UX Writing Weekly #76

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PLUS Who Moved My Button? -
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🤯 Great job with the 404-page rewrites—you guys are awesome!

The winner of the “rewrite UX Writing Hub’s boring old 404-page contest” will be announced next week. So you still have time if you want to submit your redesign. Just reply to this very email with your best rewrite/redesign.

Also, a small change in plans for the rest of 2020. What do you prefer:
  • 2 writers in tech podcast episodes per month (like we’ve been doing)
  • 1 practical online UX writing workshop and one podcast episode per month

Hit reply, let us know, win our hearts 💑 — Yalla, to the articles!

😈 Is passive voice literally the devil incarnate? Or is it perhaps a perfectly legitimate aspect of the English language whose skillful implementation should be embraced by writers? Our very own chief editor, Aaron Raizen, sheds light on the subject:

What Every UX Writer Needs to Know About Passive Voice

 
✒️ Anja Wedberg from our team wrote a brilliant and highly detailed post for our friends at Career Foundry about becoming a UX writer in 2020:

Here's How to Become a UX Writer in 2020

 
🖊️ John Harrison wrote a great article that will help you become a better writer, no matter who you are or how much experience you have. The Jekyll and Hyde and ruthless editing parts were my fave!

10x your writing

 
🧀 Making changes to our digital products is both necessary and dangerous; users don’t like it when things move around on them. But this post will help keep your users happy next time the winds of change are blowing:

Who moved my button?

 
🐭 If you're a newbie UX writer with a background in traditional copywriting, academia, journalism, or fiction writing, there are a few things you should know. Read this article for some priceless tips on how to make the transition. Love this one by JR Miller, a UX writer at Google:

Writing for Design

 
This post got a lot of attention on our Facebook group this week!

So, Google told me that I have an outstanding balance of 0.8 NIS, which is around 1 cent. I honestly thought to myself “what the hell is so outstanding about a balance of a single cent?” (Laugh at my English level if you must.)

Native speakers know that outstanding here is standard financial lingo and the meaning is crystal clear. But that’s not necessarily so for the non-native speakers (shout out to all of the non-native English writers out there—I’ve got your back).

It's a super interesting localization dilemma.

When our audience is made up of non-native speakers, should we aim to be as accurate as possible or as clear as possible? And what, if any, are the legal issues? At the end of the day, when someone needs to pay us, we want to make it as easy as possible for them.

Not sure what the right answer is here but I LOVED the discussion it created:
Full discussion here

 
🎨 Shilpi Khanna Dewan has done a few projects with Google Assistant and educational apps for kids. Check out some of her word magic:

https://shilpidewan.com/

 
Remember our gardening app challenge? If you don’t that’s OK—just be sure to sign up.

We’ve decided to keep the fun going and are working on a new series of challenges. They’ll be great for honing your skills and fattening up your portfolio.

Four email lessons rolled into a UX writing project

 
👔 Lot’s of new positions this week on our UX writing job board. Add your own position for free: UX Writing Job Board
📤 Our next UX Writing Academy training program is set to start in May. Let us know if you have any questions about it. We now have a flexible, 12-month payment plan too.

Join our Facebook discussion group
Join our professional community on LinkedIn

See you next week!
Yuval



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