UX Writing in EdTech (Part 2)
Leading UX writing and content design
By Sarah Mondestin from BrainPOP
As we learned in the first article of our 3-part series, UX Writing in EdTech, UX writers are designers who design the most important part of the user interface (UI): the words. From button copy, menus, and FAQ pages, to voice and tone charts, and style guides, UX writers design content to help smoothly guide users through a product. They research, collaborate, and create. We interviewed two EdTech UX writers about their experiences and challenges they’ve faced in designing content for students, teachers, and administrators and found that although UX writing is an important part of the design process and business goals, some EdTech companies still have trouble understanding the true value of UX writing.
👉🏾 So what happens when you’ve been asked to lead one of these talented, yet often overlooked UX writing teams that keeps all learners in mind? Or what if you’re still the only UX writer but are building the practice and growing the department? Enter the EdTech UX writing leaders.
In this second article of our 3-part series, EdTech UX writing leaders, Megan O’Neill of Codecademy and Carl Krause of Babbel, walk us through what it takes to lead content design teams and build a UX writing foundation.
“…although my title is UX Writer, not everything I do is writing. I also work on product content strategy, information architecture, and messaging-related user testing.”
Leading a team or leading a practice
People are curious about what to call UX writers. What is your official title?
MO: I’m the Senior UX Writer at Codecademy, part of Skillsoft, a leading online learning platform that helps people build inspiring careers in technology.
CK: I’m the Content Design Lead at Babbel, a leading language-learning platform which offers both app-based self-study options and live online classes.
UX writing leaders may include those who manage teams or those who are building the function of UX writing. What exactly do you do in your senior or lead position?
MO: I sit on the product design team and support designers across our product teams. Everything I do is in service of helping our learners reach their goals without friction. Sometimes I write error messages, labels, tooltips, and other UI copy. But although my title is UX Writer, not everything I do is writing. I also work on product content strategy, information architecture, and messaging-related user testing. And I spend a lot of time asking questions to understand the intricacies of how learners interact with us. This understanding unlocks our ability to surface the right words and content to the right users at the right time.
As the first and only UX writer on the team, I’m also building the foundations of our UX writing practice. This includes iterating on process, documenting content patterns, and being an advocate for UX writing. I also look for opportunities to bridge UX copy and messaging patterns across the org.
“I act as an advocate for our team and I try to make sure content designers have the resources, recognition, and respect to do their best work.”
CK: Babbel’s amazing team of four content designers sits within the product design department and is responsible for making communication clear and guiding for our learners throughout their journey. I act as an advocate for our team and I try to make sure content designers have the resources, recognition, and respect to do their best work. I also push forward more foundational work, like Babbel’s voice and tone guidelines, to ensure everyone is on the same page.
Finally, I’m the content designer for two of our product teams because I think, as a lead, it’s really important to have first-hand knowledge of the challenges and opportunities content designers in the company encounter.
Carl, how does your content design team collaborate with the localization team at Babbel?
CK: Localization is really, really important at a language-learning company. A clever feature name or a snappy line might be amazing in English, but it could cause some major headaches when it’s time to implement it in Italian or German or Ukrainian. Content designers at Babbel really make a point to reach out early and often to colleagues on the localization team to get their thoughts and ensure we’re on the right track. If something isn’t working well, it’s often indicative that the logic isn’t solid yet. The ability to feed those findings back into the design process helps us do our jobs better and allows project teams to avoid expensive refactoring later.
From marketing and PR to content design
We know everyone’s journey to UXW is a bit different. How did you become a UX writer or content designer?
MO: I made the transition to UX writing in 2021 after a decade in content marketing. At organizations that don’t have a UX writer, marketers are often brought in to help the product team with words. So for many years I was doing UX writing and didn’t even know it! I loved working with product designers and had been considering a career change. When I realized UX writing was actually a job, I knew it was the job for me.
