Liz Leigh’s Post

Knowing what makes "good" or "great" UX content can seem like a very subjective experience. Years ago, to give myself a better way to decide if what I wrote was good enough, and to provide more tangible evidence to my clients, I made myself a UX writing checklist. More recently, I decide to make an interactive Notion template that takes away a lot of the guesswork, and gives writers, designers, developers, a more precise "score" of how well their copy should perform. Curious to know my thinking behind making this latest template? I reveal it all in this week's blog post (link in comment). And I show a few ideas on how you can take your template to the next level. #contentdesign #uxwriting #notiontemplate #behindthescenes

So if UX writing is button text and form prompts and Edgar Allan is all about helping brands have great stories on the web, how do our UX Writers & Content Designers plug into the narrative party goin' on over here? Well, Ryan Ferguson joined the EA content crew this year, and let me tell you, we are all better for it. Watch him chat with Jack Redley about storytelling in UX writing (with examples!) and read his rules of story-filled engagement 👇

How to solve the eternal conundrum: which comes first, the copy or the design? Designers want some idea of what copy is going to be on the page, whereas copywriters like to know how much space they have to work within the design - where to start? Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/dTuj-MbT #softwaredeveloper #developer #website #UX #webdesign

Have you ever picked up a book, captivated by its cover, only to find blank pages inside? 📖That's precisely what a user interface is without purposeful content – merely a beautiful shell. 🐚 Today, I want to educate you about the unsung heroes behind the screen - Content Designers & UX Writers. These professionals breathe life into our digital experiences, much like authors weaving captivating narratives. ✍️ Content Designers, our digital architects, go beyond simple information dump. They intelligently place and design content, guiding users intuitively through their journey. On the other hand, UX Writers are our eloquent guides. They pen down clear, concise, and pimpactful text for tooltips, CTAs, and labels. They are the 'flavour enhancers' of the digital realm, as evidenced by the engaging copy on platforms like Airbnb and Google Travel. 🧑🍳 Ever marvelled at the Apple website? The standout element isn't just the design; it's the perfect amalgamation of visuals and text. A beautifully orchestrated symphony of design and words that just 'clicks'. Let's remember this – words are not just 'details'. They form the very pulse of User Experience. Embrace the pivotal roles of Content Design and UX Writing, for they are not just job titles, but the key to transforming your digital tools. 🚀 #ContentDesign #UXWriting #UserExperience #DesignJourney #PowerOfWords

The most tiring part of content design work is constant advocacy. I do it every meeting, every project, and every single review. I really want to experience the joy of working with people that understand content. I am genuinely tired of "advocating" why content design or UX Writing or Content Strategy or whatever you call it is important. Most companies currently approach design all upside down and wonky. They want to build the entire closet without even asking what are you planning to store inside it and how much of it you have. It's hight time it changes. Content design work is more than writing the text on the app, the buttons, and the menus. IT IS DESIGN, FOR THE THOUSANDTH TIME, IT IS DESIGN. Rendering design with care, intent, and empathy is Content Design. Building the story of the product is Content Design. Giving meaning to journeys and defining the space in which the journeys take place is Content Design. Setting the purpose of the product is Content Design. You can design as many boxes, wrap them up in the most beautiful colours and shit, but content fucking makes it function. How do we have senior design leaders for whom design is an afterthought? Even if they get UX writers onboard, all they see in them is a word person. Ring a bell to call them, make them write some shizz, rinse, repeat. All the crying for context and strategy in vain. Every single time. Content design is not just filling up words. It is asking why this happens and what happens after this and does this even need to happen. A good software answers all that. Your content designer takes you there. Are you giving them the space and bandwidth to do that? #ux #contentstrategy #writing #design #contentdesign #uxwriting

The systematic downplaying of content design is rooted in stakeholders’ fear of being held accountable. Let me elaborate. Stakeholders will say that content is essential - some even will pay lip service to them - but giving its own space and support in their head means taking that space away from others. It could be in terms of budget, resource but mostly, it’s about power. Content Design UX Writing or UX Content isn’t just a part of Product Experience (which is often the responsibility of Design), it’s something that needs to spans the entire life cycle of product development. By its very nature, it infringes on the areas of: - Information architecture (which is often the responsibility of Design & Product), - Communication (which is often the responsibility of Branding & Marketing), - Customer Service (which is often the responsibility of CX & Customer Support) … and many more. Allowing for this would mean a shift in dynamics in functional structuring and collaboration. Hence, flattening a growing discipline into its historic single tangible output becomes a way to acknowledge its existence while maintaining the status quo. Tech went through it with “code”. Design has just started coming out with “art”. Content continues to go through it with “copy”. It is ignorant to reduce the former two into its output. Imagine business stakeholders confusing coding for the Front End and Back End and telling the Tech function they don’t need one for the other. Or it doesn’t matter if we keep switching between CSS and Ruby. Or telling the Design function to give a UI design without briefing about what the product is. Or that graphic design & UI design are the same creative stuff. Let’s get those made by the same resource (wait—scratch that, I guess that still happens). But when it comes to Content, it doesn’t seem too absurd to expect to produce the right string words on the product out of a vacuum. Or to confuse between marketing copy in a banner and UX copy in an app screen. The script goes: So why do you need someone for that? Let designers only do it. Aah, yes, we may need someone to fix the grammar or generate some text here. So let’s get someone. Or maybe we can use Grammarly or ChatGPT? Ok. Maybe have someone to do that even - but that’s all. They can advocate for more all they want. However, to have a Content Design as a function, who has “the seat at the table” when… …Business objectives are being discussed …Product requirements are being scoped out …Ideal User flows are being mapped out …Relevant Information is being articulated …Seamless Experiences are being crafted …Versions are being released …would mean upsetting the power dynamics. That’s too much to ask for, right?

So insightful for added value for the team.

The Yin and Yang of Website Creation☯️ When it comes to designing and writing a website, I believe both should be addressed simultaneously. Three years ago, I discovered the magical world of Figma, which completely changed how I approached web projects. 🪄 Figma's user-friendly platform has become my go-to tool for creating seamless mockups to showcase my ideas. I also needed to develop skills in UX copywriting, and this blog from Tobias van Schneider has served as a guide for me. https://lnkd.in/ehtvpsDw

Interesting take on the unwritten “writing” we do.

The difference between content writing and content design is the shift in thinking and working. The ‘design’ element of content design is paramount. It showcases the difference between someone who writes for a business objective and someone who designs for a user need. Writing is the core of both, but the design process comes into play for a content designer. Content designers think about all the content touchpoints from words to UI components and product experience. They work with many teams and stakeholders to design a content experience. The process will be different every time (depending on your business, stakeholders, users and product), but it will still have these key elements: ✅ Empathy ✅ Desktop and user research ✅ Subject matter or stakeholder involvement ✅ Design (inclusive and accessible) and style guide alignment ✅ Critique and feedback ✅ Iterate #contentdesign #contentwriting #userexperience #designprocess #doublediamond #designthinking