Becoming better at leading

It is human to struggle in the comprehension of your fellow beings. Everyone’s simply wired differently. This mental grapple could be due to numerous factors such as cultural differences, contrasting personalities, different perspectives, upbringing and life experiences. One of the significant challenges that I have faced while leading a team was trying to understand the designers you are responsible for and being aware of the particular dynamic within the team. For instance, when you are in a position of authority, your assignees may not be completely honest with you or they may not challenge your feedback, even when they feel you are wrong. I had considered myself to be a very approachable person, but this feeling might not be shared between others in the team. Some of them may think it is my prerogative to call the shots. I hope to share my perspective in this article on how to tackle this matter.

Building relations based on trust

A good leader must create a safe space for everyone. Our assignees should feel safe to open up and share their thoughts, feelings and perspective openly. To build this level of trust, we have to try and become vulnerable with them. For example, share an embarrassing story about yourself and talk about topics unrelated to work. These kinds of actions help create an emotional bridge between our assignees and us, allowing the space where we acknowledge each other’s imperfections and build a more robust support system. Once we start practising this, we find a well-synchronized team.

Ambient communication

We cannot have a one size fits all attitude when dealing with a team with anything more than one member. Like I said, each person comes from a different background, with different perspectives and ideologies. So, it becomes essential to figure out the best possible way to communicate effectively with distinct individuals. Ambient communication is a term I have coined to convey this concept. This concept is about maintaining a living documentation using a learn-by-interacting approach to comprehend the best communication styles, things that annoy or trigger them, their strengths, growth areas, interests, and so on to devise an ambient communication model tailored for each individual in a team.

Ductile leadership

The idea behind ductile leadership is about keeping our egos in check. Being in a position of authority does not make us all-knowing by default. Just as a ductile metal that can be drawn into a wire (a medium that conducts electricity with the least resistance), become a conduit for ideas to burgeon. We have to be flexible enough to accept that we can always learn from a younger generation, not just the ones more experienced than us. ‘Experienced’ does not mean ‘Always right’. Our duty as good leaders is to build a space where our team feels it is more than alright to challenge you, debate with you, and fight for what they believe is right.

Conclusion

trust, dynamic interaction style and a safe space to challenge one another help to build a solid team, a better culture and, as a result — innovation. Be like the pebbles at the river bed, do not try to control the stream. Instead, be the force that allows it to flow, meander and flourish.

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Coding is Designing

Designers and developers collaborate for a common cause–to build products and experiences their customers want or need. Their shared purpose is to serve their users.

To achieve this common purpose and collaborate effectively, designers and developers should understand the other’s discipline. Designers don’t have to become coders, but understanding the basics of code and its limitations is incredibly beneficial.

Just like an architect must understand building materials to design a structure, UX designers need foundational knowledge of front-end code like HTML, CSS, and a little bit of Javascript–the building blocks of product design!

Benefits for Designers Knowing Code

Designers who learn code have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The benefits far outweigh the time it’ll take to put your head down and learn a new skill.

Better Collaboration With Developers

When designers have a fundamental understanding of code, they can communicate with developers significantly better. They’ll also earn developers’ respect, who in turn might make more of an effort to understand design.

Design handoffs are always sticky between designers, product teams, and engineers. Why? Because they speak different languages with different constraints. By learning to code, or at least the basics, designers can better understand code constraints and limitations, making it easier to solve problems collaboratively with engineers.

Understanding Development Limitations

When designers know how to code, it’s easier to understand the limitations and fix problems, especially during quality assurance (QA) after the handoff. For example, designers can use the browser’s developer tools to inspect an element’s HTML and CSS if something doesn’t look right in the browser.

Understanding technical limitations can also save designers significant time during the design process because they know what is and isn’t possible-avoiding design decisions that exceed technical constraints.

Improve Prototyping

Image-based design and prototyping tools don’t offer the fidelity or functionality of a coded product. Limiting the testing and problem-solving designers can do during the design process. Designers who know HTML and CSS can build functioning prototypes that outperform image-based design tools.

Increase Your Value

The tech industry is an exciting landscape with new roles and opportunities constantly emerging. By learning to code, UX designers can take on bigger roles, transition to new careers, and increase their value to prospective clients or employers.

Conclusion

Coding is an essential part of the design process, a launchpad to modular and scalable thinking, or a valuable design tool.

To ensure that code-thinking is part of the design process, consider the following:

• Include a developer or two at different checkpoints during the project planning and design activities.

