I write in Los Angeles (I do not surf). My content design highlight reel includes Faire, Better, Huge, and a few others. I like setting up UX writing practices, pushing ideas, and having friendly debates about words. 

 

I {ACTION} in {LOCATION}{JOKE}. My content design highlight reel includes {COMPANY_1}, {COMPANY_2}, {COMPANY_3}, and a few others. I like {SKILL_1}, {SKILL_2}, and {ONE_MORE_SKILL}.

Content design tackles three areas.

Moments

Quick, one-time interactions, like a landing page or notification.

Products

More involved, dynamic experiences, like a flow or chatbot.

Systems

The way work stays consistent. Read: guidelines, lots of ‘em.

It’s the science of making things make sense.

These 5 rules build UX writing practices that make good work (faster).

  • Be thoughtful in your craft. This means the most important information is up front, and there’s a natural flow and hierarchy to everything.

  • Products are not thrillers—make sure your reader knows what’s coming up. In fact, stay one step ahead so you can get ahead of any worries.

  • What you know about what’s happening behind the scenes and what the reader needs to know are two very different things.

  • Understand what your readers are feeling. Is this a stressful point? Write calmly and clearly. Are they excited? Well then, you can be too.

  • Consistency is the name of the game. No misspellings, no repetition, no meandering analogies. Let the reader rely on you.

Here are a few of my favorites.

(You’ll notice writing all-inclusive resort meta tags in 2012 did not make the cut.)

Won an Interaction Design Association award for the Save The Food work.

Took some of the mystery out of credit scores with Chase Credit Journey.

Experiential retail (think: mirror interfaces, eye tracking & robots).

 

You?

 

If you’re solving interesting problems with great people, let’s chat.

Worked on a little something, let’s chat about it in person.

Produced a video series to teach 400k employees about online resources.

Built guidelines and made retirement services friendly and easy to use.

Founded the UX writing practice and worked to untangle homebuying.

In a past life, I worked on spots about tires (they’re really about adventure).

Led writing across several tracks of work for the new Verizon digital experience.

Fin.