Probably how new it is as a discipline. Good writing is good writing, but the internet makes it all so much more… interesting. Yes, interesting.

What’s your biggest content pet peeve?

“We need about this many words.” (Indicates with two fingers.)

What principles do you try to stick to when writing?

I’m old, so I’m still a Strunk, Elements of Style kind of guy. That said, I think highly prescriptive writing principles speak to a potentially problematic mind. Language is alive.

Do you have any advice for aspiring UX writers?

The same advice as I’d give anyone trying to write for a living, which is read more and write more. But to that I’d add, be kind and meet a lot of people. Because that’s the best way I know to do anything, and by happy coincidence it’s great for your career.

Is there anything you want to promote?

We would love to hear from senior content designers and UX writers. Absolutely love to. You can see our active postings at https://bulb.co.uk/careers/. And if you don’t see something that suits please just email me at thom@bulb.co.uk.

Where can people find and follow you?

More information than you need is at https://supergranular.com/, and I’m supergranular on most social media.

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every word matters is curated by Dominic Warren.

Thanks again to Thom Wong for taking the time to answer these questions.