Design: Writing User-Interface Text

This is a sample chapter from Michael J. Metts and Andy Welfle’s book Writing Is Designing: Words and the User Experience. 2020, Rosenfeld Media.

Chapter 3: Creating Clarity: Know What You’re Designing

One thing many writers have a strong opinion about is the serial, or Oxford, comma. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s the comma that comes before the and in a list, as in “this book is about writing, designing, and the user experience.”

Every major style guide on writing takes a firm stance. (The Associated Press Style Book, for example, is against using it, but the The Chicago Manual of Style is for it.) It’s common to see writers declare their personal stance in their Twitter profile.

“Without it,” proponents cry, “There will be chaos! No one will know to what we’re referring in lists!” Then they point to an example of an author dedicating their book to “my parents, Beyoncé and God.” Read More

UX writing involves designing copy for user-interface (UI) elements that users employ in interacting with applications. This copy includes labels for menu items, commands, buttons, and form controls; error-message text, alert text, and other instructional text.

To ensure a good user experience, it is essential to design user-interface text to be accessible to users with different abilities, regardless of how users navigate the software—whether using speech, keyboard, or mouse device—or if users have color-deficient vision. UX writing must serve all types of users and help them interact with a user interface successfully. In this article, we’ll provide some guidelines for effective UX writing. Read More

UX design is a complex field that encompasses myriad disciplines, including information architecture, interaction design, user-interface design, user research, usability testing, and more. UX professionals working in each specialty must work in concert together to provide a user experience that is as enjoyable for users and as seamless as possible.

One of the most important, but often overlooked aspects of UX design is UX writing. In this article, I’ll discuss the significance of UX writing and share some design strategies for improving UX writing that I’ve personally implemented in my designs, helping users to successfully achieve their goals. Read More