UX Writing and Hip Hop: A Love Story

Contributed by Wike Walkusky

Overview

In his presentation "UX Writing and Hip Hop: A Love Story," Mike Walkusky identifies four surprising commonalities between two distinct genres of writing, user experience (UX) and hip hop:

1. Voice
2. Storytelling
3. Collaboration
4. Empathy

Walkusky uses Mint—the product from Intuit that he currently writes content for—and Childish Gambino—an American actor and hip hop artist—to demonstrate those commonalities. Walkusky begins by emphasizing the important of voice in UX writing. Voice dictates who you are as a product/brand. Without a coherent voice, customers may not view your product/brand as authentic, and they'll likely gravitate towards other products/brands that deliver that desired authenticity. For hip hop artists, their voice is what delivers their messages. Their voice includes elements such as their actual delivery and their lyrics. Much like UX writers, hip hop artists must adhere to authenticity and transparency if they want their fans to listen to their message. While authenticity is a core element of a success voice, a product/brand or hip hop artist's voice can change over time, as long as it is done in a thoughtful and organic way.

Through these coherent voices, both UX writers and hip hop artists can tell their stories. The story is what leads the customers and listeners to the end goal. For UX writers, this end goal is generally the sucessful use of a product and/or documentation. For hip hop artists, this end goal is the assimilation of their intended message. Storytelling, then, is an essential component for both genres of writing. Without effective storytelling, UX writers will not reach their intended audiences, and hip hop artists will not have their unique experiences heard by others.

Both genres of writing also require signficant collaboration. Within UX, collaboration occurs between product designers, other writers, and cross-functional teams. Within hip hop, collaboration occurs between producers, other rappers, as well as the fans and media. Collaboration requires mutual respect and trust, and it also enables both UX writers and hip hop artists to create products that they would have otherwise not be able to create alone.

Finally, both UX writing and hip hop emphasize the importance of empathy. Within UX writing, empathy allows writers to better understand their customer needs, meet those customers where they are at, and empower them to make the best decisions for themselves. Within hip hop, the audience can emphathize and understand with the unique perspective of each artist, and the audiences gain insight into situations that they may never experience first-hand.

Key Takeaways

For technical communicators, Walkusky provides a few important takeaways. First, even for something as technical as help documentation for a specific product, audiences want to take part in a conversation. Rather than talking at customers, UX writers (and technical communicators in general) should write in a way to talk with their audience. For Walkusky's work on Mint, this meant creating a more empowering coach voice that leads the audience through a guided conversation about their finances.

Second, technical communicators must thoroughly understand their audience. Depending on the product/brand, audiences will have a unique set of needs, wants, and problems. In order to create documentation that best suits those needs, wants, and problems, technical communicators must engage in thorough research and analysis of all potential audiences. Without proper research and analysis, the product/brand's voice will not be aligned to their audience, and their documentation will ultimately be ineffective. Not only does this deter audiences from engaging with a specific product, but it may also deter audiences from engaging with future products from the same brand.

Finally, technical communicators can change their product/brand's voice; thus, they can change the brand/product itself. Certainly, consistency in voice and messaging is valued by an audience. However, as demonstrated by the examples of Mint and Childish Gambino, voices can effectively evolve as long as the authors are transparent, authentic, and honest towards their audiences. Sometimes, old audiences may be lost in the evolution, but newer audiences can be gained through an effective evolution. If a larger audience is desired, an evolution in voice is often necessary.

Reflection

While watching this presentation, I was immediately reminded of a key message from Redish. When I write for the web, I need to frame my writing as a conversation with my audience. To do that, I need to first understand my audience (empathy) through research, analysis, and the creation of user personas. I need to put myself in my audience's shoes:

• What do they need from my writing?
• What questions will they ask first?
• How would they want their questions to be answered?

By answering these types of questions, I can better facilitate an effective conversation with my writing.

Walkusky's notion of "voice" also reminded me of our work with the Minnesota Austin Healey Club (MAHC). MAHC wanted recommendations for their website redesign, but they also wanted to maintain the club's classic, charming voice in the redesign process. In other words, they wanted to remain authentic to their original audience, but they also wanted to organically update their voice to attract new audiences. I believe Walkusky's emphasis on an organic and authetic evolution of voice makes much more sense when reflecting on our work with MAHC. In future designs, I will remember the importance of voice in building a brand/product identity.

For a long time, I often associated technical communication with relatively dry documentation. That is, until recently, I had no considered the space for my own voice in technical writing. While technical information must be presented clearly, concisely, and professionally, Walkusky's presentation reminded me that a causal tone can be effective, too. Essentially, I am slowly realizing that technical communication and the various genres of writing nested within it all require a dynamic approach to writing. There's no one set of universal standards that defines effective technical communication, and I now realize how much potential there is for creativity in my future work.