UX Writing Basics
UX Writing Basics
A book about writing to create better user experiences
About the Book
UX (user experience) writing has seen steady growth in the last decade. More jobs with UX writer titles are opening up in small and big tech companies. However, because the profession is still fairly new and UX writers often come from a design or a copywriting background, there are very few books and courses that help people bridge the gap between the two disciplines. This guide's aim is to help designers and copywriters learn from each of these disciplines to confidently call themselves UX writers.
The UX Writing for Beginner’s Guide is a work in progress. A new chapter is released every couple of weeks. When it will be complete, it will cover the following topics:
- A short history of UX
- The role of a UX writer
- Basic laws of design for better writing
- UX-focused content strategy
- All about microcopy
- The art of information architecture
- Storymapping, user journeys and personas
- The future of UX writing
Table of Contents
-
Introduction
- Starting with the right foundation
- What does UX writing have to do with building homes?
- Writing UX copy is like building a house
- Who this book is for
- Let me share the story of how I fell into UX.
-
Chapter 1 - The history of UX (writing)
- What do all these acronyms mean?
- What are all these things if they’re not UX?
- How do CX, UX, UI, CS and HCD fit together?
- The definition of user experience is
- History moments that shaped UX
- Today UX is…
- Summary
-
Chapter 2 - Role of a UX Writer
- What’s the purpose of a UX writer
- Does design or writing come first?
- What team does the UX writer belong in?
- What does it take to be a UX writer?
- What does a UX writer do, exactly?
- So, are you a UX writer?
- Summary
-
Chapter 3 - Principles of UX writing
- Give your copy purpose
- Write short(er) copy
- Humanise your copy
- Be as clear as you can
- Include everyone
- Focus on accessibility
- How to use the principles of UX writing?
- Good to know: Laws and principles of design
- Where writing meets design
- Summary
-
Chapter 4 - Content strategy
- What is a content strategy?
- Why do you need a content strategy?
- What does a content strategy look like?
- What’s in a UX content strategy?
- How do you get started on a content strategy?
- Putting it all together
- How do you know you got it right?
- Summary
-
Chapter 5 - Personas
- How many personas do you need?
- Which elements make up a persona?
- Mistakes to avoid when creating your personas
- How do you use your persona?
- Summary
-
Chapter 6 - Information architecture
- What’s the definition of Information Architecture (IA)?
- How to define your IA
- How do you organise the information you have?
- A simple approach to user journeys
- What do you do with your IA and user journeys now?
- Summary
-
Chapter 7 - Wireframes and content tracking tools
- Why you need a wireframe
- How to make a wireframe
- Translating your wireframe into a content tool
- What comes next?
- Summary
-
Chapter 8 - Style guide
- What’s in a UX style guide?
- How to develop your style guide
- Inspiring style guides
- Summary
-
Chapter 9 - Microcopy
- Principles of UX writing
- Rules, tips and tricks for better UX copy
- The microcopy editing checklist
- Presenting your microcopy
- Summary
-
Chapter 10 - Tracking, testing, iterating
- What kind of data should you track?
- How to test your UX copy
- Usability testing methods
- How to iterate
- A special note for freelancer UX writers
- Summary
-
Chapter 11 - The future of UX writing
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Chatbots
- Intelligent devices and writing for voice commands
- What about other devices and upcoming inventions?
- Summary
-
Conclusion - What will you do next?
- Try techniques from this book, one at a time
- Learn specific UX writing skills
- Share what you learn
- UX and Writing Communities
- Keep an eye on UX Writing Basics
- Thank you
- Glossary
-
References
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 - History of UX
- Chapter 2 - The role of a UX writer
- Chapter 3 - Principles of UX writing
- Chapter 4 - Content Strategy
- Chapter 5 - Personas
- Chapter 7 - Wireframes and content tracking tools
- Chapter 8 - Style guides
- Chapter 9 - Microcopy
- Chapter 10 - Tracking, testing, iterating
- Chapter 11 - The future of UX writing
Authors have earned$9,882,857writing, publishing and selling on Leanpub, earning 80% royalties while saving up to 25 million pounds of CO2 and up to 46,000 trees.
Learn more about writing on Leanpub
The Leanpub 45-day 100% Happiness Guarantee
Within 45 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.
See full terms
Free Updates. DRM Free.
If you buy a Leanpub book, you get free updates for as long as the author updates the book! Many authors use Leanpub to publish their books in-progress, while they are writing them. All readers get free updates, regardless of when they bought the book or how much they paid (including free).
Most Leanpub books are available in PDF (for computers), EPUB (for phones and tablets) and MOBI (for Kindle). The formats that a book includes are shown at the top right corner of this page.
Finally, Leanpub books don't have any DRM copy-protection nonsense, so you can easily read them on any supported device.
Learn more about Leanpub's ebook formats and where to read them
Top Books
C++ Best Practices
Jason TurnerLevel up your C++, get the tools working for you, eliminate common problems, and move on to more exciting things!
Functional Design and Architecture
Alexander GraninSoftware Design in Functional Programming, Design Patterns and Practices, Methodologies and Application Architectures. How to build real software in Haskell with less efforts and low risks. The first complete source of knowledge.
