Ionce worked as a UX researcher in an agency. We had a project with a Fintech company to “improve their UX”, on which we basically found problems in their usability, UI design style and UX writing as well.
We literally had no UX writer in our team, and their team as well. In order to help them with their UX writing, I took the initiative to spend one night to quickly look for any guide for UX writing, and came across the book: Strategic Writing for UX (Torrey Podmajersky). With this book and some other references + self brainstorming to adapt it to our context, I got some of the ideas how the process looks like.
UX Writing as part of Content Strategy
Credit to Guy Ligertwood
Above all, users interacting with a product is simply like two sides having a conversation, they tell us what they want, we show them what we can do. Content strategy is the base ground for all product messaging. UX writing is a part of it, and it focuses on helping users achieve their goals with language.
Language helps users get where they want to go. As suggested in cognitive model CE+, users will choose actions based on the similarity between their expectation of the consequences and their goals. Therefore UX writing plays a huge role in guiding users’ way.
I tried looking for my saved jobs on LinkedIn, and after 5 minutes with several times, I struggled to find out it’s in “Track my jobs” — is it like jobs I applied for or jobs I posted?
By focusing on what the user wants to achieve, content strategy builds loyalty and trust for the brand.
Therefore, UX writing starts first with stakeholders’ goals in mind. Users, and brand.
The Process
How the process looks like
1. Voice chart
It definitely has to start with brand voice, as extracted from content strategy for the unification in conversations with users. We had to work really close to their branding team to understand their brand characteristics, and did workshops to develop the voice chart — a guiding star for all the content to align with organization’s goal and users’ goal.
When options are shown but the team is not sure what is right, the voice chart may be used as a decision tool. When the content is complete, voice chart can be used as a success measure. When the team has more than 1 UX writer, voice chart helps everyone in the team to reach for the same thing — alignment in voice.
A blank voice chart
The voice chart shown above holds each product principle in a column. Then, for each principle, each of the six aspects of voice is defined in a different row: the concepts, vocabulary, verbosity, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization.
The definitions in each column relate to the product principle at the top of each column. The definitions in one column aren’t expected to be the same as the definitions in another column. It’s expected that even in the same row, two columns might contradict or complement each other. That’s because of the TONE. (Voice is the consistent, recognizable choice of words across an entire experience. Tone is the variability in that voice from one part of the experience to another)
Product Principles: these are what we expect our experience is trying to be to users. Then the voice can do its job of conveying these principles.
For my case, I was working with a Fintech product, and after workshops with the branding team, we decided that these are the 3 words they want their users to talk about them.
Concepts: the ideas or topics that the organization wants to emphasize at any open opportunity. They are the ideas that reflect the role that the organization wants the experience to have in the person’s life. These can be written in any kinds of words for the team to easily imagine.
The concept we used for each principle
Vocabulary: this vocabulary row in the voice chart specifies only the few words that are so important to the experience that they help identify its personality, not the whole list of words or terminologies used in design.
Some of the words we focus on through all the experience
Verbosity: For usability, the words inside an experience should get out of people’s way. The UX text isn’t there to be read as books. But using few words where many are expected can block a person from moving forward as thoroughly as using too many words where few are expected. This is to define the strict rule we have for length of content we need.
Verbosity for each principle
Grammar: To maximize usability, simple grammatical structures work best for most purposes. For each principle, should we use “We only accept Credit card” or “Only credit card accepted” or “Please use Credit card only”?
Sentences, clauses used for each principle
Punctuation and Capitalization: Different punctuations can extract different moods/feelings and same as capitalization. ALL CAPS make it feel like you’re yelling at users and reduces readability as well. Therefore these are to be decided thoroughly.
The use of punctuation and capitalization for each principle
After all, I have a full voice chart
Full voice chart
2. Tone Spectrum
As cleared above, we have a guideline for all conversations — voice chart, but in different contexts, we talk with different tones. Imagine when your mom is angry and when she is normal, she may sound different but you can still notice it’s your mom’s voice.
Example of a tone spectrum
This is an example of a tone spectrum, with tones differentiate based on user journey. We then have different tones when users access payment, settings, … or other steps in their journey.
3. Content mapping and modeling
When we all have the guidelines needed for the whole experience and alterations of tones in different contexts, the next step is to define the content patterns and model them so that they align to the voice chart and the tone spectrum.
