The Blog for Content Designers
Read the latest on content, craft, and community from working UX writers and content designers in the field.
- Inspiration ·
“Learn more” is not enough: A case for descriptive CTAs
Are your CTAs serving a specific purpose or are they acting more like fillers? Alice Chen argues that descriptive CTAs are more accessible, SEO-friendly, and contribute to a better user experience!
The Dash: Would you live forever as an AI bot?
You only live… forever? At least that’s the question surrounding data and posthumous chatbots. This Dash gets into AI bots, what it's like to be a non-native English speaker as a UX writer, and more!
- Career ·
How not being a native English speaker makes me a better UX writer
Companies often list "native English speaker" as a requirement but are they missing out on first-class writing talent? Dragana explains why non-native English speakers actually make for great UX writers!
The Dash: Enterprise UX is amazing. Change our mind.
The last Dash of January is here. We’re not quite sure where that month went, but it’s probably hanging out somewhere with the other missing socks, lost remote, and our spare key. Anyways! Here’s a fresh batch of content for you to enjoy. If you’re feeling generous, forward to a fellow UX writing friend.
- Podcasts ·
Writers of Silicon Valley: What we learned from the Button conference
In this episode, Patrick chats with Yael, Duaa, and Vicki about their experience at the 2020 Button conference. They discuss preparation leading up to the conference, what it was like as a fully remote digital conference, and what all the generous knowledge share from speakers and attendees means for the future of the industry.
- Inspiration ·
The top 50 UX writing resources of 2020
The UX writing, content design and content strategy communities grew a lot in 2020. We've collected the top 50 UX writing resources for you to enjoy.
- Learning ·
Microcopy matters: Why everyone on a design team should know how to write
Everyone on a design team should know how to work in Sketch or Figma. So...shouldn't everyone know how to write microcopy?
The Dash: Election ballots & UX writing
This Dash ranges from COVID-19 to content strategy candidates and even all things convo design. We know it’s a wild US election week... so we’ll just get straight to it.
- Career ·
Starting your first UX writer role (remotely) from a class of COVID grad
Cayla thought she was going to start in-office at Microsoft, enjoying the perks that come with joining a major tech company. However, as a class of COVID graduate, she found herself starting her new, big role working from home. She shares her insights and lessons she's learned along the way.
The Dash: Designing for Voice 101
How do we gauge whether our content is hitting the mark? We analyze it, of course!
The Dash: Could UX research be your next big thing?
We’ve shared some heavy discussions lately about this: on separating the writing from the strategy, the different backgrounds that led us to this work, ethical, accessible and inclusive practices, and fighting for our place on design and product teams.
- Leadership ·
The dos and don’ts of hiring a UX writer
If you're going to hire a UX writer soon, there are a few things you should know to make sure everyone's experience is a positive one!
The Dash: Why Facebook switched to “content design”
This week we’ve got an in-depth look at the past, present, and future of our industry from Kristina Halvorson, how to survive being the sole UX writer with Mario Ferrier, and of course, some quality content from emerging UX writers too!
The Dash: Our 50th edition!
This week we’ve got an in-depth look at the past, present, and future of our industry from Kristina Halvorson, how to survive being the sole UX writer with Mario Ferrier, and of course, some quality content from emerging UX writers too!
- Podcasts ·
Writers of Silicon Valley Podcast: Jessica Ouyang and Jolena Ma transcript
In this episode, Patrick speaks with Jessica and Jolena about their product Ditto, what it means for UX writers and content strategists, how they developed the product, what it’s like going through the Y Combinator process, and where they want to take it.
- Techniques ·
Atomic design needs atomic UX writers
What is atomic design? Russell Norris shares great insight into how atomic design works and how UX writers should leverage it!
The Dash: How to be a truly great UX writer
This week’s Dash should help you find out what it takes to be an exceptional UX writer. We’ve got articles from around the globe about how to do ‘good’ UX writing, what it means to be a UX writer on a CX team, respecting your users, and staying empathetic in your online communications.
- Career ·
When a UX writer joins a CX team
James shares how CX thinking has influenced his UX work, taking the broader perspective from CX and using that to inform his work on experiences at the individual level.
The Dash: A guide to UX writing challenges & more
In this week's Dash you'll find: Shopify changing their content strategy to content design, a UX writing glossary, completing a UX challenge and more!
- Podcasts ·
Writers of Silicon Valley Podcast: Tamara Hilmes transcript
Patrick and Tamara talk about what makes working at Spotify so great, and the skills needed there to succeed and a UX writer.
- Techniques ·
How to complete a UX writing challenge during the interview process
Pembroke King, UX Writer at Catawiki, describes every step in detail on how she completed the UX writing challenge that got her the job!
- Podcasts ·
Writers of Silicon Valley Podcast: Ben Barone-Nugent transcript
In this conversation with Patrick and Ben Barone-Nugent, they cover: what’s it like to work at Netflix, do you succeed as a UX writer / content designer there and much more.
- Learning ·
What is UX writing?
Take a peek into the first 3 lessons from our UX Writing Fundamentals course. Learn what UX writing is, why it's important, and how UX writers work on a design team.
- Strategy ·
How we moved from content docs to Abstract at Wix
UX Writer & Team Lead at Wix, Jenni Nadler shares how her team transitioned from using content documents to using Abstract.
