UX Writing. The Basics
What UX writers are doing, what they need to know and what is needed for this job.
The marketing designer makes the product attractive for people to use. The UX designer needed for the product to be comfortable, understandable, enjoyable, and wants to use it again and again. The same goes for the UX writer. If the copywriter sells, then the UX-writer creates.
What ux writers do
The copywriter describes the functionality of the product so that the user wants to be download program and begin to interact with it. The task of the UX-writer is to make users reach their goals, want to pay for the product and advise it to their friends.
That's why copywriters work in the marketing department, and UX-writers have to work with the product team.
But why not delegate these responsibilities to a designer or copywriter? Actually, three years ago, most companies was doing so. Until it’s become clear that neither copywriters nor designers can professionally care about the textual part of interfaces.
They was writing as they could, so the result was not too brilliant. The best UX-writer will be the person who is directly doing ux writing, understands the specifics of the industry, has the appropriate team and has enough time.
What UX writer should know
Picture all apps you frequently use. How they are designed? Don’t think they look like this:
It’s become clear long ago that a bad interface is pushing users away. There was no choice in the 90s and people used what they could, but we have already successfully left this stage in the past.
Signs of bad interface:
- too much choice, even 4 action buttons in one window is too much;
- it's easy to make a mistake, like accidentally canceling a paid subscription in one click;
- jargon, slang or narrow vocabulary that is unfamiliar to the user (for example, a "server error" message will tell nothing to most people);
- detailed instructions in the interface: if you need more than 2 lines to explain - something went wrong, the design should be intuitive;
- synonymous options ("Delete" and "Off", "No" and "Cancel", etc.).
Signs of good interface:
- self-explanatory, simple and short words;
- ultra-specific, words in the interface indicate exactly the actions and functions that are performed;
- invisibility: words should be as few as possible (a good example is Tinder, where all words are replaced by the universal language of crosses and hearts);
- predictability: people understand what buttons serve for.
If you did everything you wanted and didn't notice how, this was the perfect UX.
But we want to create something new! Social networks like Facebook and YouTube have formed a significant part of our vocabulary: stream, post, feed, timeline. Many words become part of our lives and are used in the context of social networks. Why? How did they achieve it? I have an assumption.
First of all, you need to use words that are familiar to people, relevant and logical. In English, all these terms were already there, just in a different meaning. They are not accidental and completely fit with their modern functions; just create new words won’t work. It should be already existing, familiar and accurate words used in the new context.
What you need to be a UX writer
- good copywriting skills;
- design thinking, empathy, the ability to put yourself in the place of the user (in IT it's easier, because you can count the number of clicks, conversions, views and understand the preferences of the audience);
- basic knowledge of web design to represent the logic of the interface;
- wireframing (work with users flow, transitions from screen to screen);
- storyboards (scenarios, how the user downloaded the program, which screens user visits, which buttons clicked to perform the action he needed), user flows, and prototyping (all possible scripts and stories are compiled into one interface - for example, the website. Users test it, and you see how and what they are clicking);
- basic knowledge of interface design: what and how to show first, why users are get used to certain interfaces and not accustomed to others, etc.
What are the future of interfaces
Ideally, they won’t exist. Interfaces are likely to be replaced by more convenient ways of communication, such as voice control. But by that time, UX writers have a job. At least avoid the following:
