Writing the words

Provide guidance

Words are an important part of the interface. They help people understand the purpose of a page and what actions are available. Imagine if the interface had only boxes and buttons without any words. Without them, everyone would feel directionless and struggle to interact with the interface. 

Without words, there are only visual cues to distinguish sections and components.

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Communicate clearly

Whether you're asking someone to take action or you're providing instructions, it's important to write concisely and in plain, everyday language.

Make it easy to follow

Consider these tips when you’re writing the words that appear in different experiences.

Write in an active voice

This puts the person in the center of the action, making them feel more engaged and empowered. It creates a sense of directness and encourages people to act.

Use sentence case

This means only the first word of a phrase is capitalized, and the rest of the words are in lowercase (except proper nouns). It also makes it easier to read longer phrases and will communicate more clearly.

Avoid buzzwords and overly-technical jargon

Buzzwords are general and vague words or phrases, while jargon is industry-specific words or phrases only certain people can understand. Instead, use inclusive, everyday language.

Keep it succinct with enough context

People want to know what to do as effectively and efficiently as possible. Give them enough context, written in the simplest way possible.

Be positive

Negative words tend to put people on edge, so always tell the person what they can do instead of telling them what they can’t.

Write for the person, not the product

They’re trying to accomplish a goal or task, and the words you use should guide them toward achieving that goal.

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Speak in your voice

Your company’s brand is the company’s personality and how you present yourself. To achieve this in your experiences, you can use voice and tone.

The voice is consistent, while the tone changes based on the situation.

• Voice: This represents a brand's personality, which never changes. It remains true to who they are and reflects their values. 
• Tone: This sets the mood and flexes depending on the audience, the message, and the context. You can use tone to add emotion and feeling to your voice.

Adapt your tone needs

Consider these tips when you’re deciding how you want the words to sound to the audience.

Think about the context

Think about where these words appear in the product and what situation the person might be in when this text appears. Not every situation will require you to flex your tone. 

Be empathetic

Imagine what emotions the person might be going through in a particular scenario and adjust the words you use based on how the person is feeling.

Be consistent

This helps build trust and familiarity with your audience because everything sounds like it's coming from the same person.

When in doubt, use a neutral tone

This can help avoid potential misunderstandings or misinterpretations by people.

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Resources on building mobile apps

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Writing for AI

Given how rapidly AI is being integrated into the product experiences that we create and use, carefully considering the words within the UI can go a long way toward demystifying how the technology works.

How to build trust in the tech

Consider these tips when you’re writing for experiences that use or integrate AI capabilities.

Be clear and transparent

It’s crucial to explain when and how you are incorporating AI into your products and experiences. Clearly and consistently communicating the presence of AI elements will help foster trust by helping people recognize when they’re interacting with AI. 

Use human-like language

You can do this by avoiding technical jargon and language that sounds mechanical, impersonal, or overly technical. Aim to make the text feel natural and relatable to people, with a focus on the natural flow and conversational tone that humans typically use when communicating with each other.

Set proper expectations

Define the capabilities and limitations of the AI system explicitly. Clearly articulating what the AI can and can't do will help manage their expectations. Also, make sure they know to check the AI output for accuracy before taking actions or making decisions based on it. This prevents frustration and ensures people understand where the AI can help them (and when it can’t).

Provide contextual assistance

When AI generates recommendations or suggestions, offer clear explanations or reasoning as to why it recommended or suggested this, and provide sources used if available. This helps people understand the rationale behind the AI's suggestions, which can gain their trust and further engagement.

Continuously improve

Regularly gather feedback to improve the AI-generated content. This ongoing improvement process ensures the AI remains effective and valuable to people.

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Writing with AI

Writing the right words still involves the same steps, but AI tools can help accelerate the creation part. AI isn’t solely used for automating tasks or creating images: you can use its power to create the words in interfaces, too. You can create content like taglines, help text, and even button labels by prompting large language models (LLMs).

Tips for writing with AI

Consider these tips when you’re using AI to help you write the words.

Use it to enhance your writing, not to replace it

The key is to use AI to assist in writing the words, not completely own it. The large language models (LLMs) behind AI are good at phrasing information, so they can provide endless suggestions, particularly if they’re provided with enough context from people. However, humans are still the best at understanding other humans, including their needs and requirements.

Remember that AI is an assistant, and there always needs to be a human in the loop to review and check the content. Writing then becomes quicker as humans select the best suggestion, polish it, and implement it in their designs.

“AI will bring you a good first draft. Only humans can turn these drafts into world-class products.” — Dylan Field, CEO of Figma at Config 2023

Maintain your brand voice and style

To ensure that the AI-generated words align with your brand guidelines, you’ll need to edit its output and infuse it with your brand's personality. You can use what it gives you as a first draft, then refine it with your own creativity, context, and storytelling to add authenticity and emotional connection. This adds the human touch that AI words desperately need. (Point to voice and tone) 

Validate accuracy and relevance

AI can generate authoritative-sounding outputs that can be incorrect, incomplete, or biased. To avoid this, make sure you provide oversight and ownership over the words. This means reviewing, editing, and fact-checking them before including them in your products. Humans should be ultimately responsible and accountable for the words that end up in experiences. 

Understand your audience

When writing with AI, you need to tell it who you’re writing the words for.

If you have an understanding of your audience, you can tell the AI what language and terminology your audience uses. These factors, combined with your brand’s voice and tone, can help you get a first draft of words that are more aligned to the experience your audience expects.

Articulate what you need

Prompt authoring and engineering are how you communicate what you’re seeking to a large language model (LLM). And to get quality output from the LLM, you need to provide clear input through descriptive prompts. A good prompt includes context (background information), actions (what you want it to do for you), formatting considerations (how it should look), and tone (how it should sound).