Yogyakarta, September 3rd 2020—The Digital Intelligence Class Series, which is the newest course at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, presented a webinar entitled “UX Writer: New Job Options in The Digital Industry” on the last Thursday (3/9) together with Rizqie ‘Keke’ Aulia, as the UX Writer Halodoc, that shared her experiences on YouTube Live.
Familiarly called ‘Keke’, this alumna of the Department of International Relations of FISIPOL UGM class 2011, shared her experiences of being a UX Writer, a new profession which is still strange for many people. “UX Writer profession developed in 2015 or 2016. Back then, there was no need to become a UX Writer, because the digital world is developing, there will be more diverse jobs in the future,” Keke said as the opening of discussion.
“In the design world, there are many terms. User Experience (UX) process itself is a process to make a product that could produce end to end user experience. From developing colors to testing it, all of it must be based on research. From end to end user experience and their first impressions to little things such as choosing a fun thing or not, that is UX,” Keke explained.
“UX Writing itself is an element of UX in the form of text, the art of crafting, it is conveying art in textual form in a digital interface, so the text is simpler, easier to understand, and has a lighter cognitive load. When users use long-written applications, their cognitive load will be greater and have a negative effect on the user experience,” Keke said.
“But UX Writer doesn’t just brush the text, it’s more than that, it is to make the text easier to understand. There is research that people don’t want to spend more than five seconds on one screen, so how do you help users understand within five seconds? It takes a combination of text, graphics, and UX copy to make the overall user experience better,” Keke explained.
Keke also shared her experience as a UX Writer in a health startup where she handles the mental health feature. “There is a chat feature for consulting. We begin from research about mental health, what accessibility does it need, what are the items. That is called low fidelity, the big picture or the framework of a design,” Keke said.
Furthermore, when these stages have been completed, there will be high fidelity ready to be released. “In doing this, UX Writers will be involved from the start from working with doctors to other teams to know the context in depth. There must be a lot of referrals, especially in the highly regulated world of health,” Keke added.
As a political science scholar, Keke shared the relevance of her background knowledge in becoming a UX Writer. We can apply a macro mindset when studying design, such as the ability to see with a bigger picture where we need to collaborate with other teams, such as business and marketing. This mindset was formed when I studied International Relations,” Keke said.
In calculating career opportunities, Keke saw great potential when she became a UX Writer. “As long as people use applications, UX Writer and the demand of the design field in general will be even higher. Design related jobs also develop every year,” Keke explained.
“Most importantly, our daily life will not be separated from the digital world. Smartphones are literally everything, from ordering food, vehicles, tickets, to paying taxes now through the application. So the need for design is very high, the design world is a very fertile field,” Keke added.
Regarding the relationship between the importance of digital intelligence and the technology industry, Keke explained three skills needed to enter the technology industry. “It must be collaborative, have a growth mindset, and have emotional intelligence,” Keke said.
Finally, Keke delivered the essence of being a UX Writer. “The hard skill that a UX Writer must have is the ability to write, that is the ability to convey a specific purpose concisely. It has to be strong in the portfolio, showing how we think. Don’t forget to always do critical thinking, which is always thirsty for questions and answers,” Keke said closing the discussion.