The Dash: Why is “Learn more” everywhere?

This is the published edition of our weekly UX writer and UX writing newsletter, The Dash. Sign up to The Dash to have these updates sent straight to your inbox!

“Learn more” is not enough yet it’s everywhere on the internet. So what makes a CTA actually helpful? This week’s Dash explores just that. Plus our new course is almost here: UX Writing for Technical Writers. It’s time technical audiences got some user experience love. Coming next week. Until then…

“Learn more” is not enough. Are your CTAs serving a specific purpose or are they acting more like fillers? Alice Chen makes the case for why descriptive CTAs are more accessible, SEO-friendly, and contribute to an overall better UX. We refuse to say learn more so we’ll instead say read the latest over on our blog. 

Ask the experts… part two recap. In this Q&A webinar, Patrick Stafford covers your burning career Qs — including everything from your role as a UX writer to working cross-functionally with design teams. Watch the replay.

How Figma’s principal UX writer is helping build design software that UX writers love. In this episode of the Writers of Silicon Valley podcast, Chris Baty shares his experience joining Figma, what it’s like working as a team of one, and the work he’s doing to make Figma an exceptional tool for UX writers everywhere. Get it where you get your podcasts.

How Robinhood handled a crisis. Hint: Not well. What can we learn from the stock trading app’s actions (or inactions) during the recent GameStop debacle? Lack of context, explanation, and user empathy only made matters worse. This is a perfect example of why UX matters in a crisis. 

How to structure and present your UX portfolio. The infamous interview portfolio presentation. If just thinking about this gives you anxiety, just know you’re not alone. It all boils down to showing that you can articulate your ideas, processes, and concepts. Need inspiration? UXfolio has your back.

Building a copy collaboration workflow. Since launch, the Ditto team has talked with 200+ organizations about their internal copy collab processes. Their key finding? Copy is end-to-end and should be treated as such. Read on to see their learnings on the state of copy workflows, challenges teams face, and strategies for tackling them.

We value your privacy (at about $0.50). Shady euphemisms. Humbug headers. Self-serving syntax. This post from Prototypr.io highlights the pervasive use of sneaky and strategic dark patterns. 

How not being a native English speaker makes me a better UX writer. Companies often list “native English speaker” as a job requirement but are they missing out on first-class writing talent? We think so. This blog post by Dragana Milovanovic is an important reminder why not being a native English speaker makes you perfect for user experience writing roles. And key to that is pure human empathy.

Convo Design Corner

Alexa’s body. If you watched the Super Bowl (or just caught up on the ads like us), you may have seen this spicy Amazon commercial featuring Alexa’s new body: Michael B. Jordan. We won’t give anything away, so you can watch it for yourself.

Progressive gives voice to Flo’s chatbot. Interested to see how Progressive’s iconic spokesperson comes to life in chat? Check out this interview with Matt White, technology and innovation manager at Progressive.

Three examples of context-aware voice design. How does Google Assistant modify its interactions based on who it’s communicating with and what time they are communicating? Thanks to Brielle Nickoloff at Botmock for this post.

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