What is crucial to keep in mind is that

• text is a part of design
• text is a part of user experience.

Education app screens featuring how text helps the digital product communicate with users

The term UX Writing is often replaced with Copywriting. Do they mean the same?

Basically, no, they define different types of activities. Copywriters’ main goal is creating texts that sell something, be it products, services, tools, intellectual and creative stuff, etc. UX writers’ task is to create texts that support and enhance users’ communication with interfaces, let them clearly understand what’s going on, and lighten the negative experience in case of errors or problems of interaction.

Nevertheless, coming from the advertising sphere, the term “copy” as a synonym of “text” quickly got a toehold in UI/UX design as well. Based on that, people creating texts for interfaces were also called copywriters, much before the term “UX writer” came into play. What’s more, in many companies, people writing marketing texts and interface texts are pretty much the same people. So, don’t be confused too much: although the terms define different tasks, they are still often used as synonyms, and text pieces in UI are usually called copy.

Booking Website home page

Is Text Needed for All Types of Interactions?

We have already touched on this issue in our article devoted to relations between icons and copy in user interfaces. Indeed, visuals are transmitted to the brain much faster than text, and important pieces of information are often fixed by the brain as images even if they were obtained via text perception. In user interfaces, where basic interactions should take seconds, this aspect is crucial, and it can be seen as the real reason to turn hell out of everything into the graphics. On the other hand, there is the aspect of meaning: users can perceive images super fast, but if the message they transfer is not clear and can have double-reading, this speed will not bring a positive user experience.

There are loads of widely recognized graphics and associations, such as a telephone receiver for a phone call, an envelope for mail, a magnifier for a search, and so on. Certainly, using them, you create a much faster perception of the UI functionality than using copy instead of an image. Nevertheless, in cases when the image of an icon is not so obvious, its usage should be thoughtfully contemplated. There are cases when text transfers the idea or data more clearly, so it is an effective solution to use the double scheme when the icon is supported by the text.

Travel Planner App doesn’t use text labels for icons in the tab bar

OtoZen application for save driving supports the icons in the tab bar with clarifying text labels

4 Basic Features of Effective UX Text

The copy content in any interface is based on 4 foundation stones: it has to be

• clear (users understand what you talk about, the core message isn’t blurred or complicated)
• concise (the piece of text is meaningful, laconic, and concentrated on the goal, no empty talk is included)
• useful (the copy gives users necessary information or helps with interactions)
• consistent (the copy within the interface of one digital product keeps the same style, tone, voice, and terminology)

Now, let’s review some practices helping to create texts that support the positive user experience.

Perfect Bouquet App

Useful Tips on UX Writing

1. Integrate real copy in UI as early as possible

Working on early versions of a user interface, UX designers tend to use the so-called Lorem Ipsum. It’s a kind of popular placeholder text that looks like Latin but really doesn’t mean anything. It’s aimed at creating a natural-looking piece of text in the layout of a webpage, mobile screen, magazine or newspaper page, etc.

Onboarding screens for the Manuva app at the UI design stage, using Lorem Ipsum for placeholder copy blocks

When you are deep in the design process, it is really tempting to just copy-paste the nonsense text into the places planned for copy blocks. Why is it a not-so-good idea?

Firstly, the text is a part of the design. Various letter combinations look different. Words have different volumes and structures. It’s especially true for a tagline that presents one of the most important elements of webpage visual hierarchy and is scanned in the first seconds of interaction. So, what pleases your eye in Lorem Ipsum may not work with real text that will be used on the page or screen.

Secondly, by using the realistic text, you make a prototype feel genuine and natural. Let’s say, if you design a website selling cooking equipment, you won’t use photos or illustrations of agriculture machines for placeholders, even at the earliest stages of the design process, will you? Why? Because it won’t connect the design concept with the goals set for this product. The same happens with the text part of the layout. The copy you use should create a united image and experience with all the other elements of the layout. What’s more, you can spend hours working out the great looks for notification pop-ups, system messages, and webpage text blocks – and all that effort will be wasted when you realize that the real copy to be used in this UI is different in its length, structure and perhaps even message.

