When you're the only UX writer on a big product team, it's impossible to be everywhere, all at once. Many people will write product copy, including UX designers, developers, and other stakeholders.
So how can we work together to make the words work?
Guidelines for everyone writing for LifeSG
Content guidelines provide a set of standards for how we should write. With LifeSG, our guidelines help to keep product copy consistent and user friendly. This helps our users to:
feel more familiar with the app
see LifeSG as a trustworthy app
A set of content guidelines for LifeSG already existed before I joined the team. However, a big challenge we had was to get more people to use it, so that we can maintain the standards we've set.
To do so, I updated the guidelines with usefulness in mind. I complied answers to the questions that stakeholders often ask about, and added them to the guidelines.
“How long can our push notifications be?”
“Is there a naming convention for our services?”
“What should the copy for this error state be?”
Specific guidance for each content type
Most content guidelines focus on voice and tone, grammar and style. I took this one step further by adding specific guidelines for each of the content types in LifeSG. This was also a good introduction to LifeSG’s content ecosystem.
Services: how to name and categorise
Guides: how to name and choose templates
FAQs: how to write and categorise
Notifications: how to write and character limits
Release notes: how to write and what not to include
Reusable copy for common components
I made it easier for everyone by including copy they can reuse. Just copy and paste, and make minor tweaks where necessary.
Alerts: unsaved changes, session timeout, concurrent sessions
Buttons and actions: button labels and usage notes
Empty states: no results found
Errors: form errors, API errors, HTTP errors
Release notes: how to write and what not to include
All in a website that’s easy to search and share
Content guidelines often get neglected, especially when they exist as a PDF or PPT file. For this reason, we chose to use GitBook.
This helps us to maintain our content standards, as it’s now easier for anyone to:
search a term to find out if there are existing usage guidelines
share with stakeholders who may be writing product copy