Writing Is Designing – Michael J. Metts, Andy Welfle

Author: Michael J. Metts, Andy Welfle Type: #book

Reference: Metts, Welfle (2020). Writing Is Designing

• Design isn't just visual. Words are a crucial part of any design. Writing words in an interface is designing the experience people will have with it. That's the key premise of the book.
• It's best to combine writing mindset (how to describe things, how many words will fit here etc) with design mindset (what are we trying to solve, what terms are people familiar with etc).
• Framework for writing error messages (AER)
• Content testing method:
  • Test your content on its own for understanding. Put in front of people and have them highlight in green/red the parts that they understand (or make them confident or whatever your goal is) or not.
  • Follow-up with "why" people describe things as helpful or unhelpful.
  • This goes back to Associations between concepts is thinking: You want to uncover which parts of your content trigger helpful associations and which associations are perhaps missing altogether for people to understand.
  • Ask what people expect to happen next – uncovers expectations within a flow.
• "Good writing—like good design—must be implemented and used to be of any value to your users."
  • There's no good design without actual usage. People use things when they bring them value. Product can only have good design when it's valuable.
• "Don't confuse making a deliverable with making a difference."