Onboarding screens for Bees and Honey app concept

Shipping company website

2. Build a solid text hierarchy allowing users to scan the page content

In our article devoted to web scannability, we have already mentioned the well-checked fact: users don’t start an interaction by reading every text element on the page or screen. They scan it in search of the hooks that can catch their attention: if they are convincing enough, the user makes a decision to give the resource a second look, attentive and diving into detail. Although pictures of any kind are much more catchy and faster perceived, in many cases, text becomes the element that plays a crucial part in decision-making. One of the reasons is that from one generation to another, we are traditionally accustomed to seeing a text as a main source of information.

Grounded on that, keep in mind that the main message presented in text form would better be quickly found in the first seconds of interaction. All the text elements should be organized according to the typographic hierarchy so that by scanning the page or screen, the user could quickly understand which part carries the core message and which is less important. Also, it’s advisable to make text harmonically work together with key images on the page or screen (illustration, photo, 3D rendered image, etc.)

Dance Classes platform website

Health Blog home page where all the copy elements are connected to the hero image

3. Catch attention with numbers and marked elements

One of the investigations of user behavior provided by Nielsen Norman Blog shared an interesting finding: based on eye-tracking studies, while users scan web pages, numerals often stop the wandering eye and attract fixations, even when they’re embedded within a mass of words that users otherwise ignore. People subconsciously associate numbers with facts, stats, sizes, and distance – something potentially useful for them. So they are hooked with the numbers included in the copy while words representing numerals can be missed in the bulk of the text. In addition, whatever numbers represent, they are more compact than their textual variant, which enables designers to make the content concise and time-saving for skimming the data.

Everything mentioned above can be a reason to break some rules and habits. Traditionally, we are recommended to spell the numbers at the beginning of the sentences, spell the numbers from zero to ten, etc., and you may follow all that successfully in articles and other types of copy content presented with a big amount of text. However, for the texts accompanying the interactions, you should be as focused as possible, and it’s a good idea to catch users’ attention with numbers.

Habit Builder mobile application

Dance Classes app

Also, don’t forget about the ways of marking out the specific information that came from book and magazine design: bold and italic fonts, word sizes, negative space, different colors, or highlighting – all that stuff worked many years ago and still works successfully today. Just don’t overact, don’t overwhelm users with too many elements trying to catch their attention. As Aarron Walter said, “If everything yells for your viewer’s attention, nothing is heard.”

Construction company website with a typography-based design that marks the keywords with different color.

4. Be focused and grammar-flexible

No doubt, clarity and grammar correctness build the foundation of a good experience when it comes to text. However, it may work differently if you write a microcopy for a button or the message is limited to a rather small number of characters on a pop-up screen. So, here you have to decide on being grammar-flexible, which means avoiding complicated constructions and reducing the elements that do not play a vital role.

For example, Material Design guide on writing advises avoiding unnecessary punctuation such as periods in copy for labels, hover text, bulleted lists, dialog body text, or colons after labels.

As well, for UX copy, they recommend using present tenses but in their simple forms.

Also, keep in mind that choosing Active Voice instead of Passive whenever it’s possible is a good idea. In most cases, it looks more natural and clear; in addition, it may be more user-friendly for users who are not advanced in English.

Just always remember that the main goal of the text in mobile or web interface is to inform. Daily overwhelmed with tons of information; users want to get it quickly and effortlessly – so give it to them. It’s not about breaking all the rules and communicating with unnatural phrases. It’s about the best expression of text minimalism, cutting off the stuff that’s not essential. It’s about using simple and direct language clear to various users.

Blog App

Nielsen Norman Group even posted the article sharing the list of cringe-worthy words and phrases that you would better avoid in UI texts, among which:

• very (and other intensifiers):
• utilize
• enable
• we understand (in today’s fast-paced world…) and other blah-blah stuff
• end-user

That’s especially true for mobile interfaces, which are strictly limited in space that can be used for copy content, and with them, you have to take into account that users often deal with apps on the go. The issue of being clear and readable directly influences user experience and conversion level. So, a question like “Save changes?” looks more effective here than “Would you like to save the changes?” or “Do you want to save the changes?” or “Please confirm that you would like to save the changes” and so on.

Delivery screens for Tasty Burger App

5. Do A/B testing for the copy of interactive elements

Buttons copy is one of the crucial parts of user experience: if you are not into UX design and writing, you could be surprised how much time and effort should be devoted to these small but impactful elements of the layout. What is written on the button should direct users to the action and let them understand what happens next. So, as well as you test design solutions such as color, placement, or the size of the button, you are recommended to make the text of the button label another object of A/B testing. Especially, if you are not a part of the core target audience: for instance, you create the product for elderly people with a low level of tech literacy while you yourself are a young advanced user of various software and gadgets. Testing will give you an understanding of how real users perceive the label and what kind of text is more convincing for them.

Home page for the web platform to find and hire artists

Buttons often offer the choices to a user: we can accept, delay or cancel something, Writing text for such elements, remember the idea shared in one of the recent explorations by Nielsen Norman Group: “The copy that you use in choices on your interface asks people to agree with a statement. That statement is often about themselves or the actions that they wish to take. It’s important from a user-experience standpoint and from a business perspective to write interface copy that supports rather than undermines the decision-making process. Trust, expectations, and positive self-image all shape the associations that users will have with a product. An honest, direct presentation of choices creates trust and positive emotion.”

Mobile screens for a cookbook app

6. Build natural and consistent dialogue

The best thing you can do for your user with the written content is to create a feeling of communication with a human. A human that has a clear style and voice of communication is helpful and doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel at every step just to emmarvel you. Decide upon the main terminology and names of operations – and use them throughout the messages and notifications: for example, use the word “delete” every time when this action is meant to be done, and don’t replace it with “remove” for some screens if the action is the same. Synonyms are good for making language bright and vivid in articles or books, but they may ruin user experience making users find the connections between synonymic terms instead of just using the product to solve their problems.

Here’s another example from the Material Design guide on writing.

Music Learning application 

7. Make your text feel like the users’ friend

Supporting the previous idea, keep the style of the dialogue that corresponds to the target audience’s expectations. Being clear and friendly is more important here than being linguistically elaborate – the only exception is when target users do expect this kind of language. User research is your homework in this case: it allows both designers and writers to clarify a proper style choice for not only visual but also copy solutions.

Profile creation screens for Inspora, the virtual stylist

Onboarding screens of an app for hiring vintage cars

8. Avoid slang

By slang, we mean here any kind of specific and technical terms that can confuse users. For example, when you inform a user that the video is buffering, are you sure he or she knows what that means? If yes, that’s a good choice of text. If not, look for a simpler word. Don’t use “enable” instead of “turn on,” which is much clearer for most people. Here’s an example from Alfresco Writing Guide.

9. Don’t forget about capitalization

Basically, capitalization is writing or printing in capital letters or with an initial capital. There are three levels of capitalization:

• all-caps (all the letters are capital)
• title case (the first letter of each word is capitalized, excluding prepositions up to 4 letters and articles)
• sentence case (you only capitalize the first letter of the first word and proper nouns, as you would in a sentence).

Landing page design for security service

Now, there are hot discussions about using sentence case instead of title case as it feels more friendly and informal. However, for English speakers, it’s still a natural feature of the language that, apart from feeling the text as less or more formal, marks the levels of text hierarchy. So, the decision is up to you, of course, but consider the following tips about capitalization:

• Use Title Style Caps to mark field labels, actions, menu items, and page titles
• Choose Sentence style caps for longer copy such as page or field descriptions and tooltips
• Apply ALL-CAPS moderately, only to super important items (short taglines, brand name, core navigation points in website header, short call-to-action text, and abbreviations like OK), and avoid it in all the rest of the cases.

