A user interface would appear incomplete without technical writing. In UX, technical writing helps the user navigate through a digital product in an intuitive way.
If you’ve taken an interest in user interfaces, you may have wondered how to become a UX writer.
That brings us to the topic of today’s actionable guide. Today, we’ll address the following:
- The meaning of UX writing.
- The duties and responsibilities of a UX writer.
- The steps you can take to become a UX writer.
- The average salary of a UX writer.
By the time you’ve finished reading this article, you’ll know precisely how to secure your dream role. What’s more, you’ll know how to excel as a proficient UX writer.
What Is UX Writing?
If you’ve exhibited some interest in UX writing, you may have wondered, ‘What is UX writing?’ We’re here to answer that question for you.
Technical writers will implement UX writing, also known as user experience writing, into a user interface design. UX writing is the text you read—or hear—when you interact with a product’s UI.
What Does a UX Writer Do?
Simply put, UX writers create content for digital products in order to enhance the user’s experience. Typically, the type of content UX writers create are copies and interface texts. Specifically, this refers to elements like menus, error messages, labels, and text on buttons.
Many UX writers will already have a writing background, having secured writing positions within the copywriting field. However, where a copywriter will work on increasing a product’s sales, a UX writer does so much more.
Like in UX design, UX writers must display utmost empathy and strong communication skills to create a user-centric, clear copy.
They must anticipate what users need to know at certain moments within their interaction with the product. Consequently, users can move through a screen or webpage effortlessly, supported by the clarifications that the UX writer has provided.
Fundamentally, a UX writer guides the user through each step of a task in the hopes of preventing confusion.
Needless to say, if your users become too confused/frustrated, they will abandon your product. Thus, the importance of a UX writer’s role in the design process is undeniable.
To stop this from happening, a UX writer will create a content strategy. A content strategy is a strategic plan for creating and conveying new valuable information to the user. They will then evaluate the product’s UI and make suggestions to product designers based on their content strategies.
UX writers create content style guides to help a brand find its unique voice, increasing its online visibility and reputation.
How To Become a UX Writer With No Experience
Knowing what UX writing is and what a UX writer does is essential, but expectedly, you need to know more.
It may surprise you to know that you can secure a UX writing role without prior experience.
That said, no one simply lands a job without conducting prior research and completing projects. If you want to become a UX writer, it’s time to expand your knowledge base and skillsets. If you’re unsure of how to go about this, don’t worry—we’ve got you covered.
Here’s how to become a UX writer with no experience!
Step One: Understanding the Research Behind UX Writing
A UX writer’s primary goal is to make digital user interfaces easy to understand and use for the target audience.
However, you can’t create content for target audiences without knowing who your target users are as unique individuals. So, in order to acquaint yourself with your users, you must have an understanding of user research.
You must know how to work with UX researchers to use acquired user-focused data and craft valuable user personas. User personas serve as helpful tools that allow you to combine psychological/sociological elements with your user’s desires and needs.
Tip: Use Figma’s user persona template to help you create your own user personas.
Remember to identify and implement an accurate problem that your users will likely face for optimized targeting. From here, you can develop and test solutions for the persona’s problem. You can then analyze the user’s experience and improve upon your UX writing.
Ultimately, you must know how to use research tools to learn about your users. Then, and only then, will you create engaging copy that stems from your findings.
Step Two: Familiarizing Yourself With UX Writing Principles
Preparing yourself for the necessary research behind effective UX writing is one thing. However, user research is an essential facet of every subsector within the UX industry. It’s time to take a deeper, more specific dive into UX writing.
Here are the principles of effective UX writing:
- Simplicity
- Consistency
- Conciseness
- Usefulness
- Inclusivity
- Iteration
Step Three: Learning What the Fundamental Skills of a UX Writer Are
The most proficient UX writers have extensive skill sets. By looking at essential UX writing skills, you can determine your own strengths and weaknesses.
Below, we’ve listed the essential hard and soft skills that every UX writer should have.
Hard Skills:
- User research
- Problem-solving
- Technical writing
- Content strategy
- Knowledge of how to use design tools like Phrasee and Frontitude.
- Prototyping
- Excellent language/literacy skills
Soft Skills:
- Empathy
- Creativity
- Collaboration
- Active listening
- Continuous learning/reflection
- Curiosity
If you can identify areas of personal improvement from this list, start working on refining those weaknesses! In doing so, you’ll be better prepared for your role as a UX writer.
Step Four: Utilizing Valuable Resources
Nowadays, the traditional learning environment is only one of many ways you can study a desired subject. Take advantage of the vast array of books, YouTube videos, and blogs at your disposal.
Here are the most valuable resources a budding UX writer should utilize!
Books:
- Strategic Writing for UX: Drive Engagement, Conversion, and Retention with Every Word by Torrey Podmajersky.
- Writing Is Designing: Words and the User Experience by Michael J. Metts and Andy Welfle.
- Microcopy: The Complete Guide by Kinneret Yifrah.
