Concepts

Manu da Silva Updated by Manu da Silva

What is UX Writing and what is its purpose?

UX Writing is the practice of developing strategic texts within design and interface to guide, instruct, and enhance the user experience. Its main goal is to establish clear and effective communication between the interface and the people who interact with it. In chatbots, UX Writing is applied without the support of a visual interface; everything is focused on creating conversations that guide the user to make decisions through language. A well-directed text:

  • Motivates the user to take an action
  • Provides instructions for the action
  • Gives feedback once the action is completed

How to do UX Writing?

Before starting any writing:

  • Empathy: What is the user’s context at that point in the flow? Who is our user? Who are we writing for?
  • Content: What information needs to be conveyed?
  • Form: How will we convey this message?

According to the book *Strategic Writing for UX*, the writing process starts by identifying goals, opportunities, and constraints. Before writing, the writer must understand the goals of both the users and the organization providing the experience.

To define the experience goals, the writer collaborates with those who understand these goals and also with the users themselves. From the outset and throughout development, it’s essential for the writer to participate in meetings and work collaboratively with the team to align and build the experience.

The text aims to meet the goals of the organization and users while also safeguarding the interests of both groups.

From the beginning, the UX writer needs to understand business constraints, including available resources, the language of the users, the devices, and contexts in which they use the experience. Throughout development, it is crucial to consider technical, display, and design constraints (such as URL length limits and text box sizes) and to know which texts need to be pre-coded and which can be updated via local services.

UX Writing is both a design and engineering process. It is an iterative cycle of creation, evaluation, and refinement, where words are carefully chosen to support the experience based on what users already understand.

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