Whatever choice you make, what’s really important: be consistent. Make a decision once – and follow it through the whole interface. If you decide to use a title case for all the buttons, check that you keep that rule all the time. Inconsistency distracts and even annoys users.

Sign-up screen for a restaurant app

10. Start from the most important information

This advice seems to be super simple, so that’s surprising what a big number of people dealing with copy don’t follow it. In the case of short text, instruction, or message, focus only on valuable information, and don’t distract users with too much lead-in and warm-up text. Sure, it doesn’t mean that you have to come up with only dry, unemotional information-only texts, yet try to minimize the supportive part and maximize the active one. For longer texts, such as articles, guides, product descriptions, and the like, consider using the principle from journalism called the Inverted Pyramid Principle. It’s when you go from what’s needed to know to what’s nice to know, from the core message to the details which may be not that vital.

The home page for the Gin Scholl website uncovers the information gradually, from the core message to the details.

All the mentioned tips are not the cure-all: the decisions upon them have to be based on studies and analysis for each particular case. There are numerous factors that influence the creation of copy for interfaces, from purely design ones to a general brand strategy that defines the style of communication with users. Anyway, we hope that the list collected above will help you to come up with creative lines supporting a positive user experience. Sure, there are more points, cases, and examples to discuss and consider in the domain of UX writing, so we will continue the theme in our upcoming posts. Don’t miss it!

Useful Reading

Guide into Types of Copy for Mobile and Web Interfaces

Material Design: Writing

3C of UI Design: Color, Contrast, Content

Inverted Pyramid: Writing for Comprehension

Interface Copy Impacts Decision Making

Tips on Applying Copy Content in User Interfaces

User Experience: How to Make Web Interface Scannable

Originally written for Tubik Blog, graphic and video content by tubik

Сообщение How To Make Text Improve User Experience: Insights Into UX Writing появились сначала на Design4Users.

Restaurant App

What’s UI copywriting?

In our previous articles, we’ve already touched upon the topic of copy in UI. To remind, copywriting for web interfaces and mobile apps involves the creation of text content both small and big. Each word applied in a user interface is an inseparable part of a layout and plays its role in the user experience of a product.

Effective copy content improves the usability of the apps and websites as well as encourages people to interact with the interface. To create an appropriate UI copy, designers need to master additional skills and knowledge since the field is quite complicated. Also, it may be good to engage a professional copywriter or technical writer in the creative process to make it faster and more productive. Today we want to give an insight into the different types of copy as well as provide some tips based on UI copywriting best practices.

Forest Camping Website

Information copy

Headlines

A headline is a large, bold word or phrase that users usually notice first in any interface. Headlines deliver and emphasize the key informative message of a page. Headlines should be catchy and short so that they could quickly draw users’ attention. The results of the research published by Buffer, the popular social media sharing platform, showed that the perfect length of the headline is 6 words.

Moreover, headlines need to be meaningful in order to inform users about the theme of the content of a page or screen. To provide a better understanding, it’s good to support a headline with other visual elements such as photos.

Agriculture Holding website

Subheaders

Subheaders are brief and concise phrases that help users quickly scan text so that they could understand if they are interested in it. The headlines can give only a summary of the theme or message of the whole page while subheaders mark out the core points in separate sections of text.

To create proficient visual hierarchy, designers usually chose smaller fonts for subheaders than for headlines. Still, they need to be bigger than the rest of the copy for fast scanning. Also, it is recommended to make subheaders fonts bold so that they would look prominent among the other text.

Cryptocurrency Report landing page

Body copy

Body copy is usually a part of text providing description or further information placed in a compact block, usually under a subheader or a headline. Traditionally, body copy applies thinner and smaller fonts, sometimes presented in italic for even more prominent visual contrast.

There is no unified opinion about the best length of body copy. Some content creators claim that long copy is more informative and serious-looking, while others declare that only short copy is effective since users never want to read too much. However, to achieve an efficiency of the text, it’s good to vary the length according to the target audience. The thing is that users are incredibly different, they have diverse preferences, goals, and wishes searching for web resources or mobile apps. Long and short copy can bring pros and cons, and each of them can be appropriate depending on the target users of a product and its conversion goals.

