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Writing Is Designing: Words and the User Experience
Without words, apps would be an unusable jumble of shapes and icons, while voice interfaces and chatbots wouldn't even exist. Words make software human-centered, and require just as much thought as the branding and code.
This book will show you how to give your users clarity, test your words, and collaborate with your team. You'll see that writing is designing.
This book will show you how to give your users clarity, test your words, and collaborate with your team. You'll see that writing is designing.
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Published July 23, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
February 6, 2020
Ironically, while I was reading this book I found myself struggling with my tax software. I needed some quick help and none of the icons or menus produced the needed information. I actually ended up on the phone with the help desk for something that was a minor software issue! Just minutes after hanging up with my new friend in the call center, I read in Writing Is Designing about how critical labels are to successful product design. Yes, indeed.
As someone whose primary design tool is words, I was excited to dive into this book. I'm not a content strategist by trade, so the clear explanations of common content strategy activities and deliverables both helped me better understand my colleagues who are and think about ways to leverage them in my craft. When I read books that are "about work," I want them to be useful. Writing Is Designing was that, and fun to boot. You'll learn something that will make you better at your job if you use words for anything at all.
As someone whose primary design tool is words, I was excited to dive into this book. I'm not a content strategist by trade, so the clear explanations of common content strategy activities and deliverables both helped me better understand my colleagues who are and think about ways to leverage them in my craft. When I read books that are "about work," I want them to be useful. Writing Is Designing was that, and fun to boot. You'll learn something that will make you better at your job if you use words for anything at all.
April 18, 2020
Good for beginners
If you're looking for an introductory guide to UX writing, this book is great. If you're looking for tips to build on advanced knowledge, I would skip it.
If you're looking for an introductory guide to UX writing, this book is great. If you're looking for tips to build on advanced knowledge, I would skip it.
August 30, 2020
My entire review—including images and links—is here as part of my blog.
***
It’s basically an advice book. It doesn’t lay down rules. Instead, it bridges the gap that often seems to exist between writers and designers.
If writers and designers worked together more, the book argues, both sides would benefit: writers would see writing as designing and designers would see writing as essential; none would exist without the other, not really.
Indeed, this book is quite the social book; the authors have taken a leaf from their own book and have communicated with a lot of different writers and designers to turn this out, which is a book that gives a lot of good to the writer-designer community.
One thing that I enjoyed about this book is how the main rule—if you can call it that—dictates that you must cooperate or perish, unless you’re perfect.
The authors believe that the key behind any successful product that has users should be listening to them, before, during, and after shipping. After all, most releases—especially in the software world—occur in cycles. If we don’t know our users, who does?
There are a lot of good tips in this book, for neophytes and experts alike.
Errors will always exist where humans also do. I recently logged this bug report with Microsoft when they’d written something incorrectly in their Writing Style Guide, which is adhered to by a lot of tech writers around the globe.
This means that not even the best and most experienced humans will spot errors: we all become blind to our own mistakes and this is, I find, most true when we are isolated, on our own or in teams.
This is why we need the help of others, be it users, peers, other company teams than our own, or just some AI bot.
The book does well with pointing out confirmation bias, where we subconsciously believe that we’re The One True Human Archetype. Personally, I’m light-skinned, male, and almost middle-aged. This means that I’m very privileged and should always be aware of this at any given time, really, when writing, as most other persons probably don’t view most worlds as I do.
We must strive to write for our intended audience:
There are a lot of examples throughout this book that all serve great purposes. I strongly recommend purchasing—or should one use ‘buy’, or even ‘get’?—a copy.
***
It’s basically an advice book. It doesn’t lay down rules. Instead, it bridges the gap that often seems to exist between writers and designers.
If writers and designers worked together more, the book argues, both sides would benefit: writers would see writing as designing and designers would see writing as essential; none would exist without the other, not really.
As you design with words, you’re creating digital places where people spend their time. It’s a big responsibility. One person who has spent a great deal of time thinking about, working with, and writing about using language this way is Jorge Arango. He’s an information architect and the author of two books on the subject. Arango believes that one way to learn how to use words more effectively is to learn another language. “The reason I advise that is that it forces upon you, at a very deep level, an understanding that language is contingent on historical factors we take for granted,” he said. “Language is so important to us, and we acquire it so early on, that we can lose sight of the fact that it is a construct, and one that is evolving.”
