June Caldwell – senior UX writer and content designer

No one wants to read a long page when they are trying to get something done. They want to scan it, or skip ahead.

I recently reviewed a piece of content that had been worked on by three different content designers over 10 months. The issue they kept facing was that the text was clunky, but it was there for clinical safety purposes.

Iteration 1 was due to a last minute requirement. Long, dense, hard to scan.

Iteration 2 was better structured. It slightly reduced cognitive load, but still didn’t test well.

Iteration 3:
– put the essential message upfront
– moved most of supporting detail into expanders
– let users choose whether to read more

This made the screen:
– far less overwhelming
– easier to scan
– better for user experience

Content does not get better in one go. It gets better through iteration and fresh eyes.

Sometimes the biggest improvement is not re-writing. It’s re-thinking how much users actually need to see to complete their task.