Originally published on hvpandya.com/copywriting
Reviewing design portfolios is my favourite thing to do. Now that I am hiring actively, I also get to see a lot of portfolios every day. Outside of the usual quirks I notice in portfolios (misaligned text, wrong icon colours, padding issues…), poor copywriting is what jumps at me the most. It’s very difficult to ignore. The disregard for something so important is concerning.
But I think the issue lies in its poor understanding. In my experience, it’s not emphasized enough – not by peers, by seniors, or even leaders. It remains mostly an ignored skill. So designers are never encouraged to spend time improving it.
To those who’re reading this, I’d like to change this for them.
The dialogue
Let’s say you’re given a problem to solve. As a designer, you start thinking about the series of steps. You need some information from the user, and you’ll be presenting some information in return, to the user. All problems can roughly be broken down as information exchange between the software and the user.
You write the script for the exchange between the software and the user. And that then forms the basis of your UI you’ll eventually design. Copywriting is the manifestation of that exchange, that dialogue – not something that would come at the end.
The UI you design conforms to that script, with the copywriting becoming the coherent binding that keeps the flow of the dialogue going.
Copywriting isn’t words you fill into the space that your UI left you with.
The importance of good copywriting
Good copywriting humanizes user’s interactions with your product. It adds to user’s clarity, comfort and confidence – three immeasurable yet very critical attributes you want to maximize as a designer. Copywriting has the power to elevate a good experience to a great experience i.e. imagine a Michelin star restaurant. They not only perfect the art of cooking great food but also spend enough time and effort in designing a great interpersonal experience by training the staff to say the right things at the right time, to greet you, and to respond to you the right way.
Copywriting is that layer of professionalism and care that you can and should incorporate into your product.
Do not discount copywriting.
As someone who obsesses about copywriting as much as design. I agree with you. Copywriting is indeed a design tool that has the power to add spark to the whole experience.
I love the copy written on March Tee's website. https://www.marchtee.com/tee/men/blue
Allow me to geek out and share an article that I read recently that you might find valuable, 'How Letter Casing Affects Comprehension of UI Content' written by Vaishnav Shravan, a UX Writer at Postman.
https://uxdesign.cc/how-letter-casing-affects-comprehension-of-ui-content-34a21235cc73
Since, you are going through a lot of portfolios. I'd be interested to read and understand, what is it that is found impressive and valuable to someone who is hiring.