A presentation at UXBristol 2019 in in Bristol, UK by Inayaili León
Workshop: Designers who write @yaili UXBristol, July 2019
“Forget Coding: Writing is Design’s ‘Unicorn Skill’” —Katharine Schwab, Fast Company
“We only hire good writers.” —Jason Fried, Basecamp
“If you can’t write, can you design?” —Me, on my blog
Content 1.Why we write 2.Writing tips 3.Exercises!
“I think fast, I talk fast, and I need you to act fast if you want to get out of this.”
Why write?
Why write? • • • • • • Core design component Problem-solving technique Share and preserve knowledge Recognise accomplishments Celebrate work Good portfolio piece
Some writing tips and techniques
Tips and techniques It’s OK if someone has written about it before!
Tips and techniques Write quickly, as you speak, then tidy things up a bit
Tips and techniques Headings& Images& Lists& Paragraphs
Tips and techniques Ask someone else to proof-read and sense-check
Tips and techniques Dictionary / Thesaurus
Let’s do some writing!
Structure 1.Intro 2.Problem (the brief) 3.Trials and tribulations (the journey) 4.Resolution 5.Conclusion (next steps)
White card Step 1: The topic and the headline
Picking a topic Limit the scope White card ✅ Good: “3 things I do to manage a remote design team” ❌ Not good: “How to manage a remote design team”
Picking a topic • • • • • • • • Findings from research Small UI or UX change Small copy change New (or improved) feature Problem you solved (or are trying to solve) New release (major, minor, patch) Detail about work process (something new you tried, code, design, etc.) More ideas, for another time: event/ workshop/talk follow-up, team off-site, book review, interesting resources, tools, etc. White card
Pink card Step 2: The intro
Intro (15–30 words) “We’re super excited to announce/share/release/etc our new/updated/revamped [X].” “Last month, some of our team got together to work on [X].” “We’re soon going to release v2 of [X]. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek at one of the new features that’s coming.” “For the past year, we’ve been trying to follow [X] practice / use [Y] tool. We’ve learned a few things along the way.” Pink card
Blue card Step 3: The problem / The brief
The problem / the brief (50–100 words) “Some of our landing pages were very slow to load, especially on mobile phones on 3G.” “Our team became too big to communicate effectively with just tools [X] and [Y].” “We had several complaints from customers that were trying to check out on their phones.” “The [X] screen was too busy and confusing for new users” or “The empty states of our product don’t help or encourage the user to take action.” Blue card
Yellow card Step 4: Trials and tribulations
Explorations “Initially we tried using only primary colours.” “We knew our customers were complaining about the visibility of [X], so we tried making it bigger first.” “One of the first things we did was [Y].” “Some of our users complained that [Z], so we tried [X].” Yellow card
Green card Step 5: The resolution
Resolution “In the end, we chose to do [X], because [Y].” “After several iterations, we ended up with [Z], because [X].” Or: “We haven’t made a final decision yet, because we are going to do more testing.” Green card
White card Step 6: The conclusion / The end
Conclusions White card “This is how we solved [X]. We’d love to know if you’ve faced similar problems with [Y]. Get in touch on [Z].” “[X] is a work in progress, there is still a lot of work to do. If you have suggestions on how we can do [Z], leave a message in the comments.” “We’re happy that [X] has now been released. / We’re not quite ready to release [X]. Remember you can follow us on [Y] to get more updates.” “This was a fun project and we can’t wait to do it again!”
We’re (almost) done!
Thank you! @yaili, references bit.ly/uxbristol
As a designer, the ability to write is crucial: it helps us solve problems, share ideas and knowledge, reflect on challenges we’ve overcome — and become more hireable! But this is easier said than done: when we decide to write an article, the fear of the blank page, impostor syndrome and the thoughts everyone already knows about what we’re writing are always looking over our shoulder. In this workshop, we will look at why writing is so important and how it can make for better designers and better teams, and we will learn some tips and tricks to write about our work faster and more often.
The following resources were mentioned during the presentation or are useful additional information.
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