Train your technical writers in UX writing – join our training day on February 10. Book your seat.
Train your technical writers in UX writing – join our training day on February 10. Book your seat.
UX CONTENT RESOURCES
Software and tools for designers who write
There are no shortage of tools that can be used in UX writing and content design work. The right tools can help you automate, scale and refine your practice. There are plenty of tools for collaboration with multidisciplinary teams and these are essential.
Lots of job descriptions for UX writing and content design roles specifically mention a need for some level of proficiency in different tools too. Of course, how they are used will depend on the context of your work.
Investing time in your own toolkit is a good idea, though it can take time. It can sometimes be trial and error to find the right tool for the job and it may require training and onboarding too.
In this article we will share some of the main tools that can help with UX writing and content design. We’ll summarize what they are and share some of the ways you can use them.
This is where content is written. Lots of teams write content in Word docs or Google docs. It’s a more traditional tool that people are familiar with. You could create templates in these docs and use them in a more structured way that maps to a Content Management System.
Creating content models in blank docs is a good way to be more user-centred in your approach to content creation using these tools.
Docs like these also allow for collaboration with others through commenting and different levels of access permissions. When there is a lot of feedback within a doc it can be hard to track all the changes and understand the version history. It’s good practice to define roles and permissions for anyone being involved in the collaboration.
For some, using content docs is a process with little to no friction as you can get started quickly and there is no cost attached too. Lots of people are familiar with using docs in this way so there is no onboarding needed. The risks are lack of structure and confusion over feedback, versions and managing a lot of changes. Clear guidelines and a defined structure can make content docs an important and useful UX writing and content design tool.
Figma is a cloud-based design and prototyping tool that enables teams to collaborate in real-time on creating user interfaces, prototypes, and interactive designs. It’s also a tool for collecting feedback so it allows for iteration all in one place.
As a UX writing and content design tool, Figma offers several benefits and functionalities:
Content creation – Figma provides text tools that allow UX writers and content designers to create and edit copy directly within the design interface. This makes it easy to visualize how the content will appear within the context of the UI.
Component libraries – Figma allows users to create and organize reusable design components, including text elements. UX writers can create libraries of standardized copy blocks, such as button labels, error messages, or instructional text, for easy reuse across designs.
Collaboration – Figma’s real-time collaboration features enable UX writers, designers, and other stakeholders or subject experts to collaborate effectively on projects. Multiple users can edit text simultaneously, leave comments, streamlining the feedback and approval process.
Version control – Figma automatically saves design iterations and maintains a version history, allowing users to revert to previous versions if needed. This ensures that changes to content are tracked and documented throughout the design process.
Prototyping – Figma can be used to create interactive prototypes that simulate user interactions and flows. UX writers can contribute to prototyping efforts and be involved in the process from the beginning or early in the project.
User testing – Figma’s prototyping capabilities make it easy to conduct user testing. Usable prototypes with realistic content allows users to interact with the interface and provide feedback.
Handoff to developers – Figma streamlines the handoff process between designers and developers by providing features for generating design specifications and assets. UX writers can ensure that developers have access to accurate and up-to-date content specifications, reducing the risk of misinterpretation or errors during implementation.
While Sketch is primarily known for its robust design features, it can also be an effective UX writing and content design tool. Here’s how:
Text tools – Sketch provides a range of text tools that allow UX writers and content designers to create and format text within design layouts. This includes options for adjusting font styles, sizes, colors, alignment, and spacing, providing flexibility in presenting content.
Symbols and libraries – Sketch allows users to create reusable design elements called symbols. UX writers can create text symbols for common UI elements like buttons, labels, headers, and paragraphs. These symbols can be organized into libraries for easy reuse across multiple projects, ensuring consistency in content design.
Collaboration features – While Sketch itself does not have built-in collaboration features like real-time editing, it integrates with collaboration platforms like Abstract and Figma. UX writers can collaborate with designers and other team members by sharing Sketch files through these platforms, enabling seamless communication and feedback gathering.
