Microcopy. Short bits of text that tell key things to people all on their own. A little note that says when a garden is open on a particular day, a text telling a seller their stock won't show because the site is down for maintenance, an error message screaming your password must contain a haiku. It's hard — this guide is about how to edit it. It's not about other text like button labels, brand slogans or long form articles.

### 1. Cut fillers

We must hook the reader. The more words, the weaker the message and chance of their attention. Axe these:

* very or really — used for emphasis but weakens the adjective

* might, may or could — commit, don't hedge your bets

* that — most of the time you can remove

* adverbs e.g. readily — they weaken the sentence

* please — if you've an action, please implies a choice

Cutting takes us from:

> Please use a very strong password that has 12 characters and may include an asterisk.

to:

> Enter a 12 character password with an asterisk.

### 2. Swap long for short

People used Saxon words before the Romans introduced Latin. They're easier to understand and shorter in characters:

* improve → better

* assist → help

* repair → fix

* purchase → buy

### 3. Check formats

Computer output isn't always easy to read, so use:

* worded dates over digits — 24 Sep over 24.09 — the variety in character height is a useful signal

* digits over words for numbers — 1 over one

* lower case am or pm over military time — it's how we talk, the difference in letter height makes for easier reading and people don't have to do arithmetic

> What time do you want to meet? Seventeen hundred hours ok?

### 4. Use active voice

Active voice states the action and who does it. It signifies ownership. And it's easier to relate because it's natural in speech — this strengthens the message.

Passive:

> Slack was broken by the parrot emoji.

Active:

> The parrot emoji broke Slack.

### 5. Use neutral phrases

Use neutral phrases to avoid excluding a diverse population:

* we understand you instead of we hear you, we see you or we'll reach out to you

* folks or all instead of guys or other gendered collectivisms

### 6. Be positive

If the message is negative, recruit or anticipate the reader's needs to add a positive spin:

> The website is down but you'll have access to your tools in 5 minutes

### 7. Avoid punctuation

Skip punctuation for simpler sentences if possible. A rogue comma can change the entire meaning.

### 8. Sandwich matters

There's too much stuff going on to remember things, so start with a key word or phrase. If there's a call to action, put it at the end of the sentence or message so they read it last.

This is a non-exhaustive list and only a guide — where a suggestion doesn't apply to your text, don't include it. Just make every word count.

How to edit microcopy

### Nick Carter, Head of Design

I worked with Nick in 2021 in different teams at Candide and in 2022 as my line manager.

> I have worked with Oli in a number of different contexts at Candide, most recently as his direct manager. \
> \
> Oli is a thoughtful and considered designer who maintains the focus on the user throughout his work. His ability to research, articulate and advocate for their needs has been central to the direction and development of our products during his time here. When embarking on new work he ensures the problem we are solving is framed correctly, even under tight time constraints. His thorough documentation of process has increased communication and knowledge sharing within a hybrid working environment. \
> \
> Oli is able to take the lead on projects across the entire process – from discovery to delivery – which has been invaluable during a time of strategic change and reduced capacity. Alongside this, he has a keen interest in personal development, seeking peer feedback and training to develop his skillset.\
> \
> Above all, he's a thoroughly nice chap and an asset to the team.

### Matt Benton, Senior Software Developer

I worked with Matt in 2022 in the same team at Candide

> I always have a great time working with Oli at Candide. He has a deep understanding of our customers, and uses that to design simple solutions that meet their needs. He consistently not only produces great designs, but brings the team along in his processes, effectively finding solutions to any time or engineering constraints. I'd recommend working with Oli to anyone.

### Giles Currington, Design Lead

I worked with Giles in 2021 in the same team at Candide

> Oli is great at distilling complex ideas down and explaining them in ways everyone can understand. His thorough and precise approach to exploring problems, framing opportunities, and creating solutions made him a joy to work with, and his empathetic, approachable nature mean he’s a natural advocate for the user, seeking feedback and input on concepts and prototypes early and often.
>
> His awareness of the importance of language in shaping an experience, and skill in writing and working with words and UX copy, lend his design work a clear, human voice. His deep understanding of UX best practices was integral to designing successful products that meet user needs, and he is a strong proponent of good design and research practice
>
> I would love the opportunity to work with Oli again, and know that he would be a stellar addition to any product team.

### Simon Safhalter, Team Lead - JavaScript Developer

I worked with Simon in 2018 in the same team at Masabi

> Personally, for me, as a Front-End developer, it's really important to have a good and nice designer to work with. The collaboration between these roles is crucial in order to be successfully developing the product experience, flow and interfaces in an effective and future-proof way. Oli was all that and more. Really nice person to work with, amazing design skills and understands very well the web development intricacies.

