A UX writer's handbook?
About the features
The content is promising. In eight chapters (224 pages), we are promised to learn not only how text shapes design, but also:
how to think about strategy and research;
how to achieve clarity in text;
how to write inclusive texts;
what is the difference between voice and tone;
how to interact with the team.
The material is translated well, easy to read. As a person who has experience working with text, I was also pleased to notice the exceptional literacy – I found only a couple of typos.
Four points seem worthy of mention and attention while reading:
First – comments from the authorsin which they talk about their experiences as UX writers (Andy Welfle works at Adobe, for example), as well as comments taken from UX writers, designers, information architects, content strategy consultants, who have extensive experience in software development.
The second is the mandatory “In Practice” pages.which conclude the chapters. Everything that was read before them fits together into a single picture, like a puzzle. In this way, the authors summarize what was said,
Third – certain statements are illustrated examples, which is really useful: for example, looking at screenshots of screens that need correction, I see with my eyes certain errors. I don't just read words, but I see real existing interfaces. Of course, I will note that the book talks exclusively about foreign countries.
Fourth – ta-dam! The book has a voicewhich is described in one of the chapters. That is, literally the book is not just read, but it is as if you communicate with it. Maybe this will seem strange (we stretch owls onto the globe), but I actually heard a voice – “educational but not oversimplified, conversational but not overly familiar”. But more on that later.
I'll briefly tell you what's good about each chapter.
Chapter One: “More Than Button Labels”
We try to design user experience with the aim of convenience (Do the words help you use the interface? Are they clear enough? Do they allow you to accomplish your intended tasks?) usefulness (do the words represent what people want to do?) and not forgetting about responsibility (Can the words that are written be misunderstood? Are they true?).
The chapter boasts a clear explanation of how words shape UX. One of the key ideas is this: if words are written thoughtlessly and do not serve the purpose of making the user experience positive and useful, the interface becomes confusing (loss), annoying (loss), and in some cases even harmful (loss). A UX writer ensures that words help the user along the way. They understand that no matter where the user is, the text must always be understandable: you cannot write an error message without explaining it and providing a solution, just as you cannot use cultural idioms that may be understandable to some but completely alien to many others.
Chapter Two: Strategy and Research
Working without a strategic focus is like trying to put out a house fire with a garden hose. Even if you succeed, it will take a long time, during which you will feel helpless.
The absence of a content strategy and a misunderstanding of intermediate and final goals inevitably lead to wasted time and money. Chapter 2 not only explains what alignment is and why it is needed, but also reports that strategy statements provide the direction the team believes in and help UX writers find some of the answers needed to effectively describe the product. A good strategy, according to the authors:
provides grounds for action – the team knows and understands what to do;
is relevant – makes sense within the context of what other teams are doing;
user-oriented – consumers benefit: the interface is clear, convenient, and useful for them;
verifiable – the strategy must be such that a member of any team can understand it and assess whether its provisions are observed/not observed.
The chapter touches on the process of research and usability testing. What's notable is that the authors say that interviewing users is one of the most useful methods for improving software. This is the path that Andy Welfle once took:
While working on a menu redesign for a graphic editor, a researcher, a designer, and I interviewed several users of the software, from creative professionals to amateur designers. We tried to understand how and when they used words like “post,” “publish,” “share,” “export,” and so on… The interviews took a long time, but they yielded great results. For example, for most users, “post” seemed more casual and less responsible than “publish,” which felt more formal and final.
There was not enough immersion in the research process. It was as if I wanted to read from the authors what they think about surveys, quantitative methods, for example A/B testing. But otherwise, in my opinion, it turned out decently. Especially, as I already said, I highlight a couple of pages dedicated to user interaction.
Chapter Three: “Towards Clarity”
This chapter is about the purpose of the text and a lot of text about how what is written should be understandable. How do you make sure that your introductory and onboarding screens, buttons, notifications, and everything else is clear? Become someone who understands and strives for clarity at all stages of the work (I say this from the perspective of a UX writer, of course). You need to delve into a lot, sometimes even into things that seem far from your own direction. But as I learned from reading the book, when it comes to software development, everyone involved in its creation works together, almost like cogs in a clockwork mechanism. So it makes sense that you need to know more than just your own work.
