UX writing - what it is

At its heart, UX writing is about instructions and pointers that are goal oriented. Or about helping a user quickly understand information.

This can be through:

• Signposting.
• Small amounts of copy - ideally just a sentence or two here and there. Things like introducing pages and ideas, or text that pushes the page forward, or explains concepts and how-tos.
• Interactions like buttons or switches.
• Navigation (arguably just a combination of the above).
• Labels on graphical elements or representations of data`- whether that’s a permanent label, or alt text for screen readers.

We’re not going to cover testing and iteration here. As this is primarily aimed at UXers, you should assume your UX copy needs to go through the same user testing and iteration that the rest of your designs go through.

UX writing - what it’s not

Marketing copywriting.

Although the two do share some traits.

• Both attempt to create a narrative or journey.
• Both need very careful word choices
• Both need a logical hierarchy.

UX writing is much more about talking someone through a process than about building a feeling, although there is some of that too, as we’ll see in a moment.

In general, you should hand anything that’s a paragraph or more off to our specialist UX writers

We can also apply UX writing:

• to use behavioural economics patterns
• in comparative tables,