Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Jason Fox

The skills UX designers want their writers to have

Not so very long ago, I was brand new to UX writing. I knew nothing. And I was, to put it lightly, very eager. 😬

In my impatience to please, I attempted to haphazardly learn every skillset the came anywhere near my role as a writer. My intentions were probably good. I didn’t want to be a burden.

Wouldn’t it be nice, I thought, if a designer didn’t have to burn an hour doing a copy and paste job for me.

Design boundaries are more impressive than design skills.

A couple YouTube tutorials later and I was directly editing design files. I widowed paragraphs, left orphan words, and meddled with buttons that shouldn’t have been meddled with. Version control went out of control. Our design process and workflow suffered. Burden not lifted!

I was learning in the most obnoxious ways possible that, to be a helpful writer, I needed to be an engaged communicator, an advocate for language, and sometimes, I even needed to be a pain in the ass. Sneaking around in the shadows to make copy edits without bothering anyone was an impossible game.

Finally I decided that instead of trying to read minds, I would ask any designer I could this one simple question: “What does your ideal writer bring to the table?”

So what have I learned? Well…

Design skills are nice, but not necessary

According to the UX designers I’ve spoken with, it’s far more important for writers to understand design fundamentals, UX principles, and communication techniques than it is to know their way around Photoshop.

Whenever possible, I prefer to develop copy in a rough mockup. At the very least, I like to have a visual representation of the interface I’m writing for. But the tendency to put your design 🎩 on for every writing assignment can be harmful to the collaborative process. After all, one of the most rewarding aspects of being a UX writer is having the opportunity to jam on strategy with your team.

Plus, there’s the chance that your good-faith design edits will suck.

“If there’s a small tweak to copy and the copywriter can handle it, I’m all for that. However, having boundaries is important. The designer may have placed copy in a specific way and if the edits are larger, or alter the design of the copy (such as adding another line, or introducing a significantly longer word), that impacts design and should be handled by the designer.” — Kiersten Clingersmith

Remember to have boundaries, folks!

Share your swipe files

Rooted in marketing and advertising, a swipe file is a collection of proven copy elements, such as onboarding headlines, empty state body copy, transition microcopy, etc. It’s a reference point based on your favorite copy.

For writers, your swipe file is fertile ground for ideation and copy development.

“Like this? Or maybe like this…” UX Archive is an excellent place to start your swipe file.

Sharing swipes with your designer can help to align on messaging and copy parameters at very early stages of the design process.

The uniter writer

As a writer — and presumably someone with a background in communications — it may fall upon you to communicate! With colleagues, departments, customers, and yes, even investors 👻. Develop your interpersonal and cross-functional communication skill sets, because your team will invariably look to you to navigate contentious topics.

“Designers can often struggle to wrangle the many teams they work with, but copywriting can help work as a bridge between those different mindsets. A skilled writer can successfully impart a message which balances the needs of business and user experience.” — Gabe Persons

Understand data

Here’s a fun story: An executive and a product manager get together one day and begin to commiserate on one very small piece of user feedback from usability testing. Two sprints later, morale is at an all-time low and the product is suffering.

Teams often stumble when it comes to understanding and applying field research. One or more stakeholders will fixate on something that one user said because it confirms their own biases.

“Well, this one person didn’t like X, so I must be right about everything.”

As a writer, having the ability to understand, analyze, document, and share data can help to keep a design process on track.

Let me hear it

What does your ideal writer bring to the table?

Designer’s best friend was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Designer’s best friend

Cool stuff, every week

More Articles