UX glossary · engl. UX Writing
UX Writing
UX writing is the craft of writing the words that guide people through a digital product, such as buttons, hints and error messages. The goal is that every task works without guesswork.
Imagine you want to delete a bank transfer in your banking app. A dialog pops up: “Cancel process?” with the buttons “Yes” and “No.” Does “Yes” mean the transfer gets deleted, or that you cancel the deletion? You tap one of them and hope for the best.
Good UX writing prevents moments like this.
Explained simply
UX writing is the craft of writing the words that guide people through a digital product: button labels, menu items, form hints, error messages, confirmations, empty states and onboarding screens. These short texts are also called microcopy. Think of the signs at an airport. They’re not there to entertain you. They’re there to get you to the right gate without detours. Good interface text does exactly that inside an app.
The Nielsen Norman Group describes UX writing, in essence, as working with carefully considered information that fits people’s context, needs and behavior. While others on the team design with layout and interaction, UX writers design with words. The result is part of the user experience, not mere decoration.
What matters
Three qualities show up in almost every guideline. Text should be clear, meaning understandable on first read and free of internal jargon. It should be concise, because people scan online far more than they read. And it should be useful: it says what happens, what to do next and what consequences an action has.
UX writing isn’t advertising copy. Copywriting aims to persuade and grab attention, while UX writing aims to help people complete a task. The two can overlap, on a landing page for example, but they pursue different goals. You can read more in UX Writing vs. Copywriting: What’s the Difference?. What the job looks like day to day is covered in What Does a UX Writer Do?.
An example
Here’s an example: after a failed payment, an online shop only shows “Error 402. Transaction not possible.” Many people don’t know whether they’ve been charged, so they contact support.
After the rewrite, the message reads: “Your payment didn’t go through. You haven’t been charged. Check your card details or choose another payment method.” Below it sits a button labeled “Change payment method.” The text answers the most pressing question first and names the next step. The delete dialog from the beginning also becomes clear once its buttons say “Delete transfer” and “Keep.”
In practice
- Name buttons after the action. “Create account” is clearer than “Next” or “OK,” because people know what will happen before they tap.
- Write error messages that help. Explain what went wrong and how to move on, without blaming anyone or showing codes without context.
- Test words like you test design. In usability testing, you quickly see which phrases make people stumble. A shared vocabulary in your design system makes sure the same things have the same name everywhere.
Related terms
Microcopy, Onboarding, Usability Testing, User Experience