What Does A UX Writer Do?

The role of ‘UX writer’ has become increasingly sought-after as companies make user experience (UX) a focus for his or her business. But what exactly does a UX writer do?

Over the past few years, there has been a dramatic uptick in awareness across the marketing and technology industries about the importance of user experience (UX).

Companies that do UX well have reaped considerable rewards, and businesses have increasingly prioritised creating a smooth, seamless user experience across their digital touchpoints.

With this rise in UX awareness has come a proliferation of specialist UX roles: UX designer, UX researcher, UX consultant, UX writer. A number of these are wholly new roles, while others are a replacement slant on a task which may are around for a few time.

In this article I’ll take a better check out the role of UX writer, sometimes referred to as UX copywriter. What does the discipline of UX writing involve, and the way does it differ from copywriting or content writing? And is it an equivalent thing as a content designer?

What is a UX writer?

UX writers are liable for crafting the text that appears throughout an internet site , app or other digital product interface. This includes everything from error pages (404s, 401s, 502s, etc.) confirmation messages and help pop-ups to buttons, menus, and sign-up forms. These little bits of text that appear throughout a product are often mentioned as ‘microcopy’.

UX writers have a responsibility to guide a user through using the merchandise in an intuitive manner. This suggests that they have to possess a deep understanding of the merchandise and its design and development process also as of the product’s user base. UX writers are often called upon to conduct user testing and interpret data and analytics so as to know how the merchandise is employed and the way effectively the copy is performing.

However, a UX writer isn’t someone who simply comes in after a product is already designed and fills within the blanks with text. Instead, UX writers are instrumental in shaping the experience of a product. They're embedded within design teams, working hand-in-hand with UX and UI designers, UX researchers and knowledge architects to make sure that product layout and replica work seamlessly together.

UX writers also got to confirm that the copy is achieving business objectives while keeping the user and their needs front of mind.

How does UX writing differ from copywriting or editorial?

UX writing is usually confused for copywriting (particularly because the role is usually mentioned as a ‘UX copywriter’). However, while many UX writers have a background in writing marketing copy, the difference is within the objective: copywriting is meant to plug to the user. It's inherently persuasive, aimed toward attracting new users, engaging them, and convincing them to upgrade, spend more, or make a sale .

Marketing copy often sets bent nudge the user down a path they could not originally are on, whereas UX writing is there to smoothly guide the user towards their intended goal and facilitate their experience of using the merchandise .

Copywriters and UX writers do have one key thing in common: brand tone. Even as copywriters got to be ready to craft copy that uses a brand’s distinctive tone, so too do UX writers got to be ready to convey the brand’s voice across all touchpoints and during a consistent fashion.

Similarly, UX writers aren't liable for writing content marketing or editorial, though they'll have an article background and call upon similar skills. Thereupon said, a UX writer could be called upon to assist other content creators within the organisation to know and communicate the brand’s tone, or tasked with creating a company-wide content style guide that's referenced by content writers across the organisation.

What skills should a UX writer have?

UX writing calls upon a mix of skills across writing, communication, psychology and style . While there’s no requirement to possess a proper background in anything specific (as UX writing may be a relatively new specialism, there's no set route into the role and UX writers tend to return from a variety of professional backgrounds), these are the talents most relevant to a task in UX writing:

• Strong writing and communication skills; the power to write down clearly and concisely

• Creative problem-solving skills

• An understanding of product design and the way to enhance it

• Research and analytical skills; the power to know and interpret data

• Strong teamwork and collaborative capability

• Attention to detail

• Empathy, and a passion for improving the user experience

UX writing and content design: What’s the difference?

You might have encounter the role of ‘content designer’ and thought that the outline sounded very almost like a UX writer, or heard them mentioned as disciplines that are often conflated or confused. So, what's the difference between a UX writer and a content designer?

‘Content designer’ may be a term that vastly predates ‘UX writer’, which has only recently (in the last three years or so) began to enjoy widespread usage. A Google Trends comparison of the 2 terms will show you that ‘Content designer’ dates back a minimum of as far as 2004 (no Trends data exists before this point), while ‘UX writer’ is simply creeping up to an equivalent level of usage and starting to overtake it because the preferred term.

A Google Trends comparison over time of the search terms ‘Content designer’ and ‘UX writer’, using US search data.

Broadly speaking, ‘content designer’ and ‘UX writer’ are two different names for an equivalent role. UX writing is usually thought to refer more narrowly to writing microcopy and zip else, but as I’ve covered above, UX writers are frequently expected to play a task within the product design process, advocate for the user, conduct research and testing, and set down style guidelines for wider content production.

Content design is additionally sometimes understood to ask the planning of all kinds of content – including things like graphics, animation, video and audio – but it most often crops up within the context of written content.

Many die-hard advocates of content design will insist that this term is that the most accurate and useful, particularly because it speaks on to the very fact that the role may be a design one. However, UX writing proponents will contend that having ‘UX’ within the title is most relevant and speaks to the role’s primary goal of facilitating a smooth user experience no matter what that involves.

Ultimately, the title wont to ask a task will always depend upon the company; some companies use the term ‘content strategist’ to mean a UX writer or content designer, while others will call the role a ‘digital content specialist’.

There could be a stress on slightly different skillsets counting on the work title, but the scope, responsibilities and expectations will always vary from organisation to organisation – so if you’re curious about the discipline of UX writing, confirm to read abreast of content design also .

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