Prototyping plugins – While Sketch does not have native prototyping capabilities, it supports plugins like Sketch Prototyping and Craft by InVision that enable users to create interactive prototypes directly within Sketch. UX writers can contribute to prototyping efforts by defining user flows, adding interactive elements, and ensuring that the accompanying text accurately reflects the intended user experience.
Design systems – Sketch is well-suited for creating and maintaining design systems, which are collections of reusable design components and guidelines. UX writers can contribute to design systems by defining text styles, documenting content guidelines, and ensuring consistency in language usage across projects.
Developer handoff – Sketch facilitates the handoff process between designers and developers by providing features for generating design specifications and assets. UX writers can ensure that developers have access to accurate and up-to-date content specifications, reducing the risk of miscommunication or errors during implementation.
While Sketch may not have all the features specifically tailored for UX writing and content design found in other tools like Figma, it offers substantial text editing capabilities and integrates well with other collaboration and prototyping platforms, making it a viable option for UX writers and content designers working within a Sketch-centric design workflow.
Miro is an online collaborative whiteboarding platform that enables teams to ideate, brainstorm, design, and collaborate in real-time, regardless of their location.
Miro is known for its flexibility in facilitating visual collaboration and design thinking activities, it can also be a UX writing and content design tool. Here’s how:
Visual content creation – Miro provides a canvas where users can create and organize visual content, including text boxes, sticky notes, shapes, and images. UX writers can leverage these tools to draft and organize content wireframes, user flows, and other UX artifacts directly within the platform.
Collaborative editing – Miro supports real-time collaborative editing, allowing multiple users to work together on the same board simultaneously. UX writers can collaborate with designers, stakeholders, and other team members to co-create and refine content in real-time, facilitating seamless communication and iteration.
User journey mapping – Miro is well-suited for creating user journey maps, which visualize the user’s interactions and experiences with a product or service over time. UX writers can contribute to user journey mapping activities by defining key touchpoints, crafting user stories, and documenting content requirements.
Content strategy workshops – Miro can be used to facilitate content strategy workshops and ideation sessions, where teams can brainstorm and prioritize content ideas, define messaging frameworks, and establish content guidelines. UX writers can lead these workshops and collaborate with cross-functional team members to align on content objectives and strategies.
Design reviews and feedback – Miro enables teams to conduct design reviews and gather feedback on content directly within the platform. UX writers can share content drafts or wireframes with stakeholders, solicit feedback using comments and annotations, and iteratively refine the content based on input from the team.
Content repository – Miro serves as a centralized repository for storing and organizing content-related artifacts, such as content calendars, style guides, and content inventories. UX writers can use Miro boards to maintain up-to-date documentation and assets, ensuring easy access and visibility for all team members.
Integration with design tools – Miro integrates with popular design tools like Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD, allowing users to import design files directly into Miro boards. UX writers can collaborate with designers and annotate design mockups with content-related feedback and suggestions.
Hemingway App is a web-based writing tool designed to help users improve the clarity and readability of their writing. Named after the renowned author Ernest Hemingway, known for his simple and direct writing style, the app aims to assist users in creating concise and easy-to-understand content.
While it’s not specifically tailored for UX writing and content design, it can be a valuable tool for UX writers to enhance the quality of their content.
Here’s how it works and how it can be used in UX writing and content design:
Simplifying complex language – The Hemingway App highlights complex sentences, adverbs, and passive voice constructions, which can be challenging for users to understand. UX writers can use the app to identify and simplify language, making content more accessible and user-friendly.
Improving readability – The app provides a readability score for the content based on the grade level required to understand it. UX writers can aim for a lower grade level to ensure that content is easy to comprehend for a wider audience, especially considering varying literacy levels among users.
Highlighting sentences for revision – Hemingway App highlights sentences that are difficult to read or overly complicated. UX writers can review these sentences and revise them to improve clarity and brevity, ensuring that content communicates information effectively.
Identifying passive voice – Passive voice can make sentences less direct and engaging. The app identifies instances of passive voice, allowing UX writers to rephrase sentences in active voice for more clarity and impact.