Example of a list of content
This is an example of content pattern list (without the modeling part). UX writers should work with the team, both designers and developers to fully acknowledge and understand all kinds of patterns in design, then put them into a list and model them.
For the full list, you can check out my Notion here
4. Draft, review, publish
This is when UX writers work with designers and developers to create the content, starting from content in design — which can be directly input into Figma and content that is not in design — notifications, errors, …
Team then reviews the content with voice chart and tones, or to test with users as in the next step, then publishes the content.
When writing, make sure your content covers all 4 qualities:
Four qualities that UX content must have
5. Testing and tracking
UX content can be off the need of users, of course, and your team should know it when analyzing issues with the design. Testing UX writing can be integrated into usability testing or interviews, or with heuristic evaluation.
The process with usability testing is not to be mentioned here, but one method that teams can quickly apply to assess UX writing within limited resources may be heuristic evaluation, as followed.
Some heuristics that could be used for UX content
It can be done exactly with the way we do heuristic evaluation, but with content heuristics, some of which are shown here.
For the whole sheet for doing heuristic evaluation for UX content, you can copy from mine here
6. Iterate
Of course, when a new function comes to your product, a new experience comes in, and therefore user journey may be different. You may then have to consider adding that step into the tone spectrum again, then follow the same steps to create content for that experience.
This is not my expertise, and that was the best I could do for my team. As UX writing is a new job and definition to this world of digital products and documents on it are limited, I would like to hear from you too, to know how you are doing it within your team and how I could implement my process as well as the skills. Thanks a lot!
Ionce
worked as a UX researcher in an agency. We had a project with a Fintech
company
to “
improve
their UX”, on which we
basically
found problems in their
usability
, UI
design
style and UX
writing
as
well
.
We
literally
had no UX
writer
in our
team
, and their
team
as
well
. In order to
help
them with their UX
writing
, I took the initiative to spend one night to
quickly
look for any guide for UX
writing
, and came across the book: Strategic
Writing
for UX (
Torrey
Podmajersky
). With this book and
some
other references + self brainstorming to adapt it to our context, I
got
some of the
ideas
how the
process
looks like.
UX
Writing
as
part
of
Content
Strategy
Credit to Guy
Ligertwood
Above all
,
users
interacting with a
product
is
simply
like two sides having a conversation, they
tell
us what they
want
, we
show
them what we can do.
Content
strategy is the base ground for all
product
messaging. UX
writing
is a
part
of it, and it focuses on helping
users
achieve their
goals
with language.
Language
helps
users
get
where they
want
to go. As suggested in cognitive model CE+,
users
will choose actions based on the similarity between their expectation of the consequences and their
goals
.
Therefore
UX
writing
plays a huge role in guiding
users’
way.
I tried looking for my saved
jobs
on LinkedIn, and after 5 minutes with several times, I struggled to find out it’s in “
Track
my
jobs”
— is it like
jobs
I applied for or
jobs
I posted?
By focusing on what the
user
wants
to achieve,
content
strategy builds loyalty and trust for the brand.
Therefore
, UX
writing
starts
first
with stakeholders’
goals
in mind.
Users
, and brand.
The Process
How the
process
looks like
1.
Voice
chart
It definitely
has to
start
with brand
voice
, as extracted from
content
strategy for the unification in conversations with
users
. We had to
work
really
close to their branding
team
to understand their brand characteristics, and did workshops to develop the
voice
chart
— a guiding star for all the
content
to align with organization’s
goal
and
users’
goal.
When options
are shown
but
the
team
is not sure what is
right
, the
voice
chart
may be
used
as a decision tool. When the
content
is complete,
voice
chart
can be
used
as a success measure.
When
the
team
has more than 1 UX
writer
,
voice
chart
helps
everyone in the
team
to reach for the same thing — alignment in voice.
A blank
voice
chart
The
voice
chart
shown above holds each
product
principle
in a
column
. Then, for each
principle
, each of the six aspects of
voice
is defined
in a
different
row: the concepts, vocabulary, verbosity, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization.
The
definitions
in each
column
relate to the
product
principle
at the top of each
column
. The
definitions
in one
column
aren’t
expected
to be the same as the
definitions
in another
column
. It’s
expected
that even in the same row, two
columns
might contradict or complement each other. That’s
because
of the
TONE
.
(Voice
is the consistent, recognizable choice of words across an entire
experience
.
