Optimal Blog

What is session replay?

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Session replay allows you to record participants completing a card sort without the need for plug-ins or integrations. This great new feature captures the participant's interactions and creates a recording for each participant completing the card sort that you can view in your own time. It’s a great way to identify where users may have struggled to categorize information to correlate with the insights you find in your data.  

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Watch the video 📹 👀

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How does session replay work?

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• Session replay interacts with a study and nothing else. It does not include audio or face recording in the first release, but we’re working on it for the future.
  
• There is no set-up or plug-in required; you control the use of screen replay in the card sort settings.  
  
• For enterprise customers, the account admin will be required to turn this feature on for teams to access.
  
• Session replay is currently only available on card sort, but it’s coming soon to other study types.

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Help article 🩼

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Guide to using session replay

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How do you activate session replay?

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To activate session replay, create a card sort or open an existing card sort that has not yet been launched. Click on ‘set up,’ then ‘settings’; here, you will see the option to turn on session replay for your card sort. This feature will be off by default, and you must turn it on for each card study.

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How do I view a session replay?

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To view a session replay of a card sort, go to Results > Participants > Select a participant > Session replay. 

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I can't see session replay in the card sort settings 👀

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If this is the case, you will need to reach out to your organization's account admin to ask for this to be activated at an organizational level. It’s really easy for session replay to be enabled or disabled by the organization admin just by navigating to Settings > Features > Session Replay, where it can be toggled on/off. 

Being able to design for different perspectives and preferences is a real skill, and it’s extremely difficult. It can become even harder when designing for neurodiverse audiences, where people are hard-wired in unique ways. However, being able to cater to neurodiverse preferences is extremely important.

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Designer Kalina Tyrkiel says between 15-20% of people around the world are neurodiverse, which is a significant proportion. Various conditions such as dyslexia, attention deficit disorders, and autism can have considerable impacts on how people interact with interfaces and platforms. By considering these implications, designers can dramatically improve the accessibility of their work and improve engagement for neurodiverse individuals. Even simple tweaks like using an actual number instead of writing it out (i.e., 1 instead of “one”) can make a huge difference. 

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Kalina explores universal tips and techniques that allow designers to cater for neurodiverse audiences.

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Kalina’s background 

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Kalina Tyrkiel is a content designer with a unique background that spans both technical UX skills and a human-centric approach to design. She primarily works as a designer for Polish healthtech company DocPlanner, connecting users with relevant health services. Her background as a trained psychologist significantly supports her work and provides a deeper understanding into how people think.  She is also a UX writing trainer and university lecturer, which further speaks to her expertise.

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Contact Details:

You can find Kalina on LinkedIn.

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Words that welcome: content design with neurodiversity in mind 📖

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Neurodiversity is often misunderstood by society at large. Neurodiverse conditions often exist on a spectrum, and solutions that work for one person don’t necessarily work for someone else. Similarly, neurodiversity often comes in batches. Kalina outlines how 60% of people with ADHD also have traits of autism. This further complicates their perspectives and needs.

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So this leaves us with a pressing question. How can designers cater for all people with such different needs? Kalina describes how designing for a neurodiverse audience is actually not much different from designing for a neurotypical audience. For example, on any given day, individuals experience varying levels of stress or relaxation which impacts their energy and attention levels. 

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What to keep in mind when designing for neurodiverse audiences 

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1. Provide clear instructions

• Use bullet points and lists for better scannability
• For different options, use if/then tables
• Reduce the probability of displaying an error message. For example, when requiring a new password, outline password requirements up front.

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2. Make the purpose clear

For example, ensure the title aligns with the content the user can expect. Misalignment can create significant confusion for neurodiverse audiences.

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3. Don’t justify text

Justifying text and varying the spacing between words makes it harder to read, particularly for dyslexic users.

4. Include different ways to access content

For example, some people may prefer voice search, others may prefer content that’s not in a video. Again, this is no different from neurotypical audiences.

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5. Keep it simple 

The simpler the interface and the simpler the copy, the better. Pay attention to consistency too - if a platform or site varies a lot, this can be confusing. 

