Writers in Tech

I remember when I first heard about UX writing best practices in a talk at Google’s I/O 2017 conference—it was a huge “aha” moment for me. As a product designer, microcopy was just a small part of that larger design world. Just something for a small Facebook group where I invited friends and we posted different ideas about microcopy. But that one day, everything changed. I decided to explore and talk to all of the practitioners out there so I could know more about this exploding new topic. And it was quite a journey. Not long after listening to that talk, in a moment of complete serendipity, I met Allison Freedenfeld. I was eavesdropping on a nearby table that was in a long conversation about UX Writing and I decided to take action. That day I met Allison for the first time and we’ve been friends ever since. So I’m very glad to start the second season of Writers in Tech with her in a talk where we cover: The differences between content strategy and UX Writing Doing research as a UX writer and building the story of the product Testing copy with the highlighter test Which design tools you should learn And much more

The largest airline company in South America has a unique approach when it comes to UX writing. They’re user-centered and everything about their digital experience is content-driven. In our latest episode, Carolina Rayo, a senior UX writer from LATAM, shares valuable wisdom and insights about: Putting your ego aside and staying humble Testing stories before designing anything How to absorb content like a sponge and learn as you go How not to be an a**hole to your users Enjoy this one!

If way back in 1999, you told my father that he could replace his old Subaru at the click of a button without even test driving it, he would have never believed it! Now, twenty years later, even though he probably wouldn’t buy a car online, he wouldn’t be surprised at all to learn that several companies are successfully selling them online. CarNext.com is one of those companies. And there’s no doubt about it that their slick user experience contributes greatly to their high conversion rate with selling used cars. Recently, I had the chance to speak with Don Seidenberg, the first UX writer at CarNext.com. We talked about the process of writing copy that sells cars online. Don’t miss it

This week on Writers in Tech I had the absolute pleasure of speaking with Vicki Siolos, the lead UX writer of the mother of all crowdfunding platforms, Kickstarter. You’ll learn about: -Using Google Translate for a nifty brainstorming trick -Giving your users what they’re asking for -Tricks that will help you to educate about UX writing in your organization -What books you should read (seriously, I need to read Nicely Said already) -Why you should zone out and just write It was great learning about Vicki’s brilliant processes and I’m sure you’re going to love it as much as I did!

Greta van der Merwe’s UX writing career has skyrocketed, going from an ad agency to senior UX writer a unicorn company recently acquired by Uber. I first met Greta when she was among the original members of our Facebook group, participating in discussions and sharing her talents with others. In fact, after she participated in the first class of our UX writing course (we’re about to open the fourth), we were so impressed that we took Greta on as a student mentor in future classes. She has a great post about how no one in her organization seems to understand how UX writing should work. It’s been a true honor watching her career progress and I was delighted to speak with her recently about the following topics: How she went from copywriter to Senior UX writer in such a short period of time How to collaborate with designers as a senior UX writer The processes and tools she uses How she stays up to date with the UX Writing industry Overcoming the challenges of collaboration, tools, and localization Words of wisdom from one of the best UX writers I know.

Mario was one of the first UX writers in our Microcopy & UX Writing Facebook group. Today, he’s a senior UX writer for King, one of the largest gaming companies in the world. I had a blast talking to him as he shared the necessary skills to be a UX writer for a gaming company. In this episode, you’ll learn about: -Why UX writers are like Gandalf -How Mario observes users during his commute -How to leverage communication using words -Card sorting and testing for UX writers

You take the carton from the refrigerator door and give it a shake. “Empty,” you think to yourself. No problem. “Hey Google,” you exclaim, activating your Google Home device. “Ask Colruyt to add milk to the list.” But instead of confirming the addition, your home device informs you that “Milk has already been added to your grocery list. Would you like to add an additional carton?” You know the culprit—your heavy milk-drinking girlfriend Sharon. You’re so impressed by this digital gesture that you almost forget about Sharon putting the empty carton back in the fridge for the 100th time. Today, most of us understand that this isn’t some distant sci-fi fantasy. In fact, for customers of one of Belgium’s largest supermarket chains, Colruyt, it’s already a reality. Recently, I spoke with Yves Van Kerkhove of the Colruyt Group. Yves was a student in our first UX writing course and has been working on a game-changing project—a voice interface app for Colruyt’s supermarket shoppers. Yves relied upon his 15 years of copywriting experience plus massive amounts of testing to bring it to fruition. The result is a full-fledged voice interface assistant for online shopping. This episode is for you if you are curious about: The future of writers in tech Working in a product team without a UI designer Writing a voice interface app Testing for voice interfaces Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I recently spoke with Erin O'Loughlin and Annalise Nurme about creating a UX Writing culture in a product team of the language education platform Babbel. More companies are beginning to understand that they must hire writers; Erin and Annalise are the first official UX writers at Babbel. We talked about the challenges of creating a UX writing culture in a company that’s never had writers. Topics covers: -Presenting the concept of UX Writing to your team -Creating a content style guide and establishing new conventions -Building test groups for your product -Working with designers

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Matt Hayes, a UX Writer at Deloitte Digital. Imagine a place that gives you the opportunity to work on the digital experiences of the biggest companies in the world. Well, that’s Deloitte digital. Matt shared with me his process and everything that product team members need to know about UX writing. We covered: -Structuring content for wireframes -Creating a content style guide -Setting up a document at the beginning of a project -Working with UX designers as a writer If you are currently creating a writing culture in your product team, you don’t want to miss this episode.

In this week’s episode of our Writers in Tech podcast, I had the great pleasure of interviewing an absolute UX legend, Jared Spool. He’s the mind behind the UX of the personal computer keyboard as we know it, which he designed back in 1978. After years of following his work at UIE and his UX podcast “SpoolCast”, I was lucky enough to have him join me for a chat. We talked about: The history of UX and of writers in technology UX Writing vs. Technical Writing The UX strategy of a service Research for writers Jared has had a huge influence on my work, so for me it was very exciting to speak with one of the most influential UX personas out there. Don’t miss it!