Voices of UX
Storytelling toward stronger UX
Want to fuel your UX learning? Start by picking up your pen.
Ever since I jumped into UX content design last year, I’ve fallen back on one of my favorite strategies for personal and professional growth:
Learning by doing.
From Day 1 to Day 365 and beyond, I navigated a new industry with action. And writing for PatternFly Medium became a key catalyst in my journey from UX newbie to something more.
From UX writing collaboration tips to steps for building stronger to-do lists, and even UX lessons learned from Schitt’s Creek, contributing to PatternFly has allowed me to strengthen how I approach, interpret, and relate to my work.
In May 2020, I started out as a fresh English Literature graduate from Boston University — I had no experience in user experience, let alone any expertise. Writing and editing articles for PatternFly helped me build a meaningful understanding of UX: Not just for content, but across all touch points involved in building products that are more accessible, impactful, and intuitive.
Learn by writing, write by learning
Experiences beget writing topics and writing topics beget experiences. For me, brainstorming article ideas often surfaces places where I have room to grow.
Each time I consider what to write about next, I uncover opportunities to broaden my mindset and sharpen my toolkit. And so commences my writing ritual:
- Brainstorm.
- Research.
- Write.
- Repeat.
As a PatternFly editor and contributor, I’ve engaged with topics spanning UX content, design, development, research, and more.
I’ve played mental gymnastics in unfamiliar territory, using my linguistic capabilities to navigate and streamline stories outside my realm of expertise. I’ve learned ample skills on the job, working with designers, developers, researchers, and engineers to elevate the experiences shaped by user interfaces. But I’ve learned just as much, if not more, from diving head first into the world of UX publications: Reading, writing, and editing to expand my knowledge—one story at a time.
From my experience to yours, here are five ways writing and publishing your own content can jumpstart—and continue to fuel—your UX learning.
Writing for publications like PatternFly will help you:
1) Find personal meaning in professional tasks.
Personal ambitions can often fold into our professional ventures. Contributing stories, articles, case studies, and more allows you to engage with where you started, what you’ve accomplished, and what walking that pathway means to you. UX work reaches beyond just metrics and revenue. The experiences we build impact real people, real lives, and (you guessed it) real stories.
2) Gain insight into how you understand and relate to UX problems.
Discover how you think by charting it across the page. Often, I find myself learning more about my own content design thinking as I present it to others, via conversation, documentation, messages, and more.
But one of the strongest ways I’ve been able to crack open my thought patterns and evaluate my defaults has been through writing articles just like this one.
3) Articulate your design thinking in a narrative way.
Unlock stronger explanations for meetings, design critiques, feedback sessions, and more. Sometimes, rote impressions and gut instincts are enough to carry a collaborative session. More often, the best conversations stem from sharing in-depth reasoning. Writing about UX writing, content design, research, and more has expanded my mental toolkit by enriching my relationship to industry terms, concepts, and best practices.
If you start writing about your own UX processes and begin articulating more nuanced reasoning, you may uncover hidden misconceptions about product functionality and be able to nip them in the bud before they cause issues.
Clear, direct, and detailed communication is key. Writing for blogs like PatternFly can help you get there.
4) Document your project work in a more intuitive way.
Say goodbye to that deer-in-headlights blank page stare. If you write an article about a project or process, odds are you can pull directly from that story to flesh out a more in-depth case study.
5) Assess your growth over time.
Look back on your past work as you progress in your role and reflect: What did I do well? What would I change or improve for next time? Stories on digital platforms like Medium stand the test of time, so you’ll be able to conduct self-evaluations of how your thought processes and procedures evolve, with your writing as a guide.
Beyond personal growth, consider what kind of reader experiences (written user experiences) you create. Based on quantitative data like reader engagement and qualitative insights like verbal feedback, you can leverage your UX skills to continue to write and refine reader experiences over time.
Write outside the lines: When it comes to telling UX stories, you’re not limited to written words.
Take advantage of online conferences, interviews, meetups, mentorship opportunities, and more to better how you conceptualize, contextualize, and continue your personal and professional growth.
I spoke on a podcast for the first time as a representative of PatternFly, and I walked away with an even stronger understanding of what our open source work means—and how it impacts real creators, users, and readers just like you.
Listen to our episode of Sudo Show: Effective UIs with PatternFly.
Whether you’re writing an article, a case study, or just a list of key thoughts, translating your design thinking to words will build and bolster how you communicate throughout the industry.
Writing for PatternFly Medium transformed me from complete outsider to confident content designer.
I’m looking forward to continuing to grow as a writer and UX professional—and I hope contributing to UX publications like us helps you do the same.
Have a story of your own? Write with us! Our community thrives on diverse voices — let’s hear yours.