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Why it matters 💥

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Considering neurodiverse audiences in the design process is critical in making platforms easy to use for all people. The needs of neurodiverse users can amplify problems or create critical issues out of something that’s a minor inconvenience for someone else. Again, a 15-20% audience is not insignificant, so it pays to be mindful of their needs. So how can you actually do it?

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Hire for diversity 🌍

Having diverse teams can bring a broad array of perspectives to the design process. Just remember that not all neurodiverse people think the same. Dr Stephen Shore said “when you know one person with autism, you know one person with autism”.  Think about diversity as creating preferences, rather than labels. Ask respectfully about someone’s preferences and don’t judge them (or others) based on their condition.

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Tools and techniques 🛠️

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• In videos, use closed captions, not just subtitles - they can be much more user-friendly. Keep them to 40 characters per line, and up to two lines of similar length. 

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Interestingly, closed captions and subtitles are also being more and more preferred by younger generations. 

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• Kalina recommends Hemingway as a tool to keep language simple and consistent.
  
• Neurodiversity.design is a website that enables designers to get insights about fonts, typography, interfaces and other general design elements with an eye to neurodiverse audiences.

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In the last few years, the influence of AI has steadily been expanding into various aspects of design. In early 2023, that expansion exploded. AI tools and features are now everywhere, and there are two ways designers commonly react to it:

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• With enthusiasm for how they can use it to make their jobs easier
• With skepticism over how reliable it is, or even fear that it could replace their jobs

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Google UX researcher Clara Kliman-Silver is at the forefront of researching and understanding the potential impact of AI on design into the future. This is a hot topic that’s on the radar of many designers as they grapple with what the new normal is, and how it will change things in the coming years.

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Clara’s background 

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Clara Kliman-Silver spends her time studying design teams and systems, UX tools and designer-developer collaboration. She’s a specialist in participatory design and uses generative methods to investigate workflows, understand designer-developer experiences, and imagine ways to create UIs. In this work, Clara looks at how technology can be leveraged to help people make things, and do it more efficiently than they currently are.

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In today’s context, that puts generative AI and machine learning right in her line of sight. The way this technology has boomed in recent times has many people scrambling to catch up - to identify the biggest opportunities and to understand the risks that come with it. Clara is a leader in assessing the implications of AI. She analyzes both the technology itself and the way people feel about it to forecast what it will mean into the future.

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Contact Details:

You can find Clara in LinkedIn or on Twitter @cklimansilver

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What role should artificial intelligence play in UX design process? 🤔

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Clara’s expertise in understanding the role of AI in design comes from significant research and analysis of how the technology is being used currently and how industry experts feel about it. AI is everywhere in today’s world, from home devices to tech platforms and specific tools for various industries. In many cases, AI automation is used for productivity, where it can speed up processes with subtle, easy to use applications.

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As mentioned above, the transformational capabilities of AI are met with equal parts of enthusiasm and skepticism. The way people use AI, and how they feel about it is important, because users need to be comfortable implementing the technology in order for it to make a difference. The question of what value AI brings to the design process is ongoing. On one hand, AI can help increase efficiency for systems and processes. On the other hand, it can exacerbate problems if the user's intentions are misunderstood.

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Access for all 🦾

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There’s no doubt that AI tools enable novices to perform tasks that, in years gone by, required a high level of expertise. For example, film editing was previously a manual task, where people would literally cut rolls of film and splice them together on a reel. It was something only a trained editor could do. Now, anyone with a smartphone has access to iMovie or a similar app, and they can edit film in seconds.

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For film experts, digital technology allows them to speed up tedious tasks and focus on more sophisticated aspects of their work. Clara hypothesizes that AI is particularly valuable when it automates mundane tasks. AI enables more individuals to leverage digital technologies without requiring specialist training. Thus, AI has shifted the landscape of what it means to be an “expert” in a field. Expertise is about more than being able to simply do something - it includes having the knowledge and experience to do it for an informed reason. 

