When I started “UX writing”, I didn’t know what it was because it didn’t have that name yet. We just called ourselves copywriters.
I also didn’t know what “digital products” were, but I was helping design them.
They say knowledge is power, and that’s never been more true when it comes to the language you use to explain what you do (aka your ux vocabulary).
Many new terms have come into our lexicon as the digital landscape evolves. And if you’re new, UX design terminology can be intimidating AF.
I know because I’ve been there.
So here’s your cheat’s guide UX glossary so you can feel more confident and impress the socks off your new client with the following UX design terms.
Ready to get stuck in?
UI UX glossary basics
UX (user experience):
- How someone interacts with and/or enjoys using a digital product such as an app, website, portal, appliance (smart TV) etc.
- The process of creating meaningful experiences for users of a digital product.
UI (user interface): These are the screens users interact with to use the products. Buttons, headers, forms, icons, and more all make up the UI of a product.
Digital products
Digital products: We’re talking mostly about apps and websites. Now don’t be fooled into thinking apps are mobile-only, there are also web versions that people use on their desktop or laptop computer. Similarly, websites can be used on mobile.
Website: As a general rule of thumb, there are two types of websites. A functional website helps people perform specific tasks like making a bank transfer or sending an email, similar to web apps. A marketing website sells stuff. The latter is the domain of a traditional copywriter.
Apps: Designed for someone to complete specific functions. All copy here is designed to help someone perform a specific task (like keeping up with your friends’ social lives, playing games, or making appointments in your calendar). Apps don’t just exist on your phone, they come in desktop versions as well. The content of apps is generally considered UX writing.
Fields/disciplines
UX writing: Designing content (often microcopy) for any functional digital product. The main goal is to guide the user through the process towards an end goal.
Copywriting: Writing for marketing materials like brochures, websites, sale pages, social media, billboards, and advertising intended to sell products, digital or otherwise.
Dive deeper into the differences (and similarities) between UX writing and copywriting.
UX copywriting: Writing digital marketing copy in a way that makes it easier for people to understand what to do in order to achieve their business goals (make more sales).
Product teams
Product teams: The groups of people who work together to build digital products.
User: The person who is interacting with the digital product on a phone, tablet or computer. Also sometimes referred to as the “end-user”. (Note, don’t refer to them as “users” within your copy.)
UX writer: The person who writes most of the words you see on any functional digital product. Their main goal is to guide the user through the process towards an end goal. They may also be responsible for aspects of the UX strategy such as information architecture, taxonomies, metadata, or content strategy.
Product Managers (PMs): These are the big-picture thinkers. They are responsible for delivering the feature or product you are working on. Business goals are important to them.
UX designers: A UX designer works alongside the UX writer to figure out how the product should function. Their goals should align completely with yours.
UI designers: The UI designer looks after the visual side of things. They’re responsible for designing components that work harmoniously across the entire product.
Front-end developers/engineers: These are the folks who code what you see, also often referred to as the user interface (UI). A common question you might ask a front-end developer: “Can we create a drop-down menu here?”
Back-end developers/engineers: These are the people responsible for information (like numbers or someone’s name) that’s stored behind the scenes of a product, like in databases and servers. A common question you might ask a back-end developer: “Can I pull that number from the back end?”
Digital product components
Button: Pressing a digital button, much like pressing a physical button, will lead the user through to the next step in the process. They contain a label called a CTA. (See below)
Form: A function that requests users’ personal information for a specific purpose.
Form field: The areas of a form where a user can input their data (e.g. name, address, credit card details) either by typing or selecting an option.
Tooltip: Little helpful messages that pop up when a user hovers over a small icon.
Empty state: Think of an empty box, it’s the same thing. Essentially it’s part of the product that should have something in there (messages, contacts, images, badges, wishlist items etc) but doesn’t yet.
Modal: A small box that can appear when a user taps a CTA, requesting another action to be taken before the original action is processed. For example, it may ask the user to confirm that they want to proceed despite not filling in certain information.
Progress bar: Shows how far along the user is in completing a process. You commonly see these during the payment/check-out process.
Breadcrumb: The type of navigation usually found at the top of a website that helps the user understand where they are on the site.
UX copy
Microcopy: This is where it gets tricky. Microcopy is any small piece of copy. This is traditionally thought of as the realm of UX writing for digital products (such as labels or tooltips), but can also appear in copywriting for marketing websites (such as CTAs, confirmation messages etc).
Get started with the Microcopy Micro Course for free now.
Variable: This is a dynamic field in UX copy that pulls information from a backend database. A common example is a number: “You have 3 items in your cart”. The number 3 here is the variable, and it will change depending on how many things you add or remove.
In this example (in English), you can also see that when there is 1 item in the cart, the word item also has to change from plural to singular. Variables can be a total pain but vastly improve the user’s experience.
CTA (Call-to-action): A short command for your users to do something, usually appearing on a button.
Information Architecture (IA): Just think of a blueprint in actual architecture, IA is the structure of all your content. To say it’s important is an understatement. If you get this bit wrong, it’ll be very hard to navigate your product.
Style guide: This is a tool that helps brands maintain a consistent tone and voice across all their published content, whether that’s internal or external. It covers more abstract things like brand voice and tone, right down to small things like Oxford commas and case preferences
Taxonomy: This has nothing to do with dead stuffed animals. Instead, it refers to the way things can be grouped together.
Take an online clothes shop, for example. You usually see things first sorted into 3 groups: mens, womens, and kids. From there, you may also be able to sort by things like price, designer, colour, size etc. These are all taxonomies.
Metadata: The descriptions for data that makes it easy for users to find what they want. For example, have you ever looked for a photo your know you downloaded but can’t remember when? If the file name looks like this 1287XXX567OIU.jpg, it would be pretty hard to find.
Now imagine you work for an online catalogue of millions of photos, and someone wants to find a picture of someone eating an ice cream cone in the 1920s. If that photo (the data) has short labels attached to it, such as a date and subject, it’s going to be a lot easier to find.
User story: This is an essential UX writing tool. Like the name suggests, it’s a brief story that gives context to the copy you’re writing. Once the copy has been defined in the original language it’s then forwarded on to the localisation teams (see below) so they have the context required.
Design process
UX research: This is the process of discovering opportunities for your product to improve. There are many, many ways to get insights into how your users interact with your product. UX copywriters then use this data to make recommendations to improve the experience.
Wireframe: These are simple drawings of how the user interface (UI) might look. They are quick and easy prototypes that look like a series of boxes, lines and labels.
Fidelity (Low/High): Refers to how polished a design is. Usually referred to on a scale of low to high. Low-fidelity being early sketches (see wireframes), and high-fidelity being almost complete renditions.
Heatmap: A research tool that shows where users are spending the most amount of time on the interface. With red representing the most popular areas fading down to blue representing the most neglected areas.
Internationalisation (i18n): Making your product suitable for localisation at scale through engineering and design.
Localisation (L10n): This is the process of transforming your copy into other languages. It goes beyond translating and considers the messaging, strategy and other technical requirements of the copy.
A/B testing: Also known as split testing, this is how you can accurately see which version of your copy is most effective. To test accurately, two or more variants should be significantly different while everything else about the experience remains the same.
Over to you…
This is really just the beginning. I’ll continue to add to this list over time. Leave a comment if there’s something you’d like to see added or if there’s anything you’re unclear about.
Ps. I used the below sources to fact-check and reference this post (they are not affiliates). However, I chose these articles because they aligned with my experience. Terms do tend to vary depending on what country you’re in (in Australia, I’ve noticed developers often get called engineers, for example), so I’d love to hear any different terms you’ve come across in your career.
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