UX Writing for Fun and Profit

Feb 4, 2021

Peter Zogas, a Principal Content Strategist at Autodesk, addresses the importance good UX writing when designing products, the three principles that all UX content writers should be aware of, and walks through an engaging exercise to drill in some of these concepts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBc355NTB0k

Key Takeaways

• UX writing is product design, just more focussed.
• Writing is just one of the tools in your toolbox that will make you a more desirable designer, PM, or just hireable.
• Writing for user experience
  • What does the user want to accomplish?
  • How can language and design work together to enable users to accomplish these goals?
  • How can language prevent user confusion or mistakes?
  • Things to keep in mind:
• Writing will get you hired
  • All designers write, but not all designer value writing equally
  • Larger design teams can accommodate more specialization — e.g. writers, researchers, illustrators
  • Treat writing like the rest of your design: play, iterate, and test
  • Emphasize your focus on writing in portfolios and during interviews
• 3 things you can take away
  • "Read" like your users
  • Start early
  • Iteration = Revision

Making & Defending Design Decisions by Richard Yang

September 30, 2020

Richard discusses how to break down problems, validate assumptions, and advocate for design decisions on behalf of the user.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Nyr7KytRcE&t=2s&ab_channel=UW%2FUXWaterloo

Key Takeaways

• Assumptions are various inputs of data and knowledge that can help sway a decision in a particular way. In an ideal scenario, you always want to validate your assumption. However, the choice to validate an assumption (or decision) is based on the degree of confidence (evidence validating the assumption). Some forms of evidence include: universal design principles and patterns, user research and market research, data (KPIs, metrics), and past experiments.
• Framing the problem: The JBTD (Jobs-to-be-done) framework and People Problems framework are two ways to frame a problem. This is important because everyone must first understand and align on the problem that needs to be solved before a decision can be made.
• Defending your design decision: General tips and factors to consider