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Research and testing 🔬

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Clara performs a lot of concept testing, which involves recognizing the perceived value of an approach or method. Concept testing helps in scenarios where a solution may not address a problem or where the real problem is difficult to identify. In a recent survey, Clara describes two predominant benefits designers experienced from AI:

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1. Efficiency. Not only does AI expedite the problem solving process, it can also help efficiently identify problems. 
2. Innovation. Generative AI can innovate on its own, developing ideas that designers themselves may not have thought of.

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The design partnership 🤝🏽

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Overall, Clara says UX designers tend to see AI as a creative partner. However, most users don’t yet trust AI enough to give it complete agency over the work it’s used for. The level of trust designers have exists on a continuum, where it depends on the nature of the work and the context of what they’re aiming to accomplish. Other factors such as where the tech comes from, who curated it and who’s training the model also influences trust. For now, AI is largely seen as a valued tool, and there is cautious optimism and tentative acceptance for its application. 

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Why it matters 💡

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AI presents as potentially one of the biggest game-changers to how people work in our generation. Although AI has widespread applications across sectors and systems, there are still many questions about it. In the design world, systems like DALL-E allow people to create AI-generated imagery, and auto layout in various tools allows designers to iterate more quickly and efficiently.

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Like many other industries, designers are wondering where AI might go in the future and what it might look like. The answer to these questions has very real implications for the future of design jobs and whether they will exist. In practice, Clara describes the current mood towards AI as existing on a continuum between adherence and innovation:

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• Adherence is about how AI helps designers follow best practice
• Innovation is at the other end of the spectrum, and involves using AI to figure out what’s possible

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The current environment is extremely subjective, and there’s no agreed best practice. This makes it difficult to recommend a certain approach to adopting AI and creating permanent systems around it. Both the technology and the sentiment around it will evolve through time, and it’s something designers, like all people, will need to maintain good awareness of.

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When Bear Liu was teaching himself design, he struggled remembering concepts since English wasn’t his first language. To help, he started doodling. By drawing pictures that related to what he was learning, he found he could not only remember them better, he could understand and communicate more effectively too. Ever since, he’s used the power of drawings and pictures to relay information in ways people can use.

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Bear gives examples of how visual communication can help design workplaces to relay information in a more memorable and usable way. It may only seem like a minor change, but the difference can be significant.

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Bear’s background 🎤

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Bear Liu is a Product Designer at Xero, an online accounting platform that’s used all over the world. He’s also a Design Mentor at Springboard and CareerFoundry, and an Apple Award-Winning podcast host at BearTalk.

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His background is in science education. As a self-taught designer, Bear has helped a raft of large and small businesses with digital products over the last 16 years. His clients come from diverse backgrounds and industries across the globe. Bear's professional passions also carry over into his hobbies. Outside of work he enjoys reading, drawing, and producing videos & podcasts on tech and design.

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Contact Details:

You can find Bear on LinkedIn, or listen to his podcast, BearTalk.

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Unleash your visual superpower as a communication pro 🦸🏻

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When it comes to addressing business challenges it is important to keep these three aspects in mind: 

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1. Understanding - break down complex problems and solutions so everyone can understand. 
2. Memory - retaining information in your mind is difficult even with note taking.
3. Communication- People relate to words differently, and the meaning of something can easily get lost in translation. This issue is more prevalent with remote work.

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Bear Liu strongly believes that visual communication helps people understand, remember and communicate information more effectively. Why?

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• It helps to focus. Pictures remove distractions and draw attention to where it’s desired.
• It’s a token. A picture is universal - a house or a smiley face means the same thing to people that speak different languages. 
• Most people are visual thinkers. Studies have found humans are hard-wired to process visual information faster. We are better at storing information in images, rather than numbers and letters.

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But what if I can’t draw? This is a common issue Bear finds when talking to people about this. It’s not about the quality of the drawing itself, it’s about what it means. By delivering a message through a picture, it becomes understandable. Many of Bear’s drawings only ever remain in draft form. Even simple doodles can have meanings that make concepts clear.