However, Arango believes that writers have valuable skills to offer the technology industry—especially when it comes to creating names and labels for digital products. “I suspect that most people come to these decisions with vocabularies that are not as broad as the job demands,” he said. As an example, Arango described how something like a News Feed (used by Facebook and others) brings certain user expectations. “News is the feedback mechanism of our society; we vote based on the things we learn in the news,” he said. “When we take a concept like that and we subvert it for commercial use, that’s something that should give you pause.” This is the greatest responsibility you have when you use writing to design experiences. You’re not simply coming up with labels for buttons and navigation—you’re changing how your users think. “Persuasion is a powerful thing,” he said. “If you are the person who controls the form of the environment by defining its boundaries through language, the persuasion will happen without me even knowing it’s happening.” Writing the user experience may be difficult at times. It’s a skill that’s often underestimated and undervalued. However, it’s exactly what the world needs.
Indeed, this book is quite the social book; the authors have taken a leaf from their own book and have communicated with a lot of different writers and designers to turn this out, which is a book that gives a lot of good to the writer-designer community.
One thing that I enjoyed about this book is how the main rule—if you can call it that—dictates that you must cooperate or perish, unless you’re perfect.
The authors believe that the key behind any successful product that has users should be listening to them, before, during, and after shipping. After all, most releases—especially in the software world—occur in cycles. If we don’t know our users, who does?
In fact, one study by User Interface Engineering showed that when each team member spent two hours in contact with their users every six weeks, the quality of their work increased dramatically.
There are a lot of good tips in this book, for neophytes and experts alike.
One of the best ways to test how your users perceive and understand what you’ve written is to remove it from the interface completely and test it by itself.
One thing many writers have a strong opinion about is the serial (or Oxford) comma. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s the comma that comes before the “and” in a list, as in “this book is about writing, designing, and the user experience.” Every major style guide on writing takes a firm stance. (The Associated Press Stylebook, for example, is against using it, but the The Chicago Manual of Style is for it.) It’s common to see writers declare their personal stance in their Twitter profile.
“Without it,” proponents cry, “There will be chaos! No one will know to what we’re referring in lists!” Then they point to an example of an author dedicating their book to “my parents, Beyoncé and God.” On the other side, the anti-serial comma faction pipes up. “But that’s why we have context clues! We all know it’s implausible for someone to believe God is one of their parents! Plus, we could just reorder that list to ‘God, Beyoncé and my parents’! That comma is redundant and therefore unnecessary! We must be concise!”
Errors will always exist where humans also do. I recently logged this bug report with Microsoft when they’d written something incorrectly in their Writing Style Guide, which is adhered to by a lot of tech writers around the globe.
This means that not even the best and most experienced humans will spot errors: we all become blind to our own mistakes and this is, I find, most true when we are isolated, on our own or in teams.
This is why we need the help of others, be it users, peers, other company teams than our own, or just some AI bot.
The book does well with pointing out confirmation bias, where we subconsciously believe that we’re The One True Human Archetype. Personally, I’m light-skinned, male, and almost middle-aged. This means that I’m very privileged and should always be aware of this at any given time, really, when writing, as most other persons probably don’t view most worlds as I do.
In her book Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech, Sara Wachter-Boettcher writes about a smart scale that emails you when you step on it. By default, the message it sends when your weight is higher than it was before is disappointed, but encouraging: “You’ve gained X pounds. Better luck next time!” To someone who is trying to lose weight, the message is fine. Harmless, even. But what about someone with anorexia, or a child, even, who’s trying to gain weight? It’s an eye-rolling message at best and harmful at worst.
We must strive to write for our intended audience:
If you work for a large company, you’ll often find information about your users’ language in places like call-center logs or support tickets. Build relationships with those teams and see if they can share their data. By breaking that data down, you’ll begin to see the most common patterns emerge, and you’ll be able to incorporate what you found into your writing. Data scientists can be an incredible resource in situations like this if you have access to one.
