It’s been a month since the shelter-in-place took effect in San Jose, and thankfully everyone in my house is still talking to each other. 😁 I knew this might mean a lot of extra downtime, so I picked up some design and writing books I’d been wanting to read for a while now.
I have a UX & design books list on Amazon that I regularly share with newer UX writers to give them a sense of the kind of thinking that’ll be required of them ahead, but I decided to treat myself to a few too. The 5 I bought are:
Writing is Designing, by Michael J. Metts and Andy Welfie
The Design of Everyday Things, by Don Norman
100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People, by Susan M. Weinschenk, Ph.D.
Content Strategy for the Web, Second Edition, by Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach
Dear Data, A Friendship in 52 Weeks of Postcards, by Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec
I started with Writing is Designing, because UX writers and product content strategists are being called content designers now at places like Slack, Netflix, and Atlassian. Does the new title mean we need new skills, or is it a new name for a familiar role? Seems a little of both, really. I’ve noticed in writing tests and job descriptions lately that it isn’t just enough to develop copy docs and style guides — writers are increasingly being asked to conceptualize and fix flows and wireframes, to steer the product requirements like a PM (product manager), and to be an active, driving force throughout the entire design thinking process. The stakes are definitely higher for seasoned UX writers, which makes me wonder how newer UX writers are faring on these tests. More on that ahead.
What are you reading lately? 📚