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In his design work at Xero, Bear has used drawing and sketches to great effect in a range of instances:

• The accessibility tree was a complex, abstract system, but by drawing it (on a literal tree), and adding a few notes alongside it, the terminology became much more understandable.
• Sketching how customers work made it easier to describe how Xero could help them. It was much more memorable than writing it out in paragraphs.
• Wrapping the year in product design. A written summary of a year’s work is long-winded. Instead, Bear drew a tree and pinned key words, quotes and achievements to communicate the highlights.
• UX terminology explanations can be difficult for those outside the industry to comprehend. Bear challenged himself to share 1 minute videos that accompanied simple drawings to help colleagues understand them, and had rave reviews.
• Sketching notes is a great alternative to writing notes at conferences or meetings. Presenters can draw to help audiences follow along, and people in the audience themselves can also sketch their own notes.

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Why it matters  🔥

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Bear has adapted visual thinking to his own product design process and has seen a noticeable improvement in communication as a result.

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People are busy - their brains are packed with all sorts of information, and they’re easily distracted by other things they have on their minds. By delivering information in a way that helps them to focus on it, remember and understand it, designers can achieve their ultimate goals.

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As Bear also notes, drawing is fun. It’s much more rewarding than using words, as well as much more effective.

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Bear used the example of his talk at UX New Zealand 2023 as a great place to use a drawing. Rather than follow along with his message by scribbling notes the whole way through, those in the audience could capture the biggest lessons easily in one simple drawing.

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• First, Bear drew one stick figure to represent himself as a speaker. He drew three speech bubbles, where audience members could write the most notable points he said.
  
• Then he drew another stick figure, which represented the audience member listening to him. They had three thought bubbles, which people could populate with their biggest takeaways from the speech.
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That one simple drawing is a template that can be used in any speech or meeting to remember the key points.

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Recently, Optimal Workshop partnered with Eniola Abioye, Lead UX Researcher at Meta and UXR Career Coach at UX Outloud to host a career masterclass featuring practical advice and guidance on how to: revamp and build a portfolio, emphasize the impact of your projects and showcase valuable collaborations. It also included panel discussions with experts from a variety of roles (UX, product management, engineering, career coaching and content design) talking about their journeys to becoming UX leaders. 

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Keep reading to get key takeaways from the discussion on:

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• How to show the impact of your UX work
• Common blockers in UX work
• How to collaborate with cross-functional UX stakeholders 
• How to build a resume and portfolio that uses industry language to present your experience

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How to show the impact of your UX 💥

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At a time when businesses are reducing costs to focus on profitability - proving the value of your work is more important than ever. Unfortunately, measuring the impact of UX isn’t as straightforward as tracking sales or marketing metrics. With this in mind, Eniola asked the panelists - how do you show the impact of UX in your work?Providing insights is simply not enough. “As a product manager, what I really care about is insights plus recommendations, because recommendations make my life easier,” said Kwame Odame. 

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Auset Parris added her perspective on this topic as a Growth Content Designer, “the biggest thing for me to be impactful in my space [Content Design] is to consistently document the changes that I’ve made and share them with the team along with recommendations.” Auset also offered her perspective regarding recommendations, “recommendations are not always going to lead to the actual product executions, but recommendations are meant to guide us.” When it comes to deciding which recommendation to proceed with (if any) it's important to consider whether or not they are aligned with the overarching goal. 

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Blockers in UX work 🚧

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As UXR becomes more democratized in many businesses and the number of stakeholders increases, the ability to gain cross-functional buy-in for the role and outcomes of UXR is a key way to help keep research a priority. 

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In his past experience, Kwame has realized that the role of a user experience researcher is just as important as that of a product manager, data scientist, engineer, or designer. However, one of the biggest blockers for him as a product manager is how the role of a UX researcher is often overlooked. “Just because I’m the product manager doesn’t mean that I’m owning every aspect of the product. I don’t have a magic wand right? We all work as a team.” Furthermore, Kwame notes that a user researcher is an incredibly hard role and a very important one, and I think we need to invest more in the UX space.

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Auset also shared her perspective on the topic, “I wouldn’t say this is a blocker, but I do think this is a challenging piece of working in a team - there are so many stakeholders.” Although it would be ideal for each of the different departments to work seamlessly together at all times, that’s not always the case. Auset spoke about a time where the data scientists and user researchers were in disagreement. Her role as a Growth Content Designer is to create content that enhances the user experience. “But if I’m seeing two different experiences, how do I move forward? That’s when I have to ask everyone - come on let’s dig deeper. Are we looking at the right things?” If team members are seeing different results, or having different opinions, then maybe they are not asking the right questions and it's time to dig deeper. 

