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Words matter

- UX writing in your design process

Event: UX Camp Brighton + UX Camp Redux
Date: April 2023

Talk summary.

Words are everywhere in our digital products, including names, instructions and CTA's, yet many designers consider the text in their designs an after-thought.

Our choice of words can significantly influence the user's experience of our products, positively or negatively.

Finding the right text for your product can be a difficult process. The good news is you can craft effective text by following the design process you are used to with UX writing.

UX writing treats words as products. By understanding your user's needs, following evidence based usability guidelines and evaluating with user testing, you too can create writing that is both accessible and engaging.

Topics covered

  • Prevalence of text in design
  • Influence words have on users
  • Incorporating UX writing into your workflow
  • Learning Resources

Tools Used

  • Figma
  • Readability guidelines
  • Microcopy canvas
  • Copy refinement checklist

The Event.

UXCB'23 Redux.
"Each year we hold the UX Camp Brighton Redux event, a few months after the main unconference. This gives everyone a second chance to see some of the highlights from the main event. We invite speakers based on feedback from attendees on which sessions they enjoyed the most. This year we’re hosting the event jointly with local meet-up group, UXup. In the style of their meet-ups, we’ll be adding a little extra sprinkle of interactivity to the 2023 Redux."

https://www.uxcampbrighton.org/

The slides.
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Missed the presentation or enjoy it so much you want to read it again?

The slides have been written to be useful independent of my commentary. Have a read through and refresh your memory or kick start your UX writing learning!

Click the yellow button below to get access to the google slides.

Introductory slide
View the slides

Learning resources.

There are many fantastic resources for learning UX writing, freely available on the web. The following are the three I found most useful in my UX writing journey...

Content Design London readability guidelines: A collaboratively developed, universal content style guide, based on usability evidence.

View guidelines

UX Writing Study guide (NN Group) : Use this collection of links to our articles and videos to learn how to write and present information that aligns with users’ needs and online reading behaviours.

View study guide

The UX Writing Library: Books, blogs, communities, online courses, events, podcasts, newsletters, and many other useful resources to give you a current and focused overview of the field, help you stay on top of the game.

View resource library

My UX writing tools.

These are my custom that I regularly use in my UX writing process.

Download them and give them a try yourself. Like UX design, there is no official process to UX writing, pick, and customise the variety of tools that work best for you.

Clarifying chat cheatsheet

Like any piece of design work it is important to understand your brief. Before you begin, complete this cheatsheet to understand the boundaries of your UX writing challenge.

Download Cheatsheet

Microcopy canvas

Complete this canvas to help you consider all the key influences of your UX writing goal.

Download Canvas

Copy refinement checklist

‍Review your UX writing with this handy checklist.
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A selection of questions cover the key guidelines for copywriting. Each required to meet basic usability requirements.

Download Checklist

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Have any questions? Get in touch via

maxjkeetley@gmail.com
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