If there was one thing that we would prescribe as ruining a design, it would be bad copywriting. 

There are plenty of conversations about what bad design is. From bad spacing, to poor contrast. The list of principles you could break when creating a poor experience can go on. Following those principles is crucial in creating experiences that make sense to people. There is no doubt about that.

The most overlooked principle of all would be copywriting. Some designers leave it to the last minute. Or, requesting copywriting from clients, and lately, leaving it to Chat-GPT to finish it up for them. Design is not only how something looks. It is not only the balance of color and space. It is about communication at its core, and how well someone can understand what’s being visually told.

Design is communication. 

Design is a communication method. Much like words, we use design to create an impression, a feeling or a command on an audience. The goal is to get them to interact with the experience in a way we’d like them to. 

We aren’t creating icons and badges within an app because they look nice. They are used as a tool to simplify the communication of a topic and outcome. Without understanding that design is a communications tool, we can forget that copywriting is also a part of design. 

How things look and what they say are crucial in creating experiences that are usable for our users.

Bad copywriting breaks user experience.

That being said.. the number one thing to be agreed on (I hope) with design is usability.  Creating things that are easily understood impacts whether favored behavior is procured. 

And since half of design is communication, we cannot leave it to the last minute to write out our copy. Or give it the last bits of our energy to just get it done. You can design the most beautiful hero section, app onboarding process, or billboard. When the copy text is lacking and unclear, no one will be able to get past it.

Example of bad copywriting that affects design:

Unclear Hero Moments

Ever seen a beautiful SaaS hero section? Filled with gradients and well used icons. Buttons that look like glass and a big beautiful sans-serif font. Or, a consumer packaged goods website. Beautiful colors, buttons that look nice when you hover on them, cool product photos. Fun, right? Except you get to reading what exactly it is they do and it says close to nothing.

They assume you already know them, already know their products, and treat you as if you’re in the board room with them. (Sorry mode- we think your keyboards and branding are sexy but the copy writing is assumptive and complex).

What does this even mean? If I pretend I don’t know the brand, I’d be confused on what the encore is and why it’s announced to me. Everything that is communicated is based on a dangerous assumption: that anyone who visits their site already knows them.

Fluffy Copy Text 

Some of the most simple mistakes in bad copywriting and how it affects design is when you’re too fluffy. You glaze the business so much that you forget that no one understands it through the lens that you do. 

People don’t have time to sift through haughty words to get to what they need to within your website, app or experience. Each section on a website, each button on an app, each in-between screen on an experience, needs to be clear. Not fluffed up. 

Over Technical & Wordy

On the opposite end of the spectrum, you can end up losing your users when you’re too technical and wordy in explaining what you do. Assuming anyone understands the things you do can be dangerous. As mentioned in the first bad copywriting example.

80% of people are skimming content online. Meaning they’re only reading the titles and the highlights. If you’re too wordy or demand that people have to read the whole in order to understand the content that is being presented, you’ve lost them.

What should designers do? 

Build a writing practice that is sustainable and understandable. Aim to be understood by anyone at a 5th grade reading level. Tools like the Hemingway Editor are nice, but you have to continue to write for those outside of your understanding. Understand that not everyone is you, write to that outsider, and not the board room. 

After you have approached it that way, you can consider trying something new in your design process. Break down the content and how it will be said in each piece of your design FIRST before designing it. In this way, the designs you create around copy accentuate and clarify what needs to be communicated. 

You can of course revise and refine copywriting as your designs develop. The important thing is to know what content and what goal a section or element is trying to communicate. Start from there first. Design is communication. Help people understand your designs better by writing better too.