Inclusive language helps everyone feel like your product is made for them, but you may work with some people who object to the idea that you’re spending time and effort making your product inclusive. They may say, “This experience works for 95% of people. Isn’t that enough?” Well . . . no. At the time of this writing, there were 7.5 billion people in the world. If you exclude even one-tenth of one percent, that means there are 755 million people who are less able to (or can’t) use your product, or pay for your service, or experience your interface. In reality, that number is much higher. In 2018, the World Health Organization reported that there were an estimated 217 million people with a severe vision impairment—36 million of those people were blind. And 466 million people had a disabling hearing loss or deafness. In the United States alone, the Reeve Foundation estimates that around 5.4 million people have paralysis of some kind.
When you think about your user base’s gender and sexuality, there are so many people you often and easily exclude. The Williams Institute, part of the UCLA School of Law, estimates that 10.3 million adults in the United States alone identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual—and 1.3 million identify as transgender.
Standards for Writing Accessibly Writing to meet WCAG2 standards can be a challenge, but it’s worthwhile. Albert Einstein, the archetypical genius and physicist, once said, “Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction.”
There are a lot of examples throughout this book that all serve great purposes. I strongly recommend purchasing—or should one use ‘buy’, or even ‘get’?—a copy.
December 23, 2021
This is a pretty useful book if you're just beginning your UX writing / content strategy career. It collates information you'd probably be able to find scattered in different articles, so it works if you need a more structured approach. It provides an overview of why content is an important part of design, how to advocate for it, and how to effectively collaborate with stakeholders.
February 21, 2022
Хороша базова книга з UX writing, з прикладами. Зараз все частіше стикаюсь з моментами, коли поганий дизайн сайтів/аппок дуже засмучує (особливо літніх людей), так хочеться, щоб все було доступнішим, хоч це і не легко створювати. Ця книга є своєрідним дороговказом.
October 20, 2023
I've got to hand it to the authors for putting out a thoughtful and enlightening volume on one of the most quotidian of activities: writing. The book is a nice addition to other titles from Rosenfeld that address user experience issues in connected information spaces.
This book concerns itself with how word choice, clarity, tone, inclusiveness, and voice influence the user experience of any system or information source. No matter what you think you know about writing (and you probably know plenty) there are still things to learn here and new ideals and frameworks to keep in mind as a guide for how you choose to convey an idea.
This book concerns itself with how word choice, clarity, tone, inclusiveness, and voice influence the user experience of any system or information source. No matter what you think you know about writing (and you probably know plenty) there are still things to learn here and new ideals and frameworks to keep in mind as a guide for how you choose to convey an idea.
May 23, 2022
Прекрасна, доступна, безводичкова книжка про здоровий глузд контенту як стратегічної бізнесової функції, а не просто собі писання. Ше одне нагадування, шо в роботі з UX писати треба не класно (як от не поетично, не круто, не гляньте-які-в-мене-тут-лексичні-викрутаси), а в першу чергу зрозуміло, доречно і по-людськи. Книжка є свого роду інструкцією (але не супер заглибленим підручником, про шо одразу кажуть автори), про шо не можна забувати і в яку сторону копати, якшо ви дизайните досвід користувачів словами.
Книжку купила вже давно, бо опосередковано працюю з текстами і комунікаціями, але почала читати, коли назріла гостра потреба знайти правильні слова і сформулювати аргументи для контент-команди, яка трохи загрузла в процесах, не завжди думаючи про мету чи про результат створеного. Дуже допоміжне чтиво і в цьому плані) Хочеться вручити її кожному райтеру 🤓
Буде цікавою не тільки контент-менеджерам/копірайтерам/технічним райтерам, а будь-кому, чия робота тісно пов’язана з контентом.
