If you are looking for a job and want to get information about UX writer, I must say that user experience writer is a new job and a branch of user experience design that many recruitment companies are looking for employees in this field. Did you know that Senior UX Writers earn an average of $75,000 in the US? In this article, we are going to introduce you to this job and duties of ux writer better.
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What is UX writing?
Ux writing is the writing of texts or microcopies that happen at business touch points on websites and applications, etc., and its purpose is to communicate between the user and the digital world.
Who is UX Writer?
A UX writer is someone who writes for user experience. UX writers write the words we read or hear when using a digital product. That can include text on buttons, menus, error messages, and more. These small pieces of text are called microcopy.
Their text should be clear, concise and useful. Their purpose is to help and guide the user. The main goal of a UX writer is to improve the user experience in the digital space, which is actually related to the user’s insight. UX writer must have a good tone, voice and style in communication with the user; Because the content is not just text. In fact, one of the tasks of the UX Writer is to guide the user; For example, when the user enters the site and enters the wrong password, UX Writer’s job is to notify the user by giving a message.
What does a user experience writer write?
- Writing micro-copies for CTA data
- Writing the content of surveys, forms, images and videos
- Communicating the product message to users
- Guide notes
- Writing error messages, text on buttons, menus
Who are the colleagues of UX writer?
They are content designers, programmers, UI designers, UX designers.
The difference between UX writer and UX copywriter and content designer
Copywriter
UX copywriter is a term that some people use as a synonym for UX writing, which doesn’t make much sense. Writing text means writing for advertising materials. Writing promotional content is about getting attention and attracting customers, not user experience; It is marketing. The difference between UX writers and them is that UX writers don’t advertise or sell or market.
Content designer
Content design is about design. It’s a job that sometimes mixes creation and strategy, but it doesn’t just involve writing. Websites and applications contain many types of content: text, photos, animations, video, audio, etc. Content design is about creating all that content. In fact, the work of UX writer is a part of content design.
It is recommended to read the following articles in the field of user experience:
What is a prototype in user experience design? (comprehensive guide)
What abilities should a user experience writer have?
- Strong written and communication skills and the ability to write clearly and concisely.
- Have a wide vocabulary.
- Can guess the audience’s reaction to the chosen words.
- Be familiar with testing and project management tools and ux design and user research.
- Be familiar with SEO, marketing and website design.
- Understanding product design and how to improve it.
- Mastering the tone and identity of the brand.
- Be familiar with Google Docs, Dropbox paper and Quip.
- Research and analytical skills, the ability to understand and interpret data.
- Strong teamwork and cooperation.
- Attention to detail.
- Empathy and interest in improving the user experience.
- Be familiar with design elements, audience personas, UX design process, user research, how to work with testing tools, A/B Prototyping and project management tools such as Trello.
Duties of a UX Writer
- Works with product teams to find design solutions for written and visual content.
- He cooperates with the marketing, design and development teams from the very beginning of the project.
- Demonstrates user needs to product managers, designers, and developers.
- He uses the same tools as designers and developers.
- Collaborates to improve content writing and communication across the entire team (marketing, product management, leadership).
- He has a correct understanding of data analysis and uses it in formulating a content strategy.
- Have the ability to create, optimize and use wireframes, Prototype, Style guide, user flow and be able to implement your ideas.
What points should be observed in writing user experience text?
- Use the tone and voice of the brand correctly.
- Research about users and consumers.
- You should pay attention to the statistics and information provided by the site.
- Readable content.
- Speak clearly
Principles of UX Writing
Clear
Your microcopy should be clear. Microcopy is all the words that help users understand interfaces and take actions. Guide users by communicating in their own language When your microcopy isn’t clear, users have to work hard to understand it and achieve their goals, and they get confused. They will go down the wrong path (unclear microcopy will mislead them) and they will have a bad experience.
No one likes to feel confused, lost or struggling to get what they want from a product. This leads to negative feelings towards the product. As we know, in the end, an experience leads to a feeling.
Microcopy should be crystal clear to help you deliver what users want and need for a satisfying experience that leaves them feeling positive.
Concise
Writing concise content means cutting off everything that does not have a clear purpose. This principle is the same as efficiency in writing. Conciseness means taking out all the extra information that is not necessary, which reduces the cognitive load.
The reason you should be brief is that the cognitive load makes it easier to absorb the information. Cognitive load in UX is the amount of mental energy your user needs to understand and use an interface, making it easier to remember. Concise means cutting out all the unnecessary stuff and breaking down information into small, digestible chunks. This makes each piece of microcopy shorter and easier to maintain (there’s a reason it’s called microcopy!); As a result, your users will remember it easily. The scanning feature makes it easier to scan. It’s easier for users to summarize and scan through concise copy; Because each piece of information is a short idea. They go through the whole text without pausing for quick thinking and gather the main points. Then they return to study more deeply. In fact, they should edit their text and keep the important words and put them at the beginning of the text.
Concise not only means short, but also efficient. When we write a summary, we look at our message and make sure that every word on the screen has a specific function. We know that people’s eyes follow an F-shaped pattern when reading on a screen. They read the first line, the second line, then start searching down the page, only getting the first or second word of each sentence. For this reason, we make our text not only brief but also background.
For example, when they enter a password incorrectly, instead of the phrase “sign in error you entered an incorrect password”, which most of the words and concepts are at the end of the sentence, they should say “wrong password frontloading” to prioritize their important concepts. This is done because people’s eyes are drawn to important words when they search the page.
Useful
CTA guides people to their next step. You want your text to help people get where they want to go. For this reason, the call to action should be relevant to what people want to do. For example, when it says that the password is wrong, the “OK” button is not a good call, instead, “Try again” is a better option. This expression may not be useful elsewhere. For example, if users have forgotten their password, we should give them an option. If they forget their password and the only option is to try again, they are frustrated.