How to create Microcopy?

1. Start from the user’s perspective

So the Microcopy process starts when design team first designs the user interface and then they send a message to the UX team for the microcopy for the user interface. Now it is very tempting for designers to get right into the words, figure out which words we should use and how to phrase them. But that’s not the most efficient way to write the microcopy so take a step back and look at the big picture. Look at the user experience. Think through what the user is trying to accomplish in that moment. Think about what emotions the user is feeling at that moment.

2. Write short and effective copies

Next step after taking the bigger picture into account is to write the individual copies. For example, if you are introducing a new feature, the user is probably curious or they are skeptical about it. So next step is to think through what’s the user’s state of mind at that point and choose the words that match that emotion and the task they are trying to accomplish. Whereas if it’s an error message, then the user is probably in a frustrated frame of mind. And they do not want a chatty, enthusiastic microcopy. What they want is professional help to solve their problem and move on with their task.

3. Feedback and Iterate

The final step involves taking the feedback from all the stakeholders in the project and make appropriate changes accordingly. Also most of the designers take user interviews and implement them into their Microcopies as a part of this step. At this point, our final Microcopy is completely ready to handover to other teams in the organization.

Microcopies decide the fate of the design. To some, this may sound an exaggeration but Microcopies do play a very crucial role in the user experience which is crucial for a good design. Microcopies are short phrases in the user interface that help the users figure out what’s happening on the screen and how to perform actions on the interface. Collectively these short phrases decide the user experience and the user’s journey through the application or website. In this article, we will discuss what Microcopy is. And what is the role of Microcopy in Enhancing User Experience?