UX Writing for Designers
As designers, our role goes farther and deeper than wireframing, researching, and prototyping. One of the major goals is to help users create a relationship with the product, and UX writing plays a crucial role in that.
Compared to “Lorem ipsum”, designing with content makes your design and UX process easier and better. To achieve the best design for your product, it’s important to also have UX writing skills as a designer, whether or not your team would work with one.
What is UX Writing?
UX Writing is a fast-growing field in the Design industry. It is the art of creating the text that aids communication between product and user, throughout a digital product(websites, mobile apps, etc).
With great UX Writing, guiding a user through a product is made intuitive.
UX writers create microcopy that speaks the brand/product’s language. Microcopy refers to the short pieces of text on menus, modals, buttons, error/success messages, etc.
They don’t just write these instructions. They ensure communication is made simple and easy. They work with brand/product styles, personas, etc.
The UX Writing Process
In the way UI/UX design does, UX writing has its process too. As a designer, it’s important to make your design complete but carefully communicating information with the user, across your design.
Discover your product.
This is very similar to the discovery stage in design. Before getting on to UX writing, it’s important to understand the product, its missions, target audience, brand tone, etc.
While professional UX writers would start with this as their first step, it can be included in your research and discovery stage as a designer. You need to conduct competitive analysis and research to understand and highlight the terminology, information architecture and flow of the message on similar products from companies in the same industry as your product.
This would help you decide whether or not you’re staying consistent with the common terms/standards in the industry.
User Flow Review
It’s not only the role of a UX writer to write. They’re also required to go through the flow designed to make sure it’s passing across information easily and accurately. Doing this would make the UX writer ask themselves the right questions to create the best copy.
Play with words.
At this stage, you’re doing the major work. There’s quite the similarity between the usual writing(creative, report, technical, etc), and UX writing. After researching and brainstorming, you can then begin to sketch words together to put together your first draft. Moving on to editing, once the first draft is done with, you should take your time to edit and re-edit as needed till it passes the message across efficiently.
Get to testing.
The UX writing for products can evolve like design. After creating the microcopy for your product, it’s important to keep conducting tests with users to ensure it’s passing across the right information, and it’s not outdated.
Best Practices for UX Writing
When creating Microcopy for designs, there are a few guidelines to follow. Some of which include;
Be concise
It’s important to always keep things simple. By doing this, you’re ensuring that your message is simple and clear enough for users to grasp the message you’re passing across.
Make use of active voice
When you need users to take action, it’s best to use copy that makes them want to act.
Use graphical representation
Most times, it’s easier and quicker to understand visual information. To communicate your message best, the use of images to support the copy helps you deliver the message better.
Be conversational
The best kind of copy is the one users can relate to. While the copy is passing across a message, it should also create an experience that sounds human.
Stay Consistent
Consistency in the copy should be the ensured because inconsistency causes confusion. There should be consistency in the tone and voice of the copy on your design. All copies across the product should feel like they’re written by the same person, even if they weren’t.
Your amazing design needs the right copy to help pass your message across. You might believe it to be a long process, however, it’s worth it. So take your time, design your product and it’s message, test with users, and maintain its evolution.