### Terry O'Brien, Senior Front End Developer

I worked with Terry in 2017 in different teams at NewDay

> I worked with Oli on several projects and he was a pleasure to work with. Being a front end developer, I needed to work well with Oli to transform his designs into working web pages. He was always thinking about the user to ensure they had the best experience throughout. It was refreshing to work with a designer who considered web accessibility ensuring colour contrast, font sizes, touch points and hover/focus states were included in designs.

More recommendations on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/olibatstone/).

Kind words from colleagues

### Summary

We built a way to use our fare collection technology in partner apps, driving ticket sales for our client RTD by 39.2% and Uber trips in Denver starting or ending at a transport station by 11.6%. Working with a product manager, four developers and a QA developer, I contributed all product, research, UX and UI design work in 2018.

### The need

We created a version of our fare collection app for every client, matching their brand and identity. To reach customers in new markets, we needed to integrate our tech with non-client apps starting with Uber. This meant creating a universal ticket interface that could fit inside non-client apps and propagate to our existing client ones - this way we'd maintain one codebase.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FXmNauEGdvAM7detSXSc7DrWIfKF3%2FH19kNLmTcixXISYVhfMj%2F98c43bea-2fa4-43b5-ba24-faa83c287e06.jpg?alt=media&token=575e749c-c0df-4522-b0c3-7d34f875a3b0","id":"98c43bea-2fa4-43b5-ba24-faa83c287e06","width":1495,"height":815,"filename":"athens-app-example.jpg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"Client app UI for Transport for Athens","border":false}]}
```

### Conductor problems

We talked to key clients to understand how we might design this ticket. MTA told us how train conductors had to ask customers to open their ticket barcode in the app for scanning. How they had to ask them to scroll to show their ticket image. And how it meant they couldn't scan every customers ticket moving through the train. Some customers would turn off the internet on their device to use a single ticket multiple times.

### Scrolling pains

For the scale we needed, the ticket had to be part of an SDK. But we realised the SDK won't know the size of the viewport it's displayed in. So I couldn't design a responsive ticket UI to modify the layout when content is hidden - we couldn't eliminate scrolling all the time. In any case, while every conductor needed to scan the barcode, not all needed to see a ticket image.

### The new ticket

We tightened elements, regrouped them and hid secondary ones to reduce the chance of scroll. To tell conductors they should examine a ticket, we used the space either side of the now always visible QR code to mark the ticket - this appeared at random. Conductors could use this symbol to explain to customers that this is a random check to avoid discrimination accusations. The final product had other improvements like preventing accidental activation and increased legibility.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FXmNauEGdvAM7detSXSc7DrWIfKF3%2FH19kNLmTcixXISYVhfMj%2F80087f1e-3c5b-4f72-b224-24096f2b1707.png?alt=media&token=11b0264b-8faf-4213-8f06-1d814bfcb07b","id":"80087f1e-3c5b-4f72-b224-24096f2b1707","width":1340,"height":1000,"filename":"MTA-old-and-new-ticketUI.png","type":"image/png","caption":"MTA Ticket UI comparison","border":false}]}
```

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FXmNauEGdvAM7detSXSc7DrWIfKF3%2FH19kNLmTcixXISYVhfMj%2F66b75c02-45c7-4736-a67d-697c4de6a488.png?alt=media&token=78558f21-0724-4629-8afc-9bde19039181","id":"66b75c02-45c7-4736-a67d-697c4de6a488","width":2918,"height":864,"filename":"MTA-new-ticket-wireflow.png","type":"image/png","caption":"Wireflow of MTA's new activation and use experience","border":false}]}
```

### Impact

We launched the SDK in May 2019, first to RTD Denver, Uber and later MTA. Conductors gave positive feedback with scanning time improved - we didn't get data on the impact of the ticket marker, but concluded no news was good news! We then staggered the rollout to the rest of our clients across the world. Our client Thames Clippers partnered with Uber to incorporate their boat tickets into the Uber app.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FXmNauEGdvAM7detSXSc7DrWIfKF3%2FH19kNLmTcixXISYVhfMj%2F88cc870d-7c56-45bb-bd14-4d3fe194d74c.jpg?alt=media&token=bdd6d104-fc37-4090-ab42-636679f973ef","id":"88cc870d-7c56-45bb-bd14-4d3fe194d74c","width":1568,"height":782,"filename":"SDK-in-Uber-RTD-screens.jpg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"RTD Denver's ticket UI in Uber via our SDK","border":false}]}
```