Encouraging conciseness – Hemingway App encourages users to aim for concise writing by highlighting instances of unnecessary adverbs, excessive use of adjectives, and wordy phrases. UX writers can streamline content by removing unnecessary words and phrases, making it more succinct and engaging.
Testing tone and style – While Hemingway App primarily focuses on readability and clarity, UX writers can use it to test different tones and writing styles. By experimenting with sentence structures and language choices, writers can fine-tune the tone of the content to align with the desired user experience.
Grammarly is an AI-powered writing assistant that helps users improve the quality, clarity, and correctness of their written communication. It offers grammar checking, spell checking, style suggestions, and vocabulary enhancement features to help users craft more polished and professional content. Grammarly can be a valuable tool for UX writers to enhance the quality of their content.
Here’s how it works and how it can be used in UX writing and content design:
Grammar and spelling checking – Grammarly automatically detects and highlights grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and punctuation issues in written content. UX writers can use Grammarly to ensure that their content is free from common errors that could detract from the user experience.
Style suggestions – Grammarly provides style suggestions to help users improve the clarity, coherence, and readability of their writing. It offers recommendations for sentence structure, word choice, and tone, helping UX writers refine their content to better resonate with users.
Consistency checking – Grammarly helps maintain consistency in writing style and formatting across content pieces. UX writers can use Grammarly to identify inconsistencies in language usage, punctuation, and formatting, ensuring a cohesive and professional user experience.
Tone detection – Grammarly can detect the tone of written content and provide suggestions for adjusting the tone to better align with the intended message and audience. UX writers can use this feature to ensure that the tone of their content matches the desired user experience, whether it’s informative, friendly, authoritative, or conversational.
Vocabulary enhancement – Grammarly offers vocabulary enhancement suggestions to help users choose more precise and impactful words. UX writers can use Grammarly to expand their vocabulary and select words that effectively convey the intended meaning and tone of their content.
Plagiarism detection – Grammarly includes a plagiarism detection feature that checks written content against a database of web pages and academic publications to identify instances of plagiarism. UX writers can use this feature to ensure the originality and authenticity of their content, avoiding potential legal and ethical issues.
Notion is an all-in-one workspace and collaboration platform that allows users to create, organize, and share content across teams and projects. It offers a flexible and customizable interface that combines elements of note-taking, project management, document editing, and database organization.
Notion is not specifically designed as a UX writing and content design tool, it can be effectively used for these purposes within the context of UX design projects. Here’s how:
Documentation and content organization – Notion provides a versatile platform for organizing and storing UX writing and content design assets, including style guides, content inventories, user personas, and design specifications. Users can create customizable databases and templates to manage content-related information in a structured and accessible manner.
Collaboration and feedback – Notion supports real-time collaboration and commenting, allowing UX writers, designers, and other stakeholders to collaborate on content-related tasks and provide feedback within the platform. Users can share documents, brainstorm ideas, and iterate on content collaboratively, streamlining the content design process.
Content planning and strategy – Notion can be used for content planning and strategy development, including content audits, content calendars, and content mapping exercises. UX writers can use Notion to define content objectives, outline content hierarchies, and plan content workflows to ensure a cohesive and user-centric content strategy.
Content creation and editing – While Notion’s text editing capabilities are not as robust as dedicated writing tools, it provides basic formatting options for creating and editing text content within documents and pages. UX writers can use Notion to draft and edit content, organize content elements, and collaborate with team members on content creation tasks.
Integration with design tools – Notion integrates with popular design tools like Figma and Sketch, allowing users to embed design files, prototypes, and visual assets directly into Notion pages. UX writers can use Notion to access design assets, review design iterations, and provide content-related feedback within the context of design projects.
Knowledge sharing and documentation – Notion serves as a centralized repository for knowledge sharing and documentation, making it easy for UX writers to access and reference relevant information during the content design process. Users can create documentation wikis, knowledge bases, and project wikis to capture and share insights, best practices, and project learnings.