I was lucky to be able to make the change at Codecademy, where I’d been working as Senior Manager of Content Marketing. My years in marketing definitely influence my work as a UX writer. Marketing is a huge part of the user journey. For us, many learners come to our product by way of marketing. Marketing is often the first touchpoint for learners to learn about a new product or feature. Having a throughline in messaging from marketing to product helps learners find success with our product. Close collaboration between product and marketing is key for making this happen.
CK: I have a liberal arts degree and the first act of my career was doing public relations and content at an art museum and later in two architecture firms. It was my job to take complex topics and help make them approachable and interesting to a larger audience. Having a thoughtful website is an essential tool, so I was heavily involved in several sizable website redesigns. I quickly learned that writing is just one part of creating an educational, engaging experience and I was forced to branch out and learn about information architecture, content modeling, taxonomy, etc. I quickly realized I really enjoyed that kind of work and, long story short, it led me to content design.
Today, I still work on reducing barriers to something that seems complicated and daunting to many people. The scope has broadened — I work on a portfolio of language-learning experiences across several platforms — but I still draw upon the skills I started honing at the beginning of my career.
“It’s so much more than finding the right words: it’s about building strong relationships, identifying opportunities, and helping each other cover blind spots to come up with something beneficial for users.”
Collaborating and problem solving
What do you most enjoy about your role?
MO: There is so much I love about my role, but the two things I love most are collaboration and problem solving.
UX writing is a super collaborative job. I regularly collaborate with product designers, product managers, researchers, and marketers. Through collaboration I always learn something — and we achieve much better outcomes when we work together than when we work in silos.
On the problem-solving front, UX writing is full of fun challenges. I love solving puzzles. And as a UX writer I get to solve puzzles every day — from figuring out how to say a lot in a few words to getting users from point A to point B without friction. The challenge of building a strong foundation for a UX writing practice is another fun puzzle to solve!
CK: I totally agree with Megan that the collaboration and problem-solving aspects of the job are incredibly rewarding. It’s so much more than finding the right words: it’s about building strong relationships, identifying opportunities, and helping each other cover blind spots to come up with something beneficial for users.
I also enjoy seeing my content design teammates succeed because I know that, together, we’re making it easier for people around the world to communicate. I’m learning German and Italian with Babbel and when I come across something a teammate crafted I’m really excited but also grateful that they’ve helped make my own learning experience better.
“One of the most challenging (and also rewarding) things about the job is crafting language that keeps all of our learners in mind — and advocating for the importance of doing so.”
Crafting language while building a practice
We know this job comes with its challenges. What’s the toughest thing about this role?
MO: People learn a lot of different things for a lot of different reasons. Learners come to us to change careers, upskill in their current roles, learn for school, build projects — the list goes on. Some are complete beginners, while others have worked in tech for years. One of the most challenging (and also rewarding) things about the job is crafting language that keeps all of our learners in mind — and advocating for the importance of doing so.
Luckily, our learners can be some of our best partners in advocating! I recently watched a video from a usability test I ran to check the clarity of some language we were using. One of the participants said something amazing: “Learning to code is hard enough. We shouldn’t have to figure out what things mean.” Learning isn’t easy. Our challenge is to make the rest of the experience as easy as possible so learners can focus on what matters — learning.
CK: In EdTech, I think there are so many things content teams — including content design teams — could pick up on a given day. We’ve structured our work so we are semi-embedded in product teams (roughly, we have a ratio of one content designer to four product designers). That model works well in terms of ensuring content design is integral to the product development process, but it also makes it more challenging to prioritize foundational and knowledge-sharing work.
How much should we invest in foundational work (improving the tools we use or doing comprehensive audits, for example) versus our ongoing product team work? How do we improve the learning experience now AND build our capabilities so we can do more for users in the future? How do we maintain a sense of community and team cohesion when we’re semi-embedded in more than 15 product teams? Trying to answer these questions is a constant challenge but, together, we’re getting there.
