Writing is an essential part of everyone’s life. Each of us writes something every day, be it a story, a couple of sentences to friends, a paper, or a book. It goes without saying that storytelling is the most aged form of exchanging information, ideas, and whatsoever.
For a specific group of people, writing requires possessing strong and outstanding skills, for UX writers, for instance. However, to become the UX writer, one should learn the ropes of being a scrupulous customer, paying attention to all the detail, which, in turn, will shed light on the most minor yet crucial things.
An excellent example of those is business essay writers who can think two steps ahead, aiming to acknowledge the pros and cons of the given product. Thus, let’s have stern look at the most significant rules of compelling UX writing that are to boost your way of revealing things on a paper.
1. Be straight to the point
It doesn’t necessarily mean that your text has to be limited in terms of a word count. Your text should be as close to the point as it is even possible, having fewer words, yet without losing the meaning.
Keep in mind that when writing shortly, you put every word into action, they all have their job. To illustrate, instead of writing, “You must log in to see similar articles,” write “Log in to explore more.”
2. Avoid writing long-reads
Try to eschew writing long sections of text, meaning when using a specific product, consumers aren’t dipped into the interface itself, but in how smoothly and pleasant-to-eye it works.
As a result, buyers don’t read the text – they scan and skim it. Reinforce them with those intentions and follow the rule regarding writing your information in a short and scannable way.
Divide your text into shorter sentences, paragraphs, and make it fancier, which means that you preserve the most crucial text upfront and then adjust, edit, and add what comes after it.
3. Start with the purpose
If it happens that your sentence describes a goal and the action required to achieve it, start your sentence with the objective. For example, rather write “to do this, tap on that” than “tap on that to do this.”
4. Do not include double negatives
In order to not cause a cognitive load and confusion, avoid writing double negatives in your text. What is more, such sentences are likely to look like they are written by an amateur that has no idea of the overall aim of the text and rather uses such constructions to meet the required word count.
Still, it takes plenty of time to decode such messages; for instance, omit to write, “I do not want to unsubscribe.”
5. Stick to proper words
By the same token, discrepancy creates bewilderment. In particular, one classic example of such a difference is replacing a specific word with an inappropriate synonym in a different part of the UI (user interface).
For example, if you make a determination to name the process of organizing “Booking” in part of the interface, do not call it “Scheduling” in various sections of your UI by no means. Synonyms are great, namely when you are to write an essay for the reason that equivalents show your command of the given language, the richness of vocabulary, the ability to use it correctly, and so forth.
However, it is unnecessary to show the proficiency of the language while making an interface in order to not confuse the users. Aside from that, another hazard that may well be perilous is referring to the customer in both the second person and the first person within the same sentence, namely, don’t write “adjust your preferences in My Account”; instead, write “adjust your preferences in Your Account.”
6. Stay away from specialized language
In the same fashion, one of the key characteristics of efficient UX business writing is accuracy and directness. When it comes to precision, you have to erase the technical terms and use well-known and comprehensible words and phrases alternatively.
Most importantly, avoid including specialized language in error messages. Meaning that you should not write, for instance, “System error (code # 9985): An authentication error has occurred.” Rephrase it to an expression “Sign-in error: Incorrect password.”
7. Active voice is the thing
Since you are eager to know the rules of UX writing, consider avoiding using the passive voice for the reason that it makes sentences extremely long and creates an impression that the written text is more academic rather than business-related.
To illustrate, eschew, including in the text sentences, such as: “The Search button has to be clicked to search for an item.” Instead, you should write, “Click the Search button to search for an item.”
8. Be careful when using jokes
As a matter of fact, a plethora of designers say that including gags in UI makes it sound more natural and human-like. However, humor-related things have to be thoughtfully analyzed.
Meaning that if the article is well-written, people will tend to go through it a myriad of times, and what may seem good at first can become vexatious over time.
9. Use language that is compatible with the user’s platform
In like manner, the definitions we are prone to use when characterizing cooperation with a desktop app do not always relate to mobile platforms. In other words, if you design an Android app, you can’t put into use the word “click,” referring to a specific action. You have to say “tap” to make it clear.
The Bottom Line
In the final analysis, UX business writing requires a variety of skills to make the product entirely understandable for the user. Besides, one is to acknowledge the most important rules to follow to become a competent writer.
The aforementioned rules, such as being concise, avoid writing large blocks of texts, use the common language, evade from using synonyms, and the rest is the basis that leads to auspicious conveyance and the exchange of experience among users.
