What UX Writers do before writing

We don’t just work on a specific screen. We approach the experience from a flow perspective and study the product’s context and its users before typing a single word.

I have been a UX Writer for the past five years. In the beginning, the name of my role was different: UX Content Analyst. To me, that sounded like we sat all day examining and dissecting paragraphs, and nodding after we read a good piece of text.

Then, it mutated to UX Content Strategist (which I thought it was a bit more self-explanatory than the previous title, but not quite there), and now we go by the not so accurate UX Writer.

After all these years and name changes, there is one thing I believe has stayed pretty much the same: most people have no idea what UX Writers do.

Back then, it was rare to find anyone who knew what my role meant. So whenever someone asked me about my work, I started by explaining what UX was. And then, how we writers contributed to creating that memorable digital experience.

Remember that episode of Friends? It happens to us UXW all the time.

With time, I ended up having shorter or longer versions of this answer. Depending on the context (a date, a party, a high school reunion), I chose the level of details I would give. Five years later, I find myself still doing this, which is ok. We can’t expect everyone to know all the aspects of our very specific career path.

The real struggle comes when we often have to explain within digital teams what UX Writers do. It is challenging, and exhausting at times, to try to give visibility and prove to other roles the value of our daily work. I have heard more than once that we are just the words people. Meaning: our only job is to write the few lines of text on a screen, and come up with one or two words for a CTA.

Repeat this with me:

UX Writers are not screens writers

We UX Writers don’t just work on a specific interface, because we approach the experience as a whole, from a flow perspective.

Context is key

Before typing a single word, we review and use quantitative and qualitative data available to understand the users’ needs, problems, and expectations. Is this information not enough to empathize with them? We conduct a research process, analyze the results, and define hypotheses.

• Who are our users?
• What is their main activity while using the product?
• How often do they use it and for how long?
• How satisfied are they with the current flow?
• What do they expect to do there?
• What do they feel is missing?
• What are their frustrations?

Before typing a single word, we actively participate in meetings with our team and product manager to discuss basic definitions. We ask the right questions.

• What is the business goal behind creating this flow?
• What is the scope of the product?
• What KPIs do we want to impact?
• What use cases will we consider?
• Which business rules must we keep in mind?
• Are there any technical limitations?
• Are there any dependencies with other products or teams?

We do all that before typing a single word because we need context to make informed content and experience decisions.

Let me use an analogy

UX Writers are like Daenerys Targaryen on the battlefield.

I am sure you’ve heard about Daenerys Targaryen. Here we can see a picture of her flying on her dragon to have a full understanding of what is going on the battlefield. She needs to have the whole perspective before taking action.

• How bad is the situation for her people right now?
• What kind of help do they need the most?
• Where are her allies?
• How close are the enemies?
• Are there any risks coming their way?

Just like her, we UX Writers need to know as much as we can about our users, the business rules, and even technical aspects to make informed decisions and to create the best digital experience possible.

And just like Danaerys defends her people, we are the advocates for the users. Whenever we detect a threat to the experience and its content, well, we go Dracarys.

If there is a threat to the experience and its content, we go Dracarys.

Only that way, we can be good at our jobs and do all these incredible things UX Writers do before typing a single word:

• We create a cross-product content strategy
• We are great storytellers
• We define the information architecture of our digital flows
• We understand which pieces of information are supposed to have the highest hierarchy (and which ones shouldn’t even be there)

And yes, of course, with this great understanding of the product and its users, we choose and write the perfect words for the final texts of our digital flow.

We are not just the words people. The name of our role is UX Writer. But the truth is, we design experiences with our expertise of content and communication.

Spanish version of this article.