Learn to write. User experience is about communication.

Today this article by Derek Powazek on Alistapart.com reminded me how far I’ve come in my career. At previous jobs I would wait until I had received the content from the client before I would start a design. Then I would get SO frustrated when the content that I received was not well written or appropriate for the audience. Often it seemed the content wasn’t truly thought out. At one point, I vowed never again to work for a company that did not have a full-time writer on staff.

I felt that I if had worked so hard to do a great job with the design, the quality of the content should be just as good. Sometimes I felt like I was building this beautiful container for people to just dump crap into. It made me feel disillusioned and hopeless.

But then it all changed. Many years ago, shortly after I started my current job, my manager called me over to his desk and said “I need you to design some pages for this new website.” “Sure! Where’s the content?” I asked. He told me to make it up. I was shocked! We had writers on staff. Wouldn’t they be involved? After all, that was their job, not mine. But it was conceptual work. The real project hadn’t started yet. I soon got used to making up my own content as I went along when quick conceptual sketches were required.

Now when I design, I ponder every last little word. Not only do I think about color and type hierarchy, I also think about what each and every little word communicates to the user. Content is equally as important as design. One supports the other. The two go hand-in-hand to communicate a message. You will see it during usability testing. Content can be as much of a usability issue as a bad design. Perhaps a user didn’t know what a tab name meant. Or they didn’t understand the instructions for how to use a new product.

I totally agree with Derek Powazek that user experience is not just visual design, but content as well. As you are crafting your next design, think about how the user will react to the words that are being chosen. Will they understand how to navigate the site and where to find the information they need?

Don’t be afraid to make a suggestion if you think that something could be communicated more clearly. And if you aren’t given any content? Think of it as a gift! This is your opportunity to craft a new strategy for the site, perhaps taking it in a new direction by creating an entirely new experience for the user through both words and design.