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How to collaborate with cross-functional UX stakeholders 🫱🏽🫲🏻

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The number and type of roles that now engage with research are increasing. As they do, the ability to collaborate and manage stakeholders in research projects has become essential. 

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Kwame discussed how he sets up a meeting for the team to discuss their goals for the next 6 months. Then, he meets with the team on a weekly basis to ensure alignment. The main point of the meeting is to ensure everyone is leaving with their questions answered and blockers addressed. It's important to ensure everyone is moving in the right direction. 

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Auset added that she thinks documentation is key to ensuring alignment. “One thing that has been helpful for me is having the documentation in the form of a product brief or content brief.” The brief can include the overarching goal, strategy, and indicate what each member of the team is working on. Team members can always look back at this document to ensure they are on the right track. 

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Career advice: documenting the value you bring 💼

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One of the participants asked the panel, “how do you secure the stability of your UX career?” 

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Eniola took this opportunity to share some invaluable advice as a career coach, “I think the biggest thing that comes to mind is value proposition. It's important to be very clear about the value and impact you bring to the team. It used to be enough to just be really, really good at research and just do research and provide recommendations. Now that’s not enough. Now you have to take your teams through the process, integrate your recommendations into the product, and focus on driving impact.” 

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Companies aren’t looking to hire someone who can perform a laundry list of tasks, they’re looking for UX professionals who can drive results. Think about the metrics you can track, to help showcase the impact of your work. For example, if you’re a UX designer - how much less time did the user spend on the task with your new design? Did the abandonment or error rate decrease significantly as a result of your work? How much did the overall customer satisfaction score rise, after you implemented your project? Before starting your project, decide on several metrics to track (make sure they align with your organization’s goals), and reflect on these after each project. 

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Fatimah Richmond offered another piece of golden career advice. She encourages UX researchers to create an ongoing impact tracker. She’ll create a document where she lists the company's objectives, the projects she worked on, and the specific impact she made on the companies objectives. It's much easier to keep track of the wins as they happen, and jot a few notes about the impact you’ve made with each project, then scrambling to think of all the impact you’ve made when writing your resume. It's also important to note the impact your work has made on the different departments - product, marketing, sales, etc.

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She also advises UX researchers to frequently share their science insights with their colleagues as the project progresses. Instead of waiting until the very end of the project and providing a “perfectly polished” deck, be transparent with the team about what you are working on and the impact it's having throughout the duration of the project.

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Another participant asked - what if you need help determining the value you bring? Auset recommends asking for actionable feedback from coworkers. These people work with you every single day, so they know your contributions you are making to the team. 

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Documenting the tangible impact you make as a UX professional is crucial - not only will it help create greater stability for your career, but it will also help organizations recognize the importance of a UX research. As Kwame discussed in the “blockers” section, one of the biggest challenges he faces as a product manager is the perception of the UX role as less important than the more traditional product manager, Engineer, and Designer roles. 

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About Eniola Abioye

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Eniola helps UX researchers improve their research practice. Whether you’re seasoned and looking to level up or a new researcher looking to get your bearings in UX, Eniola can help you focus and apply your skillset. She is a UX Researcher and Founder of UX Outloud. As a career coach, she guides her clients through short and long term SMART goals and then works with them to build a strategic plan of attack. She is innately curious, a self-starter, adaptable, and communicative with a knack for storytelling.

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Learn more about UX Outloud.

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Connect with Eniola on Linkedin.

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About the panelists 🧑🏽🤝🧑🏽

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The panel was comprised of talented professionals from a variety of fields including UX research, content strategy, product management & engineering, and career coaching. Their diverse perspectives led to an insightful and informative panel session. Keep reading to get to know each of the amazing panelists: 

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Growth Content Designer: Auset Parris is a growth content designer at Meta. She has spent 7 years navigating the ever-evolving landscape of content strategy. She is passionate about the role of user research in shaping content strategies. Furthermore, Auset believes that understanding user behavior and preferences is fundamental to creating content that not only meets but exceeds user expectations. 