Tone
is the variability in that
voice
from one
part
of the
experience
to another)
Product
Principles
: these are what we
expect
our
experience
is trying to be to
users
. Then the
voice
can do its
job
of conveying these principles.
For my case, I was working with a Fintech
product
, and after workshops with the branding
team
, we decided that these are the 3 words they
want
their
users
to talk about them.
Concepts: the
ideas
or topics that the organization
wants
to emphasize at any open opportunity. They are the
ideas
that reflect the role that the organization
wants
the
experience
to have in the person’s life. These can
be written
in any kinds of words for the
team
to
easily
imagine.
The concept we
used
for each principle
Vocabulary: this vocabulary row in the
voice
chart
specifies
only
the few words that are
so
important
to the
experience
that they
help
identify its personality, not the whole
list
of words or terminologies
used
in design.
Some of the
words we focus on through all the experience
Verbosity: For
usability
, the words inside an
experience
should
get
out of
people
’s way. The UX text isn’t there to
be read
as books.
But
using few words where
many
are
expected
can block a person from moving forward as
thoroughly
as using too
many
words where few are
expected
. This is to define the strict
rule
we have for length of
content
we need.
Verbosity for each principle
Grammar: To maximize
usability
, simple grammatical structures
work
best for most purposes. For each
principle
, should we
use
“We
only
accept Credit card” or “
Only
credit card
accepted
” or “
Please
use
Credit card
only
”?
Sentences, clauses
used
for each principle
Punctuation and Capitalization:
Different
punctuations can extract
different
moods/feelings and same as capitalization. ALL CAPS
make
it feel like you’re yelling at
users
and
reduces
readability as
well
.
Therefore
these are to
be decided
thoroughly
.
The
use
of punctuation and capitalization for each principle
After all
, I have a full
voice
chart
Full
voice
chart
2
.
Tone
Spectrum
As cleared above, we have a guideline for all conversations —
voice
chart
,
but
in
different
contexts, we talk with
different
tones
. Imagine when your mom is angry and when she is normal, she may sound
different
but
you can
still
notice it’s your mom’s voice.
Example of a
tone
spectrum
This is an example of a
tone
spectrum, with
tones
differentiate based on
user
journey. We then have
different
tones
when
users
access payment, settings, … or other
steps
in their journey.
3.
Content
mapping and modeling
When we all have the guidelines needed for the whole
experience
and alterations of
tones
in
different
contexts, the
next
step
is to define the
content
patterns and model them
so
that they align to the
voice
chart
and the
tone
spectrum.
Example of a
list
of content
This is an example of
content
pattern
list
(without the modeling
part)
. UX
writers
should
work
with the
team
, both designers and developers to
fully
acknowledge and understand all kinds of patterns in
design
, then put them into a
list
and model them.
For the full
list
, you can
check
out my Notion here
4. Draft, review, publish
This is when UX
writers
work
with designers and developers to create the
content
, starting from
content
in
design
— which can be
directly
input into Figma and
content
that is
not in
design
— notifications, errors,
…
Team
then reviews the
content
with
voice
chart
and
tones
, or to
test
with
users
as in the
next
step
, then publishes the content.
When
writing
,
make
sure your
content
covers all 4 qualities:
Four qualities that UX
content
must
have
5.
Testing
and tracking
UX
content
can be off the need of
users
,
of course
, and your
team
should know it when analyzing issues with the
design
.
Testing
UX
writing
can
be integrated
into
usability
testing
or interviews, or with heuristic evaluation.
The
process
with
usability
testing
is not to
be mentioned
here,
but
one method that
teams
can
quickly
apply to assess UX
writing
within limited resources may be heuristic evaluation, as followed.
Some
heuristics that could be
used
for UX content
It can
be done
exactly with the way we do heuristic evaluation,
but
with
content
heuristics,
some
of which
are shown
here.
For the whole sheet for doing heuristic evaluation for UX
content
, you can copy from mine here
6. Iterate
Of course
, when a new function
comes
to your
product
, a new
experience
comes
in, and
therefore
user
journey may be
different
. You may then
have to
consider adding that
step
into the
tone
spectrum again, then follow the same
steps
to create
content
for that experience.
This is not my expertise, and that was the best I could do for my
team
. As UX
writing
is a new
job
and
definition
to this world of digital
products
and documents on it
are limited
, I would like to hear from you too, to know how you are doing it within your
team
and how I could implement my
process
as
well
as the
skills
. Thanks a lot!