Writing for expression

At the start of my career, I found writing to be a form of expression. Whether I wrote corporate video scripts, SEO articles, website copy, metadata, or personal thoughts — I admired my writing style and worked hard on improving it with every write-up. I was a confident writer until the day I joined Ola — the most popular ridesharing app in India.

The revelation

I was hired as the first writer for the product team (back in 2015) to draft their UX copy. I was used to collaborating with various professionals when writing for a project. However, working with product managers and UI/UX designers was a whole new experience.

As always, I expressed their ideas in words to the best of my ability, but it wasn’t sufficient. Something was amiss. The narrative here was different. It was similar to writing a story but not on the same page. The narrative flowed across various screens and user interactions. I soon realized it wasn’t about writing great copy but copy that was useful and actionable.

It was no longer about how I wrote but how it was read, understood and acted upon. Although writing with the readership in mind was not a new practice for me, this was different. Here, the user was at the centre of everything. I realized I had to let go of my writer’s ego and write for the user. It was a huge shift in perspective.

Transitioning to microcopy

My confidence took a big hit in the first 6 months but then I decided to learn. I researched, studied other apps, asked my team as many questions as I could and followed the user-journey closely.

I read several Medium articles (check out the writers I follow) and also found a few insightful books that helped me greatly over the years -

Writing for Interaction: Crafting the Information Experience for Web and Software Apps

Microcopy: The complete guide

How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times

Roy Peter Clark’s How to Write Short was my nitro-booster that helped me hone my microcopy skills. I’d have to write an entire article to describe how.

And of course, constant feedback from my colleagues, our users and data helped me understand what needed to be said in those few precious characters.

Falling in love

That’s right, I fell in love with UX writing after I realized the amount of work that went behind creating the ideal experience for customers. There are days that are exciting and days that are frustrating. Every day is a new challenge as I frame copy that serves the needs of product, business, design, legal and tech teams! And most importantly, the user.

So today when someone walks up to me with a corner-case, my sleeves are already rolled-up. However, I haven’t stopped learning and will continue to discover better ways of writing UX copy.

There’s a lot more I’d like to share about my story but in another article, another time. If you’re a UX writer, let me know in your comments if you faced similar challenges. I’d love to know your story!

This story is published in Noteworthy, where thousands come every day to learn about the people & ideas shaping the products we love.

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