Lessons from my experiences in hi-tech
Overview (TL;DR)
Up to 36% of the user interface in mobile apps is text. Button actions (‘submit’), menu titles (‘Home’), field labels (‘Name’), instructional text (‘select one’) and the list goes on. This article shares experiences about how designers can work with technical writers for products that involve complex systems and user interfaces. It goes through roles of technical writers vs. ux writers, and how to work with technical writers when there are not resources for UX Writers.
What are Technical Writers?
Technical writers, or ‘tech writers’, also known as ‘Technical Documentation’ practitioners, are experts in written communication. Through their words, they know how to explain technology products. This can be for setup, for usage, for maintenance, and for troubleshooting. As their title suggest, they get down to the nitty gritty technical details. In B2B, their audience generally have technical backgrounds, and the writing has to fit accordingly. They produce documents with titles like: Release Notes, Solution Guides, Configuration Guides, and more.
Now let’s look at UX Writing.
What is UX Writing?
User interfaces, from mobile apps to parking meters, contain text. The text serves many purposes. Sentences and paragraphs can explain the context, about a feature or product. Words on buttons explain what action is going to take place when pressed. Labels explain what data is expected. Then there’s helper text, tooltips, instructional text, confirmation texts, error texts… a lot.
Decisions about how the text is experienced, like typography — font, size, font family, spacing, font color — are usually made by UI or Product Designers. But what words to use — that is the magic of UX Writing. Tones can be conveyed. Feelings. There needs to be congruency between the visual aspects of the design, and the text itself. Usually succinct is the way to go, as ‘real estate is scarce’. Consistency of text. Level of formality vs. casualness. Terminology. Often A/B testing is implored in order to confirm comprehension. Many tricky questions need to be answered for- effective UX Writing.
So, Technical Writers are UX Writers?
In short, no. Not necessarily at least. A UX Writer is a professional independent of technical writers. The expertise is different. The orientation.
BUT, in organizations where there are insufficient resources to hire separate UX Writers and separate Technical Writers, sometimes the Technical Writers lend a hand. This can be because technical writers are perceived as the best writers in the company. They know language. For companies with products in English that are not based in English-speaking countries, this perception is exacerbated; technical writers are often expats or at least native English speakers, so they are considered the authority on all words related to products. One caveat — marketing writing. That’s another discipline separate from that of technical writing! Despite the perception, not all technical writers have the domain expertise to contribute to UX Writing. SOME technical writers can gain the skills required, but need to be aware of the disparity between technical writing and UX Writing. In the unfortunate circumstances where the two disciplines are assumed to be identical, mayhem ensues. Technical writers use their expertise and apply it directly to UX Writing. The text in the interface can become too formal. Too dense. Accuracy is prioritized over expediency. Labels are too long. There is overall too much text in the interface, and this taxes cognitive load. Usability suffers.
How to navigate Technical Writers who assume they can also do UX Writing?
In the oh so precarious situation wherein technical writers are the assumed de facto authority on UX Writing, and the technical writers do not happen to possess the domain expertise required for UX Writing, the circumstance has to be navigated with care. You don’t want to insult technical writers. You don’t want this to go to a place of ego, or second guessing colleagues. But, you do have a responsibility to your product!
Admittedly, I have made mistakes in this realm. I allowed myself to become overly passionate about the need for UX Writing as a separate discipline, and managed to create a bit of tension with technical writers. I inadvertently offended some technical writers who viewed my attempts at improving UX Writing as a challenge to the authority and expertise of the technical writers. While I regret that anyone was offended, I still contend that the collective learning process was necessary. Once we explored and better understood the unique UX Writing challenges, we were able to collaborate and make better decisions for our products. So with that hindsight, some options are…
One way to approach this situation is to empower with learning. Technical writers can be made aware of online conferences, books, digital resources- that teach about the unique challenges related to UX Writing. Technical writers will become aware that this discipline needs to be studied and acquired, and that it is harmful to ‘copy and paste’ from technical writing best practices, to UX Writing.
For discussions about particular UX Writing decisions, you can cite resources and examples of UX Writing decisions.
Another approach is to look at examples of different UX writing in interfaces similar to your domain. This can also highlight the unique craft of UX Writing, and bring awareness.
Having such conversations can be hard, but it is important and leads ultimately to growth all around.
Then what?
There are various techniques and practices of how UX Writers (or Technical Writers turned UX Writers) and Designers can work together. Here we touch on two main setups.
Co-designers.
One is to involve writers early in the process, as co-designers. This provides writers with context so that they can do better work. The writers can also impact the design of the interface, and be the advocates for the text. However, this process takes more time, energy and planning, in order to work to get the design teams and writing teams better aligned.
Text spaceholders
It has become less common for product designers to use ‘Lorum ipsum’ in wireframes & mockups, and instead user plugins that fill more realistic texts. However, in this model, the designers leave use dummy text while designing an interface, and the writers determine which words to use. This method is easier for visual/interface designers, but makes it harder on the writers, who often have to work within more narrow constraints. The writers have less impact on the design in general.
Recap
We’ve explored the role and collaborations of technical writers, product designers and ux writers, and considered how UX Designers can navigate these work relationships.
Thanks for reading.
About this Series
This is part of a series of UX Case Studies based on my experiences.
About the Author
I’m a UX Designer turned Product Manager, with experience in startups, freelance, and agile B2B2C companies. Writing helps me reflect & continuously learn. Connect with me on Twitter.