“…pushing myself outside my comfort zone and into the role of connector helped me feel more comfortable taking on leadership responsibilities.”
Advice for aspiring UX writers
We’re learning how incredibly supportive the UXW community is. What advice would you give to an aspiring UX writer or someone who’s looking to lead content design?
MO: If a career as a UX writer or content designer interests you, my best advice is to take the leap and do it! There are so many amazing resources out there for learning from others that have embarked on this journey. There are lots of transferable skills from other industries, too. And there’s a whole community of content people ready to answer questions and help you along the way.
If you’re interested in building a UX writing practice from the ground up, make it a collaborative effort. Including the people you’ll be working with as you build your process and foundations will make everything go much more smoothly. Plus, it will give you the opportunity to get to know the existing pain points so you can prioritize your work (and there will be a lot of it!).
Seeking out opportunities to make your work visible doesn’t hurt either! A lot of people aren’t familiar with UX writing and showcasing your work helps showcase your value — and widens your net of internal advocates!
CK: The content design/UX writing community is so warm and supportive. It’s quite rare for a discipline to be this inclusive and collaborative so I often think of how lucky I am to work in this field.
For someone getting started, definitely take advantage of all the great, free resources online (like UX of EdTech!) and then find a project so you can start practicing. It could be rewriting the onboarding flow of an app you like or volunteering to revamp an online form for a local nonprofit. Find something that interests you and go for it. If you are in an adjacent field and see opportunities in your own organization to do a content design side project, set up a couple of coffees and pitch your project.
For those looking to step into more of a leadership role within their organization, relationships and an entrepreneurial approach are vital. Before I took on lead responsibilities, I initiated and co-led a few higher-profile cross-functional company projects which gave me more experience and put me in touch with people in every corner of the company. In my case, pushing myself outside my comfort zone and into the role of connector helped me feel more comfortable taking on leadership responsibilities.
Tips from UXW leaders
Whether you are building a UX writing practice, leading a team of content designers, or are a UX-adjacent professional, here are some helpful takeaways:
- Advocate for your team and your practice. In her book, Leading Content Design, Rachel McConnell reminds us that, “Your job title doesn’t matter; what matters is that you want to maximize the impact of content design at your company” (2022). If you’re already leading a content team, be their biggest advocate. Showcase your team’s work and impact. If you are leading or building a practice on your own, advocate for your field. Understand your own value and then make sure you communicate that value as you work with other departments.
- Collaborate and stay connected. Take on projects with different teams within your company. Connect with people who have different skill sets in other departments. Collaborate with other UX writers, whether they be content designers in your own company or another community. It takes a village! As Yael Ben-David shares in The Business of UX Writing, “Only when the whole village works together can true success happen, where everyone wins” (2022). Whatever you do, remember that working in silos will not help grow the practice.
- Take time to build the foundation. As a UX writer you may often get deep into the work of crafting microcopy or conducting copy audits. But as you work on these tasks, keep building the foundation of the practice. Decide what needs to be prioritized and do what’s most important first. If you get bogged down with the details, the foundational work will be left undone. Stop and assess where you and your team are, and decide how to best create time and space for foundational work. This can be done alongside pre-existing UXW requests or you may need to spend focus time just on strategy and processes.
Remember to look for helpful resources from other UXers and opportunities within your own company or network. The key to the success of UX writing is staying in community with each other–and it’s a great community!
Coming Up
We’ll finish our UX Writing in EdTech series with some final UXW thoughts.
- Part 3: We highlight the experience of the solo UXW, working as the first/only in their company.
About the author
Sarah Mondestin is a UX Writer at BrainPOP and the Editorial Lead at UX of EdTech. Sarah also owns Writer’s Grit, a company that provides professional services to people who need writing support. In her past life, Sarah was an elementary school principal and taught English to college students. She has previously written about her shift from education to EdTech.