Книжку купила вже давно, бо опосередковано працюю з текстами і комунікаціями, але почала читати, коли назріла гостра потреба знайти правильні слова і сформулювати аргументи для контент-команди, яка трохи загрузла в процесах, не завжди думаючи про мету чи про результат створеного. Дуже допоміжне чтиво і в цьому плані) Хочеться вручити її кожному райтеру 🤓
Буде цікавою не тільки контент-менеджерам/копірайтерам/технічним райтерам, а будь-кому, чия робота тісно пов’язана з контентом.
March 2, 2022
J'ai adoré le contenu et le ton. J'ai cru ce livre écrit juste pour moi et mes collègues rédactrices UX.
February 2, 2022
So, so helpful for my work. Really wish I could find a hardcopy.
January 12, 2023
Перша моя книга по UI/UX дизайну. Заставило по-іншому поглянути на роль тексту в програмі для користувача, про тон і голос продукту, чіткість в очах того хто читає, про перевагу зрозумілості над згадуваністю. Та і впринципі різні приклади поганого і доброго UX.
August 31, 2024
A really good one
June 12, 2025
A great entry-level book on content design and UX writing.
March 27, 2025
Funny how some books just find you at the right time
August 16, 2024
It describes how important writing is in product work (app design etc. It also gives examples of how to integrate it in the product workflow.
June 1, 2020
This is an incredibly useful book. It's a great place to start if you want to understand the crucial role writing plays in product development, and a good resource to keep handy while you clickety-clack your way through the workday. As I read through it, I kept thinking of so many examples from my career in support that these principles applied to, and wishing that the product teams involved had had this resource available to them at the time.
One of my favorite sections is about "edge cases" and how important it is to account for all situations possible, not just the most prominent ones:
There were many times when I raised a bug or a feature that users were finding awkward or infuriating, only to be told "Eh, that's an edge case" and see the Jira marked as "Won't do." Sure, there are going to be times when something is too small to devote resources to, but *those small things add up.* A little more diligence and willingness to look deeper before dismissing even small issues will go a long way in making a more efficient, considerate tech ecosystem that brings a lot more joy.
One of my favorite sections is about "edge cases" and how important it is to account for all situations possible, not just the most prominent ones:
In their book, Design for Real Life, Eric Meyer and Sara Wachter-Boettcher make the point that the term 'edge cases'—frequently used by the teams that build software to describe a small subset of users—is designed to make it seem like those people don’t matter. 'Don’t worry,' teams say, 'that’s just an edge case.' ... While the members of your team may not meet people who are 100 years of age or more each day, that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. In fact, the population is growing. A 2010 census showed that there are 53,364 people in the United States alone who are 100 or older, up almost 65.8% from the 1980 census. ... If a sign-up form throws an error whenever one of these people attempts to purchase the product, we’re telling 53,364 people that we don’t care for their business—and that’s the best-case scenario.
There were many times when I raised a bug or a feature that users were finding awkward or infuriating, only to be told "Eh, that's an edge case" and see the Jira marked as "Won't do." Sure, there are going to be times when something is too small to devote resources to, but *those small things add up.* A little more diligence and willingness to look deeper before dismissing even small issues will go a long way in making a more efficient, considerate tech ecosystem that brings a lot more joy.
January 26, 2020
When I first got into designing for the web, I did it all: graphic design, coding, copywriting. Over time I dropped the development and moved more solidly into UX design, but I've always felt insecure about my writing. I recognize the critical nature of it, but worried I 'wasn't the best at it'.
This book, especially the section on voice and tone, helped a lot! The walk-through on how to conduct a voice audit gave me confidence that I could hone UX writing as a skill; now I have a place to start.
It was also pretty cool to read some thoughts from Selene Hinkley at Shopify. "I know her!" :-)
This book, especially the section on voice and tone, helped a lot! The walk-through on how to conduct a voice audit gave me confidence that I could hone UX writing as a skill; now I have a place to start.
It was also pretty cool to read some thoughts from Selene Hinkley at Shopify. "I know her!" :-)
July 30, 2022
It's a nice introductory book into UX writing, especially for people who aren't writers.
As a designer, I found it to be mostly about the design process applied to writing, with just a few chapters focused more on writing itself.
If you're a more experienced practitioner in design and/or writing, this book probably won't teach you anything groundbreaking. From that position, I was tempted to give a lower rating but the book's purpose really isn't to be advanced and go really deep on UX writing.
