UX copywriting

Ever since my time working in advertising agencies, I have paid close attention to copy. My experience of working alongside the best copywriters has proved useful not only in advertising but also in interface design – from the overall tone of voice to concise, accessible copy that guides the user along the right way.

At WeavePay, for example, I persuaded the lawyers to replace legal terms such as ‘are you PEP?’ with more human-sounding ones like ‘I am politically exposed’.

What is well conceived is clearly stated, and the words to say it arrive easily. By striving to make interface text simple and understandable for the user, we organise the logic of the scenario in our own minds. This helps us to rethink a complex interface and retell it as a simple story. I always ask designers to tackle the task with text first, and only then to start drawing mockups. Here’s how the Open Investments form interface changed after being rephrased. Even the number of actions required of the user has been reduced!

Compiling a glossary of terms is a crucial part of the job. I did this at Open Investments, TaskMe and Ingos Investments. I started this work at InvestEngine, and then hired a writer. Many companies have the beginnings of a glossary, but these usually cover only specific terms and serve other purposes – such as documentation, localisation or as a reference guide for new staff.

Here is a typical example of the results of my work, using Ingos Investments as an example:

There is no consistency in the text across different products, or even within the scenarios of a single product: the same entities may be referred to by different names. The abundance of synonyms gives rise to different interpretations, which complicates the user’s interaction with the interface. The tone of communication and turns of phrase also vary across different scenarios. This undermines the sense of coherence within the product and the company’s credibility.

A glossary of terms and expressions helps to address both the user’s concerns (clarity, unambiguity of texts and a sense of the product’s reliability) and those of the designers: there is no need to come up with new phrasing from scratch every time.

1. Decide what you want to tell about in the interface.
2. Search this page for similar options.
3. If the phrase appears in the ‘Incorrect’ column, don’t use it.
4. Read the arguments in the ‘Justification’ column. If you have any objections, leave a comment.
5. Choose a term or phrase from the ‘Correct’ column.

1. It is best to avoid verbs in headings, particularly those in the imperative, unless we really want to put pressure on the user.
2. Buttons should contain verbs wherever possible.
3. If the heading does not describe what will happen when the button is clicked, the button text should explain the details. In this case, it is permissible to use more than one word on the button.
4. The input field hint should, where possible, be a noun. Verbs in input fields are best avoided.
5. The text of headings, subheadings, input field tooltips and buttons must not duplicate one another. Repetition of words is justified only if there are several elements on the page that could be confused with one another.
6. The error message should not blame the user. It is preferable to explain what has happened to the data, rather than telling the user what to do.
7. Messages are best phrased from the programme’s perspective, rather than that of people – the pronoun ‘we’ should not be used. Commands (actions triggered by pressing buttons, etc.) are given to the computer, not the user. Therefore, we write ‘show all news’ (a command to the computer), rather than ‘view all news’ (a command to a user).

Here is just a small selection from the Russian dictionary: