UX Writing Weekly #66

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PLUS a new UX library -
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While on the UX Writing Hub annual retreat here in Thailand, I’ve taken time to do some group creative writing sessions, explore the island of Ko Pha-ngan, create some new content for the Hub’s community, and (wait for it) started taking lessons at the gym of a 2-time Muay Thai world champion.

This got me thinking about how Muay Thai can be a lot like UX writing 🤔

Understanding the user
In Muay Thai, it’s important to know what’s going on in your opponent’s head. The better you understand what they’re thinking, the better you’ll be able to predict their next move or expectations.

Balance is the key
If you don’t have a routine, you’re going to burn out—badly. Make sure you take some time for writing (or boxing) and keep your work-life balance in check.

Practice till you sweat
If you want to be a great writer, keep writing! Listen to what those with more experience have to say, optimize, and you’ll get better and better. Put your ego aside and get ready to learn.

Hadouken!



You may have never heard of Intuit, but if you live in the USA, you’re almost guaranteed to have heard of their far-reaching products QuickBooks and TurboTax. They've been around for years—since before the dot-com bubble burst—and they’re still going strong today.

In a time when some tech giants fall as fast as they rise, just imagine what’s going on in the cycle of a tech company that's been around for more than 30 years!

I talked with Stephen Curran about the UX research process of a content designer, and much more!

Listen to it here


In honor of National Novel Writing Month (which apparently is a thing), here’s a super inspiring post by the wonderful team at Dropbox about how you can write a novel (or anything else you’d like to) in 30 days.

Picture from Content Modelling: A Master Skill
“So, we can just post a video or a blog post every week and we’re cool, right?” Guess again. When it comes to content strategy, scheduling content is only the tip of the iceberg.
Here is the complete guide to content modeling.


Don’t miss this fantastic project by Zoshua Colah. It includes tons of UX resources, all in one place. Welcome to UX Library.

The best error messages are actionable error messages. In this example by Shopify, they make sure you can easily get back to the homepage, instead of just leaving you lost and cranky. Simple and effective.

What other actions would you suggest they add to this screen?

 
Our friend and creator of the UX library happens to have a fantastic portfolio as well! Hit him up if you’re looking for an experienced and talented UX designer for your next project.

https://zoshuacolah.com/


 

🇪🇸 Product Support – Chatbot (Conversational Design & Training) @ Caravelo, Barcelona, ES

🇺🇸 Product Content Strategist, Conversation Design @ Chime, San Francisco, CA, USA

🇺🇸 UX Writer @ Google, New York City, NY, USA

🇨🇦 Product Content Strategist @ Shopify, Ottawa, CA

🇮🇱 UX Writer @ SimilarWeb, Tel Aviv, IL

🇮🇪 UX Writer @ Verizon, Dublin, IE

🇺🇸UX Writer @ Cypress HCM, Los Gatos, California, USA

🇫🇷 UX writer @ MyScript®, Nantes, FR

🇺🇸 UX Writer 2 @ Nordstrom, Seattle, WA, USA

🇺🇸 UX Writer @ Opendoor, San Francisco, CA, USA

🇺🇸 UX Writer @ Thomson Reuters, Eagan, MN, USA

🇸🇪 UX Writer @ iZettle, Stockholm, SE

🇧🇷 UX Writer Jr. @ Gympass, São Paulo, BR

Be sure to upload your UX writing job posts to our job board. They’ll be featured right here in our newsletter, for free.

Nicole Winestock is a gamer and product designer who’s currently working at Booking.com. Exactly one year ago, she told me about the connection between design, copy, and gaming. Great stuff!

Have some feedback for us? Let us know by replying to this email.

"You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what's burning inside you, and we edit to let the fire show through the smoke." —Arthur Plotnik

Big shout out Allow me to express my vehement protestations of gratitude to our chief editor, Aaron Raizen. When things get a bit smokey, I know I can count on him to bring the fire. 🔥🔥🔥

See you next week!

Yuval





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