• Collaborate with a developer about prototyping techniques that will benefit the project at hand.

• Discuss a modular approach with the development team to understand how the bits and pieces of information can positively influence the design.

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What is UX Writing and Why You Need a UX Writer

Nowadays, pretty much everyone knows what content writing is. But the same can’t be said about UX writing. And yet this new role within the product design team has become ever so important. So, what is UX writing, how does it fit into the design and product teams and what are the key principles of good UX writing? Read on to find out.

What is UX writing

UX writing – or user experience writing – is the process of creating user-friendly copy for all user-facing touchpoints, including user interface. And this is not just a decorative text. UX copy informs, guides, urges and helps users take action – and this only works effectively when it is created as a part of a formal product design process. As great copy within an interactive UX design helps to create a great user experience – one of the keys for a successful product – no wonder it has become an important role on its own.

What does a UX writer do

UX writers write microcopy used throughout digital products – whether it is a piece of software, a web application, or a mobile app. These pieces of copy are menu labels, buttons, calls-to-action, confirmation and error messages, security notes, etc. UX writers create a copy in such a way that users understand what and why they should do in order to achieve a certain result. To create a great UX copy, UX writers not only need to create consistent, error- and typos-free copy but also have a thorough understanding of the end-user experience of the product they’re writing for. They need to make it easy for users to take the path that leads towards a particular outcome in a logical, intuitive manner.

For a very long time, it was software developers and graphic designers who would write the microcopy for digital products. Back then UX writing was underestimated and considered a luxury. As a result, the microcopy within the product was often inconsistent and confusing for the user, not to mention that it was sometimes filled with grammar errors and spelling mistakes. And that’s understandable – nobody can excel at everything, and software developers or designers aren’t an exception to this rule. Especially that they know the product inside out and it’s hard for them to empathize with users.

…and what does UX writer not do

The role of UX writer should not be confused with that of a technical writer (who does the technical writing and focuses on clarity and accuracy, not on user experience), content strategist (who plans content strategy, i.e. content on a bigger scale, and doesn’t necessarily write copy), information architect (who works on, well, information architecture, meaning that (s)he builds sustainable information structures and taxonomies) or content marketing copywriter (who writes marketing copy that attracts leads, converts them into customers and helps to retain them).

UX writing in a design and product team

UX writers are members of UX teams, and as such they’re expected to conduct or collaborate on conducting the UX research. UX copy and UX design teams work together to discover options that improve the functionality, usability, and accessibility of the final product. As a result, they’re able to both streamline the design process and develop better digital experiences that attract more users.

UX writers also work closely with product developers, focusing on missing logic or a confusing interface, thus influencing the final product that is being developed. UX writers also collaborate with other teams within the organization, such as marketing, legal, and business development, in order to ensure that copy is aligned to brand voice, strengthens product’s UVP, and doesn’t get the company in trouble.

Types of UX content

The specific types of UX content vary depending on the digital product, but generally speaking the most common types of UX content include:

• First-time users onboarding

• Menu labels, form field labels and lists

• Buttons and call-to-actions (CTAs)

• Settings labels

• Contextual help and tooltips

• Confirmation messages

• Error messages

• Security notes

• In-product marketing (e.g. pop-up ads)

• Chatbot conversation scenarios

• Legal notices and disclaimers

UX copywriting principles

Great UX writing is all about clean, purposeful lines, making each word count. Superfluity and redundancy are its enemies. That’s why some people compare UX writing to… writing poetry! But great UX writers must also:

• Know not only what the product does but also how it improves the end user’s life and makes it easier.

• Having empathy for the end user and his or her needs and wants is the key to successful UX writing.

• Inform about what the product is capable of doing and guide users on how to do it in a logical, easy-to-follow manner.

• Look critically at the product flows, anticipate user questions, preempt their frustrations with proactive help and guide them through tasks.

• Be clear, concise, unambiguous, and – whenever necessary – break down complicated processes into easy to do steps. UX copy should only give the necessary or requested information at any given time.

• Use brand voice and, whenever possible, reinforce the product’s Unique Value Proposition (UVP) to help it stand out from the competition.

• Incorporate best content design principles based on research and always create copy in context, directly in a wireframing tool, that shows it with all the fonts, images, buttons etc. UX writers shouldn’t use Word documents or Excel sheets for their copywriting.

Conclusion

As you can see, having an experienced UX writer on board is the key to improve the overall quality of your product design. Remember that your user interface microcopy is there to help users accomplish their goals. And this is what ultimately will bring more customers to your digital product.

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