UX writing

Both disciplines set a direction, a tone and production rules for the messages addressed to users. What separates them is their purpose. Copywriting belongs to a marketing approach: it seeks to convince and to prompt action. UX writing concentrates on what the message brings to the person along their journey: understanding where they are, what they can do, what will happen next. A good marketing text often makes a bad interface text: too long, too vague, not actionable enough.

Not always. Jargon is only a problem when the audience doesn't speak it. With experts, on a business application, a healthcare tool or banking software, specialised terms are often the most direct way to be understood. With a lay audience, on the other hand, they create confusion and cause drop-offs. The rule comes down to a single question: do the people using this interface know what that word means?

Three things have to be clear: that there is a problem, where it is, and what to do to fix it. The choice of words and the tone belong to UX writing; the way the error appears on screen belongs to interface design. Avoid technical jargon, guilt-inducing wording and messages with no way out. « Enter an address in the format name@domain.com » is better than « Incorrect address format ».

It is the set of writing rules that lets an organisation express itself in the same way across all its touchpoints. It brings together the brand's voice and its tones, a glossary of the product's terms, spelling and typography rules, a position on accessibility and inclusive writing, and writing rules for each component. That last level, the content library built into the design system, is what is called a content design system. The content system is aimed at everyone who takes part in the experience: design, product, customer support, customer relations, social media.

From the start. Text influences the layout: a long label shifts what surrounds it. It influences the interaction: a badly named button produces clicks in the wrong place. It influences trust: vague wording on a payment screen makes people give up. Designing from the real content rather than from a dummy text also makes it possible to test the screens, which a lorem ipsum rules out.