UI copywriting for mobile apps and landing pages often requires applying short copy: their users usually want to see concise and highly informative copy content. Moreover, mobile interfaces have a limited amount of space, so too much copy won’t look nice and will demand additional effort for reading. Long copy is sufficient for web products providing users with complex information on specific topics as well as the presentation of new products that need additional informative support.

Seafood Recipes landing page

Interaction copy

Captions

Caption is the short text under a picture describing its content. In web interfaces fonts are usually small and often italic, and in mobile interfaces, the sizes of fonts depend on the size of a picture.

A powerful caption needs to contain accurate data helping users to understand what they see. It’s important for captions to provide new information so it shouldn’t describe obvious statements which users already see in the photo. Choose the tone of the caption according to the specifics of the target audience and the whole content on the page. If you apply pictures from a side author, you should include credits and citations otherwise you break copyright law.

Fashion portfolio website

Gym landing page

CTAs

CTA button copy is actually a call that tells users what action they will take if they click the buttons. CTA microcopy has to catch users’ attention quickly and lead them right to the action.

To make a sufficient call-to-action, you need to keep the number of words at the minimum, usually not more than 1-2 words. A few appropriately chosen words work much faster than a long descriptive phrase. In addition, applying imperative case in CTA microcopy, you give strong and direct instructions on what users can do next.

Moreover, a CTA should stand out among the other components on a layout, the reason why high contrast is a must. Prominent colors and size can make call-to-actions easily noticeable and increase readability.

Tasty Burger app

Notifications

Notifications are applied to both web and mobile user interfaces. They are usually short messages which aim to inform people about upcoming upgrades or any other activity in a product as well as provide some reminders to keep users engaged.

Notifications need to be created that way so they could enhance user experience and wouldn’t annoy users. That’s why notification messages need to contain only valuable information. Moreover, it is recommended to keep the messages short and clear. The research shows that the notifications with less than 25 characters perform much better than long text. Creating a notification it’s vital to be authentic to a brand voice. The tone of a message has a significant impact on how people perceive a product and a brand.

Home budget app

Errors

Errors are an inseparable part of any digital system including system fails and users’ errors. In case some unexpected conditions happen it’s vital to provide users with the information helping them to understand how to handle problems.

An error message is a short text tip displayed to a user by a website or application when something goes wrong. An error message should be clear and helpful so that users could define the problem and what to do about it. A message needs to be polite and friendly to make users feel calm about the situation. In addition, a bit of humor could help annoyed users feel more relaxed and improve the UX of a product. Still, you need to be careful adding jokes since it can be inappropriate or misunderstood in some situations.

To increase the efficiency of error messages, designers should think of their placement. It is good to place a message near a UI element it is related to.

Page 404

User onboarding

User onboarding tutorials are often applied to various digital products. Tutorials appear to users who launch a mobile or web product for the first time helping them get oriented within unfamiliar features and controls. Also, onboarding is a great chance to enhance user motivation to present the product that way so that people wanted to use it more than once.

Onboarding tutorials usually contain short but clear copy describing the benefits of a product helping users to understand if it can be useful for them. The major task of an effective onboarding copy is to engage users and not to make them bored. That’s why tutorials usually apply minimalistic and concise text presenting only key tips that aren’t obvious for users. It’s recommended to use imperative since it helps to reduce the number of unnecessary words.

Bee and Honey App onboarding screens

Menu copy

Menu is a basic navigation component of any user interface allowing for interactions with a product via graphical control. Menus can vary in different interfaces by placement (side menus, header menus, footer menus, etc.), the performance of appearance and interaction (drop-down menus, drop-up menus, sliding menus, etc.).

