Situation

During my tenure at Committee for Children, it became clear that the organization needed a cohesive approach to in-product UX writing/microcopy. First, however, the org needed to understand that consistent, thoughtful in-product microcopy was critical, and that not everyone who had access to the platform should be writing it. At the time, engineers and others didn’t understand that we had a process for microcopy, so they were writing it on the fly as they built sections of the product. Although this was well-intentioned, it meant that the in-product copy was inconsistent and sometimes written in engineer-speak.

Task and Actions

We needed a UX writing team and UX writing guidelines.

I formed a cross-functional UX writing team that included UX designers, editor/content managers, and engineering staff, and we began working collaboratively on UX copy. We made it known in the organization that this group existed and that product managers, instructional designers, and others were welcome to attend meetings if we were discussing a project they were involved in.

Once the group got started, I wrote the UX writing guidelines below and circulated them in the UX writing team and to outside stakeholders for information and review. The guidelines were intended to:

• Help the UX writing team document microcopy language decisions and apply styles consistently across platforms and products
• Provide other internal stakeholders with the rationale for decisions made by the UX writing team, plus a guide for following the same rules
• Demonstrate how we were using consistent microcopy to make it easier for users and client-facing staff to find what they needed within the products
• Show how we were aligning the UX copy with the product voice and branding guidelines
• Document the steps we were taking to improve accessibility through UX copy (and gently remind people to keep doing that)

This document was a work in progress, and the rough layout reflects that. I also (respectfully) stole some examples for one section from Material Design. The document was living temporarily as a OneNote notebook until we could find a better format.

UX Writing Guidelines PDF (contact me for password)

Results

Consistency of UX copy was improved across products, and editors and designers had a set of guidelines to build on for future projects.