As difficult as it is to describe tables and graphic elements in books for blind or visually impaired readers, as difficult is it to explain what I do. Until now. Because I just read a text about a UX writer, and it fits!
User experience, or UX, is fairly new. When I started my career in early 2000, we talked about multimedia and created CD-ROMs. The program of the hour was Director. (How cool it was to be able to make things move across the screen!) Next, Flash and resizable/scalable images meant a revolution in web design. As people got more and more connected on the World Wide Web, eventually the user’s experience came into focus.
UX in the Early 2000s
Back then, a friend of mine created their own role and called it Production Manager. It was an assistant role, meaning you helped the project manager, the graphic designer, and the team in every way you could. And it involved what we today call user experience tasks.
I followed that same path, but in 2009 I filled the role of production manager for the last time. By then it had changed into becoming an assistant mainly to the project manager. The fun and creative tasks had been taken over by a “real” UX manager, and I wasn’t too happy about it. However, I didn’t understand what a UX designer was. Just that it wasn’t for me.
Why I Now Call Myself a UX Writer
A user experience (UX) writer creates copy for websites, apps, and other digital products to help users navigate the product. In the role of a UX writer, you might find the words for menus, definitions, chatbots, labels, buttons, and error messages, or the instructions to guide users through a product—the small pieces of writing collectively called “microcopy.”
Source: www.coursera.org
At SIXT, I worked closely with the CRM team in localisation, which entailed translating newsletters or UX texts for the SIXT app. Both tasks became more complex with time because not only did I have to translate, but I also had to make sure the texts were short, snappy, and easily understandable in my native language. A challenging balancing act. Speaking of acts …
European Accessibility Act
Since describing tables, graphics, photos, etc., in books for the visually impaired is all about the user, I realised that my work is, in fact, about the user’s experience. The most difficult task ever is writing short, easily understandable, and to the point. And nobody who hasn’t tried it knows how hard it can be to describe visuals to those who can’t see.
UX and accessibility go hand in hand. Accessibility will become even more important after June 2025, when the European Accessibility Act comes into effect: “[…] a directive that aims to improve the functioning of the internal market for accessible products and services, by removing barriers created by divergent rules in Member States.”.
If companies don’t comply, it may cost them a lot of money. But it doesn’t have to come to that. I can help, because I’m a UX writer.
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Photo: Karl Solano on Unsplash
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