Even though there are different types of menus, each of them requires copy elements. Text for a menu usually includes one word for each action. For example, it can be presented as a list of commands consisting of verbs such as “send”, “save” or “download” which mark certain actions available in a product. Also, the menu can introduce the categorized content and sections of the layout. In this case, the copy includes nouns to mark the destination users can follow. The choice of the menu type and the copy for it should be based on the specifics of the target audience preferences and expectations.

Upper App

Tooltips

Tooltips can be defined as labels with text tips that appear when a user hovers over or touches a UI element. Their task is to identify interactive components in a user interface providing short info about their essence or function.

Tooltips copy is often created in imperative making it look more like a valuable instruction rather than a distracting message. Practice shows that short tooltips work better so it’s recommended to keep the number of characters under 150. If your message can’t be cut down, you can divide it into several labels.

Pazi mobile app design

Product-generated emails

Product-generated emails are a type of message notifications telling users about the activity in a product. For example, they remind you to activate an account or show the progress in an app.

Product-generated emails can be divided into several types. First of all, there are activation emails that help to verify the email address provided by the user during sign-up. Such emails usually consist of greetings and an active link leading users to their new account. The next type of email often follows the previous one. Once users create accounts they receive a welcome message. They aim at providing essential information about the terms and conditions of a product as well as general insight into the benefits it provides.

Security and account change notifications are essential for any kind of product. It’s vital for users to know that their personal data is safe. Providing updates about activity in the account such as change of a password or logins from unknown devices assist in protecting users’ accounts.

There are several conditions for creating effective copy for a product generated emails. First of all, they need to have catchy and clear headlines so that users won’t miss messages. Moreover, email should clearly explain the aim of a message and what users should do about it. Copy should be personalized to make users understand it has value for them. Finally, the tone of a message needs to be based on the results of user research.

Copy plays a significant role in the flow of interactions with UI. That is why it’s important to analyze every single piece of copy and create it in a way corresponding to the general design concept and positive user experience.

Useful Articles

Copy Content in User Interfaces: Tips and Practices

How to Make Web Interface Readable

UX Writing: Handy Tips on Text Improving User Experience

Error Screens and Messages: UX Design Practices

How to Improve Web Scannability

3C of UI Design: Color, Contrast, Content

Originally written for Tubik Blog

Сообщение Guide Into Types of UI Copy for Mobile and Web Interfaces появились сначала на Design4Users.

What’s UX writing?

The term may be new but the process has existed for a long time. UX writing is the practice of crafting copy which is directly used in user interfaces to guide users within a product and help them interact with it. The major aim of UX writing is to settle communication between users and a digital product.

Copy created by UX writers is also known as microcopy. The name tells for itself and stands for the small components of text which serve as hints for users. To be more specific, microcopy includes buttons and menu copy, error messages, security notes, terms and conditions, as well as any kind of instructions on product usage.

Page 404

Why is UX writing needed?

Microcopy has always been a part of digital products, so why have people started to call the process of its creation UX writing? Let’s get it straight.

One of the first reasons leading to UX writing appearance is growing attention to the role of copy in UI. Marketing and design specialists have agreed that copy content is a significant element influencing both UI and UX. Bad-written copy can ruin even a really good-looking user interface. As for the microcopy, various user tests have shown that it affects user experience as well as the information architecture and navigation system do.

If we look at a product from the users’ perspective, we’ll see how useful small copy hints are for them. When people start their journey in new software, short text tips make the process of adaptation fast and easy. Moreover, if the menu copy is written professionally, the navigation system is much more clear to use.

Considering the positive impact of microcopy on user experience, the new direction appeared in copywriting. At this point, we can expand the essence of UX writing and say that it’s a process of building microcopy elements which aim at improving the user experience of a website or app.

Vintage Car App Onboarding

Who has to do UX writing?

We defined the essence of UX writing still one question remains open. Whose duty is it?

The direction couldn’t be formed by itself, so, obviously, there are specialists standing behind it. A job of UX writer grows its potential and today we can see more and more offers from companies. They are writers specializing in creating microcopy which aims at boosting pleasant user experience and improving navigation systems.

