Meet my UX Content Design playbook.
The role
Being a UX Writer or Content Designer is being a storyteller. It’s crafting experiences that make people feel like a hero—not just another user—while interacting with your product.
My role is to make sure spaces, like an application, a website, or a portal, have a clear narrative, are accessible, can be translated and localized, and is legally on the up and up. But easy reading is hard writing. I know I’ve done my job well when our heroes don’t even know I’ve done it at all.
Here’s my scrappy map about designing an experience with great writing. (Please don’t take it anywhere without my permission.)
Being human
“Research proves again and again that we respond to computers and digital interfaces as if they were human.” —Kinneret Yifrah, Microcopy: The Complete Guide
People expect their software to act like humans—to clarify, reassure, help, celebrate. That requires a fully formed personality, a voice and tone that’s consistent and appropriate and meaningful.
I’ve worked on a lot of wonderful products for truly lovely companies. But the voice I call my own aims for three attributes: Clear, honest, and kind.
The magic
This type of writing isn’t just double-checking labels and buttons (though word nerds are good at that). There’s a bit of magic.
Each stage of a product lifecycle craves different content work—from storyboarding to conversational prototyping to revising. There are hundreds of vetted methods to ideate on content. Some of my favorites are Love Letter/Break Up Letter, Namestorming, and lexicon journey mapping.
Published guides
Do you have one writer or content designer? Maybe 500? It’s hard to train them, even specialists, to write like they have the same personality. (We haven’t achieved psychic capabilities just yet, despite ongoing attempts). But consistency is key, so we’ve gotta try.
Here are a few guides I’ve authored and contributed to in pursuit of this awesome craft.
Cait Emma Smith 