For what the book's trying to do, it does alright.
As a designer, I found it to be mostly about the design process applied to writing, with just a few chapters focused more on writing itself.
If you're a more experienced practitioner in design and/or writing, this book probably won't teach you anything groundbreaking. From that position, I was tempted to give a lower rating but the book's purpose really isn't to be advanced and go really deep on UX writing.
For what the book's trying to do, it does alright.
February 1, 2021
The book explains why writing is designing, how words shape the user experience, and how to make others understand that writing is important and shouldn't be done in the end. I found chapters on creating a design system and communicating with other team members particularly interesting, as the authors describe the challenges I'm facing at the moment.
A huge bonus is lots of references to other books and articles.
I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone setting on a journey of UX-writing.
A huge bonus is lots of references to other books and articles.
I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone setting on a journey of UX-writing.
April 16, 2020
A really good read talking about the importance of writing and user interface. Well worth reading for anyone involved in crafting a user's experience in a product.
February 13, 2022
A really clear, short, concise overview of user experience writing. Packed full of actionable tips and with a ton of references for further reading.
September 12, 2024
Wish I knew about this book sooner but nevertheless glad I was able to eventually pick it up! Metts and Welfle do a great job of providing various tools and anecdotes from industry professionals on what it means to write for digital products/services. The majority of the examples were extremely relevant to what you would experience in a real-life setting as a content person. No, that does not mean we’re just wordsmiths. It actually means that you’re designing and incorporating so much more than just writing in your everyday toolkit. Like what you might ask? User testing, competitive research, product understanding, identifying and documenting the problem at hand, accessibility, and the list goes on…! I appreciated the transparency and candidness about being in a content design role. You will have to speak up, be vocal, ask questions, and advocate for yourself. To quote directly from the book, “Just like you have to find appropriate words for your users, you’ll have to find an appropriate way to work within your organization. A big part of your job is to figure out what your job is.” At the end of the day words matter. Knowing that there are real people out there relying on the words you pitch to your team makes me feel incredibly valued and inspired to continue learning and developing my skill set.
January 8, 2023
Great book about concepts and successful approaches to UX writing. Not surprisingly, it’s laid out in a way that helps readers absorb the material easily, with lots of little chunks of copy, subheads, bulleted lists and examples. Some of the examples were so tiny, though! I had trouble reading them. Some of the bigger concepts, like content design systems, could be whole books on their own, but like the authors say, it’s not meant to be a how-to guide. This book is also a great confidence booster for people who do this work. It matters. Anyone reading this review right now just interacted with so much UX writing to get here. We don’t even realize how ubiquitous it is. Writing really is designing.
December 12, 2024
Засмутила мене ця книга. А конкретніше — український переклад, редагування та верстка. Є гарні та корисні поради, однак моментами упущені цілі шматки зображень та тексту, багато граматичних помилок і неймовірно складних «розумних» речень. А також «інклюзивна» мова, яка називає людей із порушеннями зору «глухими» і з «вадами». Це сумно, адже читачі сприйматимуть це за істину. Адже це книга про письмо і вона ще й говорить про інклюзивність!
Я вважаю, що завдання і відповідальність редакторської команди — подбати про читачів/ок та зробити її простішою та зрозумілішою. Цього разу чомусь не вдалося. Шкода, бо дуже люблю це видавництво.
Я вважаю, що завдання і відповідальність редакторської команди — подбати про читачів/ок та зробити її простішою та зрозумілішою. Цього разу чомусь не вдалося. Шкода, бо дуже люблю це видавництво.
September 5, 2022
Not only is writing design, but it’s also the MOST CHALLENGING kind of design to do well. And I write this as a Principal Designer who’s gotten into writing in the past few years.
