How I Curbed My ‘Creativity’ to be a ‘Successful’ Content/UX Writer
A wide open field, that goes farther than the eye can see. The freedom to run free, wherever you please, swerve left, swerve right, do whatever you want to do. That is the freedom I had as a “writer”, the liberty to write what I want, how I want it, and open up the wonderful world of creativity, and let it all pour out.
Then, one day, I walked in for an interview, and I found myself in a design firm, writing about UI, UX, design, branding, content management — content that didn’t really come with too much of a “creativity” tag.
Now, now, before you bring out the faux outrage and insist there is creativity in UX writing or content development, I am not denying there isn’t; it just isn’t anywhere near as much. It’s more a drip, drip of creativity pouring out like a really thick bottle of ketchup.
Hey, there’s absolutely nothing wrong in that either; it’s what’s required, and rightly too.
It’s just that it was a change I had to make. To close off the free-flowing soda bottle, and instead open up that thick ketchup, that would only come out, every now and then, with a bit of a nudge.
So, that open field turn into an enclosed space, a big space, but with obstructions (read technical stuff) and furniture (read client’s needs) everywhere. Finding that open space to run into, wasn’t so easy anymore. And on top of that, you need to be able to negotiate the obstructions and furniture, and not bump into them (or else you end up with awful content, and that isn’t good for a website or a client, now, is it).
There you go then, lot of pressure to not hit the obstructions and furniture, and also negotiate them in such a manner that they somehow feel a lot better than that open space, with expanse all around and freedom as far as the eye can see.
That is the tricky bit about writing content for a design firm. Limiting your “creativity”, and yet making the words jump out and look and read better than a beautiful poem.
Let’s face it — people read the content on websites (and I don’t mean news websites) much more than they read a poem, or even a book (ah, remember those days, when these were popular). Therefore getting the website content on pat is essential. It is what’s going to define your brand, your company’s identity — and that’s a lot of pressure to get right.
First off you need to resist putting in quips and humor (humor doesn’t really play too well, on most occasions. There are time, of course, when they do, but that’s all too rare).
You need to come off as professional (although, after writing “professionally” for more than ten years, I’m not sure what that word necessarily means).
And, most importantly, you need to keep the writing simple. No fancy words, no Shakespearean tongue, no words that might need the use of a dictionary.
Keeping things simple, is what, I’ve realized, works. And I’ve also realized the beauty of writing in its simplicity. There is a kind of purity there — when you keep things simple and clear, and everything is read exactly as it should be.
You don’t need to stand in the background, biting your nails, wondering if the people reading your stuff are actually getting what you meant. With this, it’s simple (that word again) and clear — so there’s very little room, if any at all, for misunderstanding.
There you go then, how I managed to curb my “creativity” to get the right content out.
And when do I open that soda bottle (OK, OK, beer bottle) you ask? Well, I just write blogs on Medium, of course!
