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Content Designer✍🏼UX Writer✏️Content Strategist🧠Video Maker📽Lover of commas & keyframes

Ask me anything (about storytelling in UX writing): ❓ Have questions? I'll answer them! If you want to know more about #UXWriting#ContentDesign#ContentStrategy, career transitions, or anything else, send me your questions. I'll respond in a post like this. You can leave questions as comments below, or you can message me. I hope this project helps anyone who's curious about the field. If you want to know more about something, there's a good chance other people have similar thoughts. Hope to hear from you! 😄 *** Q: Do you believe storytelling is a vital component of UX writing? If storytelling is vital, why do you think other writing disciplines (besides UX writing) minimize its importance? A: Yes, storytelling is a vital component of UX writing. In fact, when discussing topics related to this field, I'm not sure we place enough emphasis on it. After all, we want anyone who uses our products to be the hero of their journey. We want to guide someone through the beginning, middle, and end of what they're trying to accomplish within our experiences. Storytelling takes many forms. In my old life, I wrote stories that were more than 2,000 words. Those included storytelling elements. My current job is different. But I keep a narrative arc in mind when helping with designs for a flow. "Does going from Point A to Point B here make sense?" "Are the transitions between screens what someone would expect?" "Is there a satisfying conclusion after all the time someone invested in an action?" Regarding your second question, I can only share what I've seen in the digital media world. It comes down to financial considerations and modern reading habits. Media organizations study what’s read. They optimize content and shape strategies that react to how their work is consumed. These days, many people prefer bite-sized content that tends to include a strong opinion, regardless of whether they agree with the opinion shared. When you think about this deeper, it's much cheaper for organizations to produce these links than to invest time and money in long, in-depth pieces that might not perform as well online as 400-word posts about trending topics. It's debatable whether this is a good development. That's not to say storytelling isn't valued at all. Many organizations do cool things in different forms: long-form narratives, documentaries, and more. But as reader habits have changed, I think storytelling has been devalued to some extent. We've seen a rise in cost-effective content that caters to how many people read today. (Thanks to Dex A. for the question!)

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Andrew Astleford

Content Designer✍🏼UX Writer✏️Content Strategist🧠Video Maker📽Lover of commas & keyframes

2y

See the previous posts 👇 Gaining experience as a UX writer: https://bit.ly/3a1mV8x UX writing voices to follow: https://bit.ly/3iqzzT7 Rebranding to break into UX writing: https://bit.ly/3ioUar4 Nontraditional entrances into UX writing: https://bit.ly/2ZnCuVX

Dex A.

Storytelling is my vibe! 💯

2y

Amazing insight, Andrew. I agree that a narrative arc is part of the user’s journey. Much like brand’s have particular archetypes, it is vital to tell their story effectively in all channels. This way it resonates well to their audience. Thank you so much for answering my question, Andrew.

Nancy Amandi

Data Engineer | Analytics Engineer | Data Technical Writer

2y

Thank you. I want to ask a question: Do UX writers just work on copies before the launch of a product or they work even after the product has been launched.

Theophilus OGUNDEJI

UX Writer | I help brands profit by designing content that solves user needs while causing a higher conversion and retention rate to reduce the cost of acquiring new ones. Brands & Users win when I'm involved.

2y

Andrew, does this mean, storytelling in ux is actually more of a tool for "why you make your copy choices," and not necessarily, always "included in the copy itself?"

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