If you want to do your job well, you need clarity – both your team and your users will benefit from it.
It seems interesting to think that it is much easier to change the wording while it is written on a board or typed in a text editor than when it already exists within a working interface. It is useful to justify the need to maintain consistency, which the user reads, as well as metaphors (for example, the floppy disk icon for saving). It is very important to reduce the cognitive load on the user – he is unlikely to like to see a puzzle instead of clear text. There is nothing worse than overloaded, incomprehensible text. Or text that is aimed only at a certain group of people, because they are able to appreciate a certain reference or idiom.
In this chapter, the authors return to the theme of the importance of speaking in a language that the audience understands – in simple terms. Yes, yes, it seems like I’ve already written the words “simple” and “understandable” a thousand times, don’t scold me for that. So, a simple language has a lot of advantages, I won't list them all here, but the main thing is that it allows you to make the interface understandable even to those who don't speak the language it was written in. The more people understand, the better, because they can all use the software.
Chapter Four: “Errors and Stressful Cases”
I really wanted to read this chapter. In brief:
An error that occurs when using the software should not confuse the user. Yes, an error occurred, but! It is important, first of all, explain her (by specifying the problem and providing sufficient information). Secondly, it is necessary suggest a way to solve it. And better yet, of course, in general prevent errors, prompting the user along the way (visual cues and interaction patterns).
Again, the key is to anticipate problems and solve them before they happen. When you do this, you treat copywriting like design, which is what it really is. If you view your job as writing a message for a specific field with a specific number of characters, you limit the ways you can help your users.
Testing, testing, and more testing is what allows you to improve the user experience. Through it, you can understand what is in its place and brings benefit, and what, on the contrary, upsets the user or confuses him. Maybe there is a flaw that leads to errors?
It seemed that there were not enough examples of useless error screens. In this regard, it seems more useful article on UpRock.
Chapter Five: “Inclusion and Accessibility”
The most important chapter. Before this book, I knew absolutely nothing about inclusivity. I had no idea what a screen reader was – it turns out that it is designed for visually impaired or blind people, it reads out the content on any page. By the way, I learned a lot thanks to Tolya Popkov (IT standup release from Yandex and Akustika). The episode generally talks about a lot of useful and funny things about the valuable and necessary inclusivity of interfaces, I recommend watching it.
In order to figure it out, I looked for articles on this topic. From the text on Netology “How to make an interface accessible to people with disabilities” I learned that in Russia there are 11.5 million people with disabilities and 37 million elderly people – all these 48 million people do not have the opportunities that the rest have. But even the “rest” sometimes have temporary (recovery after surgery) and situational (driving a car, poor hearing on the street) limitations.
Many interfaces are not inclusive: they are not designed for those with vision, hearing or mobility difficulties. It is extremely unfair to deprive such people of the opportunity to use digital products, so it is important to care about the accessibility of interfaces… If a product is popular, it means that it is popular among people with disabilities. When a company cares about inclusivity, it makes the lives of such users more comfortable and fulfilling, for example, by expanding the list of services for them. The audience of the product and its popularity grow – although not everything is measured in numbers.
Returning to the book, we are advised:
avoid being prescriptive (focus on all users, not on specific ones – those who pay or those who understand the product);
give up value judgments.
The characteristics of an inclusive interface are: availability, perceptibility, the possibility of convenient interaction, understandability, sustainability. I won't go into detail, because I plan to do this in a separate article, but I'll still mention: there is an international standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) – literally everything you need to know to create software that is inclusive.
Chapter Six: “The Voice”
An effective voice strategy gives tangibility to abstract objects—a company, a product, or other human product—and allows the technical writer to make concrete decisions about style, grammar, pronouns, and more.
In general terms, brand voice is the constant expression of the brand in words, while product voice may or may not fit into the brand voice, has a narrower range of goals and must comply with certain restrictions.
Now about how the voice is found. The authors suggest following the principles:
clarity;
brevity;
humanity;
and also try to work with the formula “this, not that”.
I will tell you how the formula works. For example, I wanted to create a company that restores old furniture. The voice of my brand is a) calm, but not boring b) competent, but not patronizing c) good-natured, but not familiar and so on. The first part is the basis, the second is the framework that cannot be crossed. You can play around and think about how, for example, the company Macdonalds sounds, which has now left the Russian Federation.