This book is a great primer for early-stage writers and how to reframe their craft and contribution to business. There are also some great practical tips. The only thing is, because writing is designing, if you’re already a designer and have been designing for some time, there’s a lot of basic design technique and practice stuff in it. It’s nice to see it through the lens of writing though. 😀
This book is a great primer for early-stage writers and how to reframe their craft and contribution to business. There are also some great practical tips. The only thing is, because writing is designing, if you’re already a designer and have been designing for some time, there’s a lot of basic design technique and practice stuff in it. It’s nice to see it through the lens of writing though. 😀
November 11, 2024
I was lucky to get a copy of this book signed by one of the authors, Andy Welfle. Nice guy, and I felt his voice (and perhaps his co-author's voice) shine through. It really does a feel like a friendly, pragmatic guide on how to use words in the space of user interfaces and how it's such an integral part of the design process. It's easy to get distracted by the graphics in user interface design, but the picture of a user interface with no words in one of the earlier chapters really does hammer home the point of how much a UI is words. Good book.
August 9, 2025
Я вже думала я її ніколи не дочитаю 🫡
Перший раз прочитала половину і закинула бо далі було не цікаво + в цілому очікування були інші і прям корисного не знайшлось багато
Другий раз почала з початку і дочитала вже чисто з принципу і сильно свою думку не змінила – хоча були моменти коли читаєш і думаєш що «о, актуально, стикалась з таким» або що «можна було б це якось застосувати».
Але в цілому трошки забагато тексту місцями і якось про все і ні про що одночасно. Можливо якби я була початківцем було б куди корисніше.
Перший раз прочитала половину і закинула бо далі було не цікаво + в цілому очікування були інші і прям корисного не знайшлось багато
Другий раз почала з початку і дочитала вже чисто з принципу і сильно свою думку не змінила – хоча були моменти коли читаєш і думаєш що «о, актуально, стикалась з таким» або що «можна було б це якось застосувати».
Але в цілому трошки забагато тексту місцями і якось про все і ні про що одночасно. Можливо якби я була початківцем було б куди корисніше.
March 16, 2020
This book is required reading for anyone interested in UX writing, in my opinion. I started my career in technical writing and it has slowly been morphing into UX writing (before I realized that’s a thing). I was looking for a handbook on the topic, something that would give me pointers and best practices, as well as advice on how to promote and justify my work to my colleagues and management. This book has been so helpful.
August 4, 2021
Without even realizing it, I've been doing some form of UX writing for the past 5 or 6 years. Reading this book was a considerable step towards consolidating what I already knew and building a clear picture of what I should focus on improving next.
Without ever presenting cookie-cutter rules, the authors do provide clear and convincing guidance on topics such as the importance of clarity in UX writing, helping users overcome errors, developing an identity for your product, adjusting the tone to the audience and context, and even improving collaboration and consistency by gradually strengthening the UX writing practice at your company. While reading the book I also took note of quite a few resources and external references mentioned by the authors so I can continue drilling down on specific topics and developing my skills as a UX writer.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who cares about the user experience of a product or service!
Without ever presenting cookie-cutter rules, the authors do provide clear and convincing guidance on topics such as the importance of clarity in UX writing, helping users overcome errors, developing an identity for your product, adjusting the tone to the audience and context, and even improving collaboration and consistency by gradually strengthening the UX writing practice at your company. While reading the book I also took note of quite a few resources and external references mentioned by the authors so I can continue drilling down on specific topics and developing my skills as a UX writer.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who cares about the user experience of a product or service!
April 16, 2022
Such an interesting and helpful guide for those beginning their UX journey. I found the voice especially friendly, which kept me engaged. I also like that the authors include testimonies and advice from other UX specialists. The setup of the book has a great flow between chapters, so I definitely recommend reading in order. Although on a later read, it might be beneficial to skip around or reread only certain parts. Overall, I found this book useful, and I plan to reference it in the future.
September 20, 2024
Overall it's useful and it added some tips that I hadn't considered before. Writing design is indeed easy to be overlooked in daily work, and I've taken many notes to remember.
However, the Chinese version, (I don't know if it's the layout of the article or what), is a bit messy, I've finished it very quickly, but I still found typos and omissions ...... I think the English version should be better.
However, the Chinese version, (I don't know if it's the layout of the article or what), is a bit messy, I've finished it very quickly, but I still found typos and omissions ...... I think the English version should be better.
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