Andrew and Katrin come up with questions and answers. Pretty straightforward, but let's see what happens!
<aside> 💡 published in June, 2021.
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K: As we see a growing need of capable writers that produce usable and great experiences, which is not copywriting btw, I am beginning to wonder where all that human talent is supposed to come from? Don't get me wrong, I do not think of me or you as total unicorns performing a craft that is so rare and special that not many are able to do this. I am also including the possibility of not so many wanting to do this 🙂 Why do I assume it is that way?
Because we hear and talk so much about the ratios in product teams. Designers to writers usually being 8:1, 3:1 at best, while 1:1 would be ideal—for more details check out my May recap of media I consumed (Andrew is in it 😉 but also Lindsey from HubSpot describing this ratio issue in the WRITERS IN TECH podcast):
UX writer edition: media recap - May 2021
So, if that is the case, we should really look into AI as a chance for not only consumerism and capitalism to up their writing game, but also maybe smaller organizations, charities, NGOs, who cannot afford writers in the first place... I am writing this with a certain German startup in mind: neuroflash.
Founder Henrik contacted me a while ago on LinkedIn, their smart tool does AI copywriting for ads. Based on algorithms etc. it picks audience-matched copy that is conversion-oriented. I doubt this will be possible as easily for UX copy, but here, it seems to do the trick. What a time to be alive!
I also came across a fun Figma plug-in called Ghostwriter, where UX copy is presented to you as suggestions based on what you are handling, e.g. error messages. Such template-style assistance is not fully AI but it still can go a long way, as far as I can imagine.
Breaking the code: How did we build our Figma plugin?
A: There’s so much to consider here! If a company wants AI-produced writing within 10 or 20 years, the technology will advance enough where that will be an option. But it will be limited in scope, and problems could arise because of that. I’m not sure we’ve fully grasped those implications. I think about all the internal debates I've had as part of UX writing teams. There's so much care placed into content choices for cases that aren't thought about until they're encountered. Some of our conversations would sound nuts to someone who doesn't love words! But often, guidelines change. Whose style guide hasn't been edited after learning a rule doesn't work as well as it once did? Or maybe something becomes a rule that wasn't a consideration a few years ago. I wonder how AI-produced writing will keep up with this constant evolution. My prediction: There always will be a need for writers to make sense of the messy human experience.
A: Hey! That's me! I started as a UX content strategist at RingCentral this month. I wrote about my job search in a Medium essay.
6 tips for your UX writing job search
I'd encourage anyone who's curious about this topic to check it out. One piece of advice: Pack your patience. It's a candidate's market, but you'll likely face a few rejections. In those moments, don't overthink the situation. Keep applying. Keep your faith. Consider what you want, too.
There are so many situations out there.