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The Dash: A message from us

Wow, it's been a tough week. On top of a pandemic. To our Black brothers and sisters, we stand with you. From all of us, thank you for being part of the UXWC community. We're so much more because of you.

This is the published edition of our weekly UX writing newsletter, The Dash. Sign up to The Dash to have these updates sent straight to your inbox! 

Wow, it’s been a tough week. On top of a pandemic. To our Black brothers and sisters, we stand with you. From all of us, thank you for being part of the UXWC community. We’re so much more because of you.

If you’re on the hiring side, remember to lift up underrepresented writers and designers when you decide who to interview, mentor, publish, or recommend at work. We can all make a difference. We’re also in a unique position to fight for equality and inclusion through the words we choose and the work we do. That’s especially relevant in our latest blog post on localization. Plus, we’ve got a few pieces that might pique your interests in psychology, from some of our favorite expert writers. On with the Dash.

This edition was published on Tuesday, June 2, 2020.

  • Localization for UX writers. In the latest addition to our UXWC blog, Michael Winnington shares his experience with localization—and why it’s such an important consideration for organizations going global. Filled with examples and best practice, we think you’ll get a lot out of this one.
  • Strong opinions ahead. Why read when you can watch Jonathon Coleman get passionate about empowering writers to start designing products and experiences? Hear how he’s changing the setup of design teams at Intercom, including more diversity and flexibility so that you’d have trouble telling a product designer apart from a content designer.
  • Understanding how our customers think and act. As UX writers, we generally know what it takes to create good experiences… but understanding the cognitive psychology behind those experiences helps us write more effectively. This article by Sarah Vollmer Mohs goes deep on human behavior—the part about memory is so fascinating!
  • Sometimes the “soft” skills are the hardest to learn. In this Medium post, Rachel McConnell shares her 4 Cs for good UX practitioners: curiosity, creativity, communication and collaboration. The best part is, the way Rachel explains them in this article goes so much deeper than “just ask more questions.” It’s a complete way of working that’ll make your role as a UX writer much more effective.
  • Many of you are probably familiar with Ryan Farrell’s Daily UX Writing Challenge. It’s one of the best free resources out there for UX writers. Spencer Rogers is one such UX writer and he’s done a wonderful job sharing his experience and two weeks’ of writing work with the Daily UX Writing Challenge, all in this article.
  • Smarter, not harder. Beth Mukushi from Scotland’s Council for Voluntary Organizations (SCVO) has shared this short post about the importance of mindful content. During times of global anxieties, it’s tempting to post more, more, more. But sometimes…less (but smarter) content is best.
  • Writing text for UI forms? Become acquainted with humble text fields and form design through this easy to digest article. Forms aren’t exciting, but they’re a common UI bit users can’t escape. Let’s embrace them and create good forms.
  • Untools for thought. We love a good resource that’s easily bookmarked to return to at a later date. This one called Untools is no exception – a beautifully designed site that offers up (for free and in one place) different tools and frameworks for strategic thinking and problem-solving.
  • All aboard! Get on the Talkerist train because Hana Gausfain has given us the ultimate guide to improving user onboarding experiences in just 5 steps. So often this responsibility finds its way into a content strategists’ hands, so it might be a good one to help you practice rewriting onboarding flows.

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