UX Writing Challenge — Write a 'How it Works' Component for a Product

Scenario: Pretend you work for a competitor to Slack. Your users are mostly busy professionals. The analytics team has determined that not enough users are making it from the homepage to the product. Marketing thinks adding a “how it works” component to the homepage will help with conversions, and they’d like a UX writer to write it.

Challenge: Write a “How it works” section of a homepage for a paid product (2-week free trial) that allows users to integrate all of their social networks, email accounts, and chat apps into one interface.

Constraints: You can write whatever you want, but the entirety of the message must not take up more than the top half of an iPhone SE (320 px width, 300 px height)

Tip: How it works modules are all the rage, aren’t they? If you want to keep it simple, you can stick to a pretty standard “3-up” format: three headlines and three sub-headlines stacked on top of one another.

Or try something fun and kind of “out there” This life is about you, after all.

Here’s an article I wrote if you have no idea what the hell I’m talking about.

What else is new:

Rhiannon Jones from Deliveroo wrote a fantastic piece last month about tone in UX Writing, I highly suggest you check it out.

Patrick Stafford and I sat down last week and had a spirited discussion about how boring UX writing really is for the “Writers of Silicon Valley” podcast.

We also talked about Astronauts, video games and at some point during the podcast (I’m not sure of the minute mark) I blurted out that I’m a “29 year old ex-punk rock drummer” and that you shouldn’t listen to to me. Ever.

Which is factually inaccurate: I haven’t been 29 for close to a decade, the rest is true.

Until next time gang.

Ryan

TL;DR is a blog about how to write short, effective copy for user interfaces and digital products. Brought to you by Ryan Farrell, maker of Daily UX Writing. Follow on Twitter.