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FXmNauEGdvAM7detSXSc7DrWIfKF3%2FH19kNLmTcixXISYVhfMj%2Fbf552121-134f-4911-9c34-286fe6bed279.png?alt=media&token=c899bd50-9cf9-4c70-aed5-7d952f2cdd23","id":"bf552121-134f-4911-9c34-286fe6bed279","width":3018,"height":1542,"filename":"new-ticket-app-examples.png","type":"image/png","caption":"New ticket UI in client apps from Italy, the Netherlands and the UK","border":false}]}
```

### Learnings

Working with many large external groups meant the iterative feedback loop took a lot longer. When estimating timelines, I'll do more initial investigation for a better idea of what can be done.

Thanks for reading. If you'd like more info on this project, send me an email at [hi@olibatstone.com](http://mailto:hi@olibatstone.com).

Mobility as a Service

### Summary

We launched a garden membership gifting service, driving £32k revenue over Xmas 2021 and unblocking 13 gardens from partnering with us. Working with a product manager, four developers and a data scientist, I contributed all product, user research, UX and UI design work in 2021.

### The need

Gardens use gifting for back up cash to tide them over until spring. It was a must have feature for 13 of the 18 gardens we wanted to partner with. And a hundred support messages since Dec 2020 told us the customers of our primary client, the Newt, wanted to gift a membership too.

### It's nice to have something physical

I interviewed 5 people who'd gifted a digital membership in the last year, and 5 who'd received one. They told us they preferred physical gifts, in part out of concern for older people not being able to use digital ones, and because they're more meaningful.

> It's nice to have something physical to give somebody - my dad is pretty good, but my mum isn't technologically minded. — Sarah, 49

The challenge was to convince a prospective gifter even the most elderly parent could receive and use it, design an experience where that was true, and create a digital gift that feels as meaningful as a physical one. I ran two team workshops to discuss this, talk technical needs and generate solution ideas to vote on.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FXmNauEGdvAM7detSXSc7DrWIfKF3%2FOHze3VIkzFs7ZFXnGKT9%2Fc8d296e1-2266-4c24-8a67-ff88f9ebe58d.jpg?alt=media&token=f50a3752-313c-4789-98ce-3f72acd85d9d","id":"c8d296e1-2266-4c24-8a67-ff88f9ebe58d","width":2000,"height":1250,"filename":"voted-opportunities-and-ideas-post-its.jpg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"Voted opportunities and ideas post-its","border":false}]}
```

### Digital and meaningful

We chose a multi-step flow asking gifters all we could to minimise work for receivers. We added a pre-start link to the receiving process so that a concerned gifter could check before entering the flow. To add emotional value, we supported personal messages and nicknames for v1.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FXmNauEGdvAM7detSXSc7DrWIfKF3%2FOHze3VIkzFs7ZFXnGKT9%2F90dff2b8-0b6b-4e22-9128-ff310e5c1126.jpg?alt=media&token=01c88d5c-0328-45d9-a7a7-bef0066582c6","id":"90dff2b8-0b6b-4e22-9128-ff310e5c1126","width":2000,"height":1250,"filename":"storymap-of-gifting-to-two-adults.jpg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"Storymap of gifting to two adults","border":false}]}
```

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FXmNauEGdvAM7detSXSc7DrWIfKF3%2FOHze3VIkzFs7ZFXnGKT9%2F831f977e-3df9-4950-b7a1-0b4afac569fa.jpg?alt=media&token=36482fd6-2009-47c5-9867-2be36e310da2","id":"831f977e-3df9-4950-b7a1-0b4afac569fa","width":3072,"height":1456,"filename":"key-screens-for-gifting-to-two-adults.jpg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"Key screens for gifting to two adults","border":false}]}
```