YouTube Channels:
Blogs:
Step Five: Enrolling in a UX Writing Course
We’ll touch on the best courses for budding UX writers shortly. First, it’s essential to know why you should enroll in a UX writing course.
An online UX writing course is perfect for those who find it challenging to juggle their commitments. With a UX writing course, you could complete your studies in as little time as eight weeks!
Aside from its flexible nature, studying UX writing online will allow you to gain valuable practical experience and specialized competencies.
What’s more, when you work on your independent projects, you can rest assured that the feedback you receive is constructive. Experts within the UX writing field typically host UX writing courses. Thus, you’ll receive first-rate guidance from professionals who were once in your position!
Step Six: Building an Exceptional UX Writing Portfolio
A UX writer’s portfolio should focus on the written solutions you’ve made to combat design issues.
This is your chance to showcase your work and the reason behind the design decisions you made. You should include samples of your work, the planning structures behind them, and, most importantly, a compelling story.
By providing context to your research and designs, you’ll emphasize that you understand the significance of user-centricity. Even if you’ve encountered issues, include them in your explanation of your unique design process.
Every UX writer encounters challenges within their work—what matters is how you overcome such obstacles. Illuminate how a combination of soft and hard skills helped you to create engaging, user-oriented copy.
Step Seven: Finding a Writing Community
Now that you’ve started to build your own professional portfolio, the next step is to receive feedback and continuously improve.
Sharing your work within a UX writing community is the best way to receive helpful criticism. In doing so, you can then act on your critiques and improve your content while also catalyzing your professional growth.
Additionally, you can find a mentor within a UX writing community who can offer you advice. This is especially helpful if you encounter a challenge that you’re unsure of how to overcome.
Listed below, you will see the best UX writing communities that you should consider joining!
A UX Writer Course: Which Courses To Study
A practical UX writer course will teach you how to understand the principles of good content design, voice, and style. What’s more, the best UX writer courses will teach you how to create, test, and improve your interface-oriented microcopy.
Below, we’ve organized a list of the best UX writer courses to help you refine your craft!
A UX Writer Salary
Like with any role, you must familiarize yourself with the financial aspects of the job. Specifically, you must know what a UX writer salary looks like to ensure it’s the right role for you.
According to Talent.com, a US-based UX writer earns an average salary of $126,035 per year.
As you can see, attaining a position as a UX writer is incredibly rewarding. However, it’s worth noting that this is just a rough estimation of what you could potentially earn.
Realistically, you could earn anywhere between $97,500 and $167,190 per year.
While your experience and qualifications will have a significant impact on your salary, there are also other factors to consider. Namely, the size and location of your company will also affect your yearly earnings.
To help you understand the impact of geographical factors on your earnings, we’ve compiled a helpful list. This list exhibits the top ten highest-paying cities for UX writers in the United States of America.
- Maryland—$146,250 per year
- California—$142,991 per year
- New York—$131,625 per year
- Pennsylvania—$128,113 per year
- Minnesota—$126,050 per year
- Massachusetts—$122,636 per year
- Illinois—$121,875 per year
- Florida—$121,200 per year
- Washington—$116,300 per year
- New Jersey—$112,125 per year
UX Writer Jobs: Where You Can Secure Your Dream Role
We find inspiration in UX writers who exceed expectations to assist users in achieving their goals. Similarly, we aspire to go above and beyond to help you kickstart your career.
You know what the average salary of a UX writer looks like. After seeing what you could earn, it’s likely that you’re eager to start applying for UX writer jobs.
In order to guide you in the right direction, we’ve assembled a list of valuable job boards. After you’ve perused our list, you can rest assured that you’ll find the perfect UX writing jobs in no time!
- Media Bistro
- Indeed
- WorkingInContent.com
- UX Writing Hub
- Best Writing
- FlexJobs
- SimplyHired
- UIUXjobsboard
- Technical Writer HQ
How To Become a UX Writer: Learning How To Help Users Achieve Their Goals
You now have everything you need to become a proficient UX writer, an integral part of any design team.
Throughout your studies, it’s crucial that you always remember what drew you to the UX field in the first place.
The quality of the user’s experience governs everything with a digital product’s development. Ensure that you always keep the user’s desires, needs, goals, and pain points at the forefront of your design decisions.
When you prioritize user-centricity, you’ll create engaging copy that’ll enhance the user’s experience with every product you create!
It’s time for you to experience some valuable inspiration. Welcome to Page Flows.
Our aptitude for user-centricity stems from our well-informed understanding of the user’s journey.
With Page Flows, you will learn how to interact with your users as they interact with your products.
You have access to an abundance of emails that we collect when we record user flows. This means that you have access to exceptional UX writing in action!
From Gmail to Grammarly, we know how to create an engaging copy—our 1,000 happy customers can vouch for us!
So, now that you know how to become a UX writer, it’s time to embark on a highly rewarding career. Your target audience awaits you!
Get started today to access our growing library of user flow recordings and finally stay up-to-date with current design trends.