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Senior UX Researcher: Jasmine Williams, Ph.D. is a senior researcher with over a decade of experience conducting youth-focused research. She has deep expertise in qualitative methods, child and adolescent development, and social and emotional well-being. Jasmine is currently a user experience researcher at Meta and her work focuses on teen safety and wellbeing. 

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Product Manager: Kwame Odame has over 7 years of high-tech experience working in product management and software engineering. At Meta, Kwame is currently responsible for building the product management direction for Fan Engagement on Facebook. Kwame has also helped build Mastercard’s SaaS authentication platform, enabling cardholders to quickly confirm their identity when a suspicious transaction occurred, leveraging biometric technology. 

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UX Researcher (UXR): Fatimah Richmond is a well-rounded UX researcher with over 15 years of experience, having influenced enterprise products across leading tech giants like Google, SAP, Linkedin, and Microsoft. Fatimah has led strategy for research, programs and operations that have significantly impacted the UXR landscape, from clinician engagement strategist to reshaping Linkedin Recruiter and Jobs. As a forward thinker, she’s here to challenge our assumptions and the status quo on how research gets planned, communicated, and measured.

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Career Coach: An Xia spent the first decade of her professional life in consulting and Big Tech data science (Netflix, Meta). As a career coach, An has supported clients in gaining clarity on their career goals, navigating challenges of career growth, and making successful transitions. As a somatic coach, An has helped clients tap into the wisdom of their soma to reconnect with what truly matters to them. 

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UX Strategist: Natalie Gauvin is an experienced professional with a demonstrated history of purpose-driven work in agile software development industries and higher education. Skilled in various research methodologies. Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Candidate in Learning Design and Technology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, focused on empathy in user experience through personas

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Level up your UXR capabilities (for free!) with the Optimal Academy 📚

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Here at Optimal we really care about helping UX researchers level up their career. This is why we’ve developed the Optimal Academy, to help you master your Optimal Workshop skills and learn more about user research and information architecture.

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Check out some of our free courses here: https://academy.optimalworkshop.com/

When you have a small design team or none at all, how do you ensure that your content is consistent, has the right tone, and is captivating? It can be difficult, but it doesn’t have to be! Julia Steffen, Principal Content Designer at Varis, spoke at UX New Zealand, the leading UX and IA conference in New Zealand hosted by Optimal Workshop, about how startups can achieve impactful content and delight users. 

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In her talk, Julia shares her most useful tips, tricks, and rules of thumb to ensure meaningful content design. She also shares some helpful tools to achieve maximum efficiency.

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Julia Steffen bio 🎤

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Julia has worked in content for 10+ years at St.Jude, Wunderman Thompson, MetaLab, and Grubhub. She is based in the United States and is the Principal Content Designer at Varis.

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Contact Details:

Email address: julia.steffen@govaris.com

You can find Julia on LinkedIn

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Content design for startups - How to work lean, have maximum impact, and get all the high-fives ✋🏽✋🏻✋🏿

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Why should you care about content design? Julia argues that “content design is product success”. Because Julia specifically talks about content design in relation to startups, she focuses on how to achieve the best results possible with a small, lean team. To that end, Julia discusses four must-haves for content design:

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1. Voice
2. Tools for efficiency
3. Words in the experience
4. Ways to check, test, and perfect your words

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Voice 🎙️

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Why is your company’s voice important? Voice tells your users who you are, creates meaningful connections, and provides valuable signals that convey whether or not your company is deserving of trust. Choosing the voice for your startup begins with a competitor audit.  Documenting who you compete against, and how you might want to differentiate your startup is crucial to finding your corner of the market. For example, is your voice welcoming, gentle, and positive, or are you more formal and technical? 

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User research can also be really helpful when determining and monitoring your voice. Involve your research team and learn what does and doesn’t delight your audience when it comes to your messaging.