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FXmNauEGdvAM7detSXSc7DrWIfKF3%2FOHze3VIkzFs7ZFXnGKT9%2F5428c30c-2cd9-4a8e-b0e1-f0615140a68d.jpg?alt=media&token=6d13fc79-49eb-46a7-8703-4e2c92e70648","id":"5428c30c-2cd9-4a8e-b0e1-f0615140a68d","width":3072,"height":1500,"filename":"key-receiving-screens-for-two-adults.jpg","type":"image/jpeg","caption":"Key receiving screens for two adults","border":false}]}
```

### Impact

We launched in Nov 2021. Customers bought 505 gifts between Dec 2021 and Feb 2022. 92% of those added a personal message suggesting no need for an additional meaningful gift. And 8 out of 10 over 65 year olds who received a gift from younger groups in Mar 2022 rated it very easy in a survey.

### Learnings

Days after launch we noticed that 40% had sent it the same day rather than a specific date, so we added a send now feature. It was interesting to think about positioning the instant nature of it as a selling point - as a benefit over physical gifts and targeting last minute buyers.

### Next

One of our v2 solution ideas was to show the gifting process as an inline video or gif to aid discovery and engage passive visitors.

Thanks for reading. If you'd like more info on this project, send me an email at [hi@olibatstone.com](http://mailto:hi@olibatstone.com).

The Gift of Gardens

### Summary

We refreshed the home page in March 2022, turning it into a destination and improving bounce rate by -5% over a two week period. Working with four developers and a data scientist, I shared contribution of product, research, UX and UI work with another designer in 2022.

### The need

Our home page didn't reflect the garden visitation proposition since exiting the marketplace business. We needed to reinvent Candide as a destination to drive our core goals of 200 clients and increased ticket revenue by 2023.

### Who visited the website

My colleague and I collected 85 survey responses via Hotjar to understand existing user needs. Most common were accessing ticket products, second discovering new gardens, and third getting help.

### How do people plan days out?

We then interviewed 5 people to learn why they visited a public garden and how they chose it. We noted a conflation of gardens and parks with price as a blocker for people used to free green spaces. And that people started their search with Google Maps and other curation services.

The key challenges were selling Candide to first time users, engaging passive users with gardens they could visit and making it easy for prospective clients to find the information they need to partner with us.

### Spotlight on discovery

We ported and re-organised the existing garden discovery content hidden in depth pages. For active visitors, we promoted search in visual hierarchy and functionality to get to a specific garden faster. For passive visitors we showed nearby gardens and encouraged garden tourism with nearby and popular regions. Working with marketing, we designed dynamic hero and editorial cards to inspire passive visitors and encourage repeat visits.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FXmNauEGdvAM7detSXSc7DrWIfKF3%2Frrj5IJTkEi3up90ffekF%2Fa2706367-80a0-4c56-830e-8a0064af85c9.png?alt=media&token=91123aaf-2df5-4668-b076-7774880b3393","id":"a2706367-80a0-4c56-830e-8a0064af85c9","width":2146,"height":1448,"filename":"Screenshot 2022-05-02 at 17.42.43.png","type":"image/png","caption":"Final home page design comps at different viewport sizes","border":false}]}
```

### Refreshing the brand

We developed the brand identity to match our new value proposition. With upcoming priorities, we knew we wouldn't have the opportunity to do this retrospectively so included it as part of later project phases.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FXmNauEGdvAM7detSXSc7DrWIfKF3%2Frrj5IJTkEi3up90ffekF%2F44721067-3bac-40b4-90f3-bd8b9da86abc.png?alt=media&token=a8da46e3-0b02-4ae1-95e7-0b58b8db8613","id":"44721067-3bac-40b4-90f3-bd8b9da86abc","width":1644,"height":1444,"filename":"Screenshot 2022-05-02 at 14.59.49.png","type":"image/png","caption":"An exploration of hero, nearby gardens and editorial card sections","border":false}]}
```

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FXmNauEGdvAM7detSXSc7DrWIfKF3%2Frrj5IJTkEi3up90ffekF%2F3ef66c6b-1db2-405c-99ad-1eaefc0108a7.png?alt=media&token=0ce84635-9712-4e22-98d4-0d2e890b1c24","id":"3ef66c6b-1db2-405c-99ad-1eaefc0108a7","width":2098,"height":1120,"filename":"Screenshot 2022-05-02 at 14.57.35.png","type":"image/png","caption":"Iterating on hero layouts in core Candide colour ideas","border":false}]}
```

I gave design updates to depth pages to match the visual language of the home page. We had to deprioritise these due to challenges with team capacity.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FXmNauEGdvAM7detSXSc7DrWIfKF3%2Frrj5IJTkEi3up90ffekF%2F3adbe027-7585-4c9e-825d-c60130522d9f.png?alt=media&token=3a933800-3f70-4f0b-9191-bb5da6b6a65f","id":"3adbe027-7585-4c9e-825d-c60130522d9f","width":2132,"height":1564,"filename":"Screenshot 2022-05-02 at 15.17.37.png","type":"image/png","caption":"Refreshed garden map featuring adjusted garden cards","border":false}]}
```

### Impact

The first version of the home page featuring the new hero, support cards and nearby garden and regional carousels launched in March 2022. We recorded a -5% bounce rate over two weeks suggesting more users found what they needed - whether gardens to visit, support material or partnership information.

### Learnings

While -5% is a success, we predicted -15%. It could be our qualitative user tests weren't a good proxy for scale or that we didn't account for marketplace users returning to the website. Or that we launched when gardens re-opened, observing thousands more hits - possibly with new user needs. We learned to find a more reliable secondary metric for quantitive projects moving forward.

A New Home for Gardens

Summary

The need

Who visited the website

How do people plan days out?

Spotlight on discovery

Refreshing the brand

Impact

Learnings