OpenIntro Statistics
David Diez, Christopher Barr, Mine Cetinkaya-Rundel, and OpenIntroA complete foundation for Statistics, also serving as a foundation for Data Science.
Leanpub revenue supports OpenIntro (US-based nonprofit) so we can provide free desk copies to teachers interested in using OpenIntro Statistics in the classroom and expand the project to support free textbooks in other subjects.
More resources: openintro.org.
R Programming for Data Science
Roger D. PengThis book brings the fundamentals of R programming to you, using the same material developed as part of the industry-leading Johns Hopkins Data Science Specialization. The skills taught in this book will lay the foundation for you to begin your journey learning data science. Printed copies of this book are available through Lulu.
C++20
Rainer GrimmC++20 is the next big C++ standard after C++11. As C++11 did it, C++20 changes the way we program modern C++. This change is, in particular, due to the big four of C++20: ranges, coroutines, concepts, and modules.
I am a Software Engineer and I am in Charge
Alexis Monville and Michael DoyleI am a Software Engineer and I am in Charge is a real-world, practical book that helps you increase your impact and satisfaction at work no matter who you work with.
In the book, we will follow Sandrine, a fictional character who learns to think in a new way enabling her to take a different course of action.
Invest In Digital Health - The Medical Futurist's Guide
Dr. Bertalan MeskoArtificial Intelligence and Digital Health are booming. In this book, we explain why now it's a good time to invest in Digital Health and give recommendations on where to invest by looking at the top 24 technological trends we find the most promising.
Atomic Kotlin
Bruce Eckel and Svetlana IsakovaFor both beginning and experienced programmers! From the author of the multi-award-winning Thinking in C++ and Thinking in Java together with a member of the Kotlin language team comes a book that breaks the concepts into small, easy-to-digest "atoms," along with exercises supported by hints and solutions directly inside IntelliJ IDEA!
The Hundred-Page Machine Learning Book
Andriy BurkovEverything you really need to know in Machine Learning in a hundred pages.
Mastering STM32
Carmine NovielloWith more than 600 microcontrollers, STM32 is probably the most complete ARM Cortex-M platform on the market. This book aims to be the first guide around that introduces the reader to this exciting MCU portfolio from ST Microelectronics and its official CubeHAL.
Top Bundles
- #1
Software Architecture for Developers: Volumes 1 & 2 - Technical leadership and communication
2 Books
"Software Architecture for Developers" is a practical and pragmatic guide to modern, lightweight software architecture, specifically aimed at developers. You'll learn:The essence of software architecture.Why the software architecture role should include coding, coaching and collaboration.The things that you really need to think about before... - #2
The Future of Digital Health
6 Books
We put together the most popular books from The Medical Futurist to provide a clear picture about the major trends shaping the future of medicine and healthcare. Digital health technologies, artificial intelligence, the future of 20 medical specialties, big pharma, data privacy and how technology giants such as Amazon or Google want to conquer... - #3
Cisco CCNA 200-301 Complet
4 Books
Ce lot comprend les quatre volumes du guide préparation à l'examen de certification Cisco CCNA 200-301. - #4
CCDE Practical Studies (All labs)
3 Books
CCDE lab - #5
"The C++ Standard Library" and "Concurrency with Modern C++"
2 Books
Get my books "The C++ Standard Library" and "Concurrency with Modern C++" in a bundle. The first book gives you the details you should know about the C++ standard library; the second one dives deeper into concurrency with modern C++. In sum, you get more than 600 pages full of modern C++ and about 250 source files presenting the standard library... - #6
Modern Management Made Easy
3 Books
Read all three Modern Management Made Easy books. Learn to manage yourself, lead and serve others, and lead the organization. - #7
Programming with Ease
3 Books
Alle drei Bände der Serie Programming with Ease in einem Paket. Darin findest du alles, was ich dir zu den wichtigsten Phasen der Softwareentwicklung im Hinblick auf Clean Code Development für langfristig hohe Produktivität sagen kann.Im Band Slicing findest du die Anforderungsanalyse im Rahmen eines iterativ-inkrementellen Vorgehensmodells aus... - #8
Vagrant Ansible
2 Books
Unveil the power of Ansible and Vagrant with this bundle at a special price. You'll have everything you need to get started with Vagrant - learn the basics and how to create your virtual development environments, using Ansible as provisioner! About Vagrant Cookbook Vagrant Cookbook is a complete guide to get started with Vagrant and create your... - #9
Mastering Containers
2 Books
Docker and Kubernetes are taking the world by storm! These books will get you up-to-speed fast! Docker Deep Dive is over 400 pages long, and covers all objectives on the Docker Certified Associate exam.The Kubernetes Book includes everything you need to get up and running with Kubernetes! - #10
Growing Agile: The Complete Coach's Guide
7 Books
Growing Agile: Coach's Guide Series This bundle provides a collection of training and workshop plans for a variety of agile topics. The series is aimed at agile coaches, trainers and ScrumMasters who often find themselves needing to help teams understand agile concepts. Each book in the series provides the plans, slides, handouts and activity...