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It’s also important to map your voice to your startup’s values. Be sure to connect to your mission and your brand. Julia sums up product voice as:

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Product voice = your values + space to differentiate + what research tells you

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So, when you find your voice, where can you lean into it? There are several key areas or moments that provide opportunities to share your unique voice, such as:

• Notifications: Emails, SMS, and in-app messages are a great place to delight customers
• Success states: Celebrate with your users in your voice (and remove any anxiety that may be there)
• Empty states: They aren’t just a chance to educate, they’re a chance to add some interest or fun (or to mask a UX issue).
• Placeholder text: If a field is well labeled, you can use this section to bring joy and reduce a user’s anxiety.
• Onboarding: You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Make it count!

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Tools for efficiency ⚒️

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To remain lean and efficient as a startup, one of the best things you can do is create a style guide. This helps to keep your content and voice consistent. For example, what pronouns do you use in your interface, do you capitalize certain words, etc? There is actually a lot to consider here, so Julia points viewers to various resources that allow you to copy and paste, such as Quinn Keast’s Product Language Framework.

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A glossary or language bank is also important. Record branded words, terms that you never use, and terms that you’ve heard your users say organically. This helps to ensure that you’re using language that resonates with your audience and language that reduces cognitive load as much as possible.

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Pro tip: Use the Writer app with Figma. This integration helps to ensure that your style guide is actually used! It includes your style guide and glossary so that you’re being consistent as you work. You can also use the Hemingway app or Grammarly to look out for passive voice, hard-to-parse sentences, and overall readability.

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Words in the experience – writing for content design 📝

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The first thing Julia points out when approaching writing is the need to be user-focused. This might seem obvious to UX practitioners, but word selection can be nuanced, and subtle changes can be powerful. For example, instead of writing “[Your company] introduces a new feature”, think about how can you change the statement to be more about what the new feature means for the user, rather than your company. Here are a few rules of thumb to help refine your writing.

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• Clarity over cleverness. Unless you’re clear and the message is understood by your user, even the best jokes and wittiest phrases in the world will be wasted.
• Write like you’re having a conversation with your Grandmother. Be clear and don’t use too much jargon.
• Think like the best content designers. Writing is a process and there are several things to consider, such as the purpose of your copy, the context that it’s being read, and what emotion the reader might be feeling at that moment, etc. Julia offers the Microcopy Canvas as a useful tool for startups, which is a helpful writing template/worksheet created by Jane Ruffino.

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Ways to check, test, and perfect your words 👀

Julia suggests that design reviews are the perfect place to sense-check your words and content. Review your designs intentionally and through a content lens. Again, the Microcopy Canvas can be a useful tool when conducting this step, helping to ensure you have considered the right tone and achieved your purpose with your words.

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Following a design review process, it’s important to test for clarity and affinity. Conduct user tests frequently to ensure your words and content are clear, understood, and hitting the mark in the intended way.

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Finally, make sure your content goals are recorded in your dashboards. Be accountable to your own success measures, KPIs, and OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). Some metrics that help track success are:

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• Onboarding flows
• Notification metrics
• Feature adoption
• Conversion rates

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If you’re falling short on some metrics, review your content and try to figure out where words can be sharpened to be clearer, more friendly, or less technical, for example. Then, feed this information into your prioritization and planning. What changes are going to have the most impact on your product’s success? What changes are quick wins? 

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Why it matters 🤯

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Julia’s talk is important for UX and content designers, particularly those working in startup environments, as it highlights the critical role of content design in achieving product success. The content you share, the voice and tone you adopt, and the clarity of communication, all add to the user's overall experience with your product. Investing time into your content is critical and, as Julia explains, it doesn’t have to put too much stress on your team's workload. If time isn’t invested, however, you may find yourself with poor content, delivering poor experiences, resulting in high customer attrition. 

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Efficiency, therefore, should be a focus for startups wanting to achieve great content design without being weighed down. Julia offers pragmatic advice on maintaining consistency through tools like style guides and language banks and by leveraging apps like Hemingway and Grammarly. Tools like these are incredibly helpful when streamlining processes and ensuring a cohesive and polished user interface. 

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At the end of the day, Julia stresses the impact that content design has on user experiences and encourages startups to pay close attention to content in ways that are achievable for small teams.

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