UX writing is still a green direction, the reason why the task of microcopy creation often lays upon marketers and copywriters. These professionals have been writing microcopy long before a term of UX writing appeared and they continue doing it as one of the parts of their work.

However, it’s not only writers who can create copy for UX. Designers also often try themselves in UX writing. They may not be specialists in copy creation still they know everything about the information architecture and navigation system of a product. Moreover, UI/UX designers research the target audience peculiarities, so they know how to present visual information for user perception.

Copywriters and designers can do UX writing separately but to improve outcome it’s always a good idea to collaborate and share the experience. Together, IA professionals, designers and copywriters can successfully create UX copy content and this is how it is often done by many companies today. However, if a company handles many projects which involve much of UX writing, it is reasonable to consider hiring a UX writer to gain maximum productivity for all the team.

The Gourmet Website

What makes efficient UX writing

Some may think that UX writing takes a few minutes to be done since it includes only small pieces of text. However, the creation of a powerful phrase for a CTA button sometimes can take much more time and effort than writing off a whole body copy.

Microcopy usually can vary from one word to short sentences which should perform numerous functions. So, if we say that in UX writing every word counts, it won’t be hyperbole. A single word should both help users to get oriented as well as encourage them to stick around. Moreover, there is often a business goal standing behind CTA buttons, so this factor should also be considered during UX writing.

The sufficient UX copy needs to be clear and consistent. Users don’t have to figure out what you mean. Copy should be simple so that people could interact with the product intuitively. If users don’t notice they’ve been guided, UX writing has been done well. In addition, UX writing, like any other copy content, should be based on the context and the target audience.

In addition, we need to say that copy is a design element the reason why its effectiveness highly depends on the visual presentation. UX writers need to make sure it looks good and fits the design composition. Such a condition creates constraints for a writer about the amount of copy and its appearance.

Digital Agency Landing Page

Practical tips on UX writing

The experts are still working on developing the direction to set the best techniques and methods of effective UX writing. However, there are some sufficient tips helping to make sure UX copy will work well.

Step into users’ shoes. If you want to create a useful copy, you need to understand where users need help. User research assists to learn the target audience and knowing their specialties you can assume what hints people need.

Don’t use complicated vocabulary. As we said above, one of the major characteristics of effective UX writing is clarity and simplicity. Copy should be easy to perceive that’s why difficult words may not work well.

Write short and then cut it into half. Microcopy received its name, not by coincidence. It has to be short but meaningful so that it wouldn’t draw too much attention, only slightly guiding people from one point to another.

Test the copy on various users. You can be a guru of writing and UX design still user testing never hurts. If you don’t have anyone who would match the target audience, at least test copy on your co-workers or friends and ask them what they feel about it.

Be creative. Microcopy typically includes only short informative messages but it doesn’t mean you have to make it boring. Try to be creative and bring some positive emotions. For example, writing an error message you can use some polite jokes. It breaks tension which may appear if users do something wrong and encourage them to stick around. Just remember to make sure your creativity doesn’t go too far and the target audience will react appropriately.

Add images. In case of error messages or onboarding instructions, it can be a good idea to supplement them with funny and pretty images. You can use photos as well as custom illustrations which will strengthen the right message of a copy.

Reflect brand voice. Don’t forget that instructions which a product gives to users are always perceived as a voice of a brand. So, before you write copy you need to learn about brand nature so that microcopy would sound accordingly to the brand image.

Books for Children Website

UX writing is a new direction that is full of potential. UX professionals need to consider it as another essential tool on the way to the improved user interaction and boosted satisfaction from a product.

Recommended reading

How to Make Web Interface Readable

UX Writing: Handy Tips on Text Improving User Experience

Copywriting for Mobile and Web Interfaces: Types of UI Copy

The Role of Copywriting in UI Design

Error Screens and Messages: UX Design Practices

Originally written for Tubik Blog

Сообщение Gift of the Gab: Handy Insights into UX Writing появились сначала на Design4Users.