This chapter also explores the idea that as a brand grows and scales, it can be difficult to speak in the same voice. Employee documentation can help in this situation, but the key is to avoid making the set of rules too big (there will be little understanding, confusion) or too small (then what is the point? There won't be enough detail, there will be too much abstraction).
Let's recall the book's voice mentioned at the beginning of the article. The authors claim that it is “educational, but not simplified to the point of absurdity; conversational, but not overly familiar; confident, but not arrogant; full of enthusiasm, but not ostentatious.” And, frankly speaking, everything is so, which cannot but please. I have already said that it is as if you are talking to the book. I believe this is its significant advantage.
Chapter Seven: “Tone”
Voice reflects the personality of the brand, the features of the product. Tone, in turn, varies depending on the situation the user finds himself in – if there is an error, it is hardly possible to write something like “excellent” on the button. Tone is changed in many ways, for example, by the choice of words or phrases, as well as by the structure of the text. The book includes an example of a tone hierarchy from a style guide for marketing and communications of a large software company, as well as a visual example of the tone spectrum according to Adobe. Useful.
…tone is like a volume knob that you turn left and right to adjust how much branding and voice to add to your copy. Many style and communication guides assign different types of content to different levels of tone.
As for developing tone profiles: auditing and taking stock of messages are the actions that will help you understand what tone is necessary and appropriate in a given situation. You need to conduct a complete audit, removing what does not fit in, what seems unnecessary. And, if there is such a need, add what is missing – what will improve usability and, of course, allow the tone to be a friend of the brand's voice.
It seems important that the book mentions the creation of a map that visualizes the tone spectrum. And, of course, tips on using tone profiles.
Chapter Eight: “Cooperation and Coherence”
The final chapter, the most extensive, talks about the work of a UX writer in a team, about the design of the workflow and joint work on the text. As was said at the very beginning of the article, consistency is what makes a good product complete: all participants in the process understand what they are doing, and understand not only their own roles, but also the roles of others. What is interesting is that in order to increase the efficiency of the text writing process, we are advised to do the obvious:
plan ahead;
identify blockers;
take into account all tasks.
In addition, the authors say that it is useful to be a listener at meetings that you were not planned to attend (you can say “I’m just listening,” justifying it by saying that it will help the work *here I personally smile because I remember my childhood and those moments when I eavesdropped on adults' conversations*), and also to be open and inspire others to accomplishments. All this contributes to understanding not only how to work, but also why. And this, no matter how you look at it, is terribly useful for all participants in the work process.
It talks a little about organizing a common space where employees can bring questions, ideas, and thoughts (whiteboard, etc.). It also talks about facilitation – involving other people in discussing certain issues. This set of practices is not discussed in much detail, so I recommend you read it. with material on Skillbox.
A lack of facilitation will leave you feeling ineffective and your colleagues feeling out of sorts.
Well, and they do talk a little about critical analysis, about design systems. The latter was the most interesting. In the article on Yandex.Practicum It is said that a design system consists of a UI kit, guidelines and a framework. The authors of the book, in turn, add to this list strategic vision of a product or organization.
The best design systems go beyond patterns and provide teams with context for making consistent, strategic design decisions.
Conclusion
Maybe I should have clarified at the very beginning that I am just starting to study the profession of a UX writer? Since the beginning of the summer, I have been completely immersed in this field, because I graduated from the journalism department and was looking for a direction related to text. Classical journalism does not attract me much, what can I say… that is why a test purchase of literature was made, that is why it was decided to read this literature and write reviews, so that everything read fits into its rightful places in the head – preferably in the first place.
“There Should Be Text Here” is a book that is definitely worth the attention of those who are just entering the profession, as well as those who have long since mastered it. I believe that the illustrative argumentation of some theses can please the eye. If it weren't for the pages falling out, it would be wonderful. Either way, I give it 8/10. I feel that the next books on my list could be more informative.
I'll be glad to receive any feedback. You can leave a recommendation in the comments on what else is worth reading. Well, besides “Write, Shorten”, of course.
Peace to all!
