Yuval Keshtcher — Founder & CEO of UX Writing Hub at Independent
Generative AI for UX Writers and Designers
September 4, 2023
11:00
UX Writing
🇬🇧 English
UX Writing
Content Design Toolkit. Ways of working with product copy - review and ideas
About
Every product uses words in the interface. Ways of how it gets there may differ, but usually it involves at least some work from designers and developers. I’d like to explore possible ways of managing words throughout the process, to streamline your work with it and alignment, both design and development side. Topics I’d like to cover:Sources of truth for UI copy (for better alignment)Tools that can help you craft strategic copy for the experience and quantify results (fog score basics + Figma plugins to automate work) Production changes without development (for faster development)“Key” management and localization tools overviewGit as an extra asset for designers/content designersThis topic is actually the result of struggles the teams I met had. I’d like to emphasize there is no universal ways of working, but there are tools and methods you can employ for individual painpoints and challenges in specific scenarios.
Watch the full talk
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From the recording
Talk in brief
Product copy is created across product management, design, engineering, localization, and support, so content quality depends on a shared operating system rather than a final writing pass. The talk presents a toolkit for aligning content early, auditing live interfaces, checking accessibility, managing reusable strings and keys in Figma, testing changes with no-code tools, and connecting localization data with research. The goal is consistent language and faster learning without turning the content designer into a bottleneck.
Key takeaways
- 01
Align copy before detailed design
Product teams should challenge terminology and intent during discovery so disagreements do not surface only after implementation.
Watch from 6:20 - 02
Audit the experience users already see
Browser inspection, accessibility tools, and assistive technology reveal content problems that design files alone cannot show.
Watch from 10:59 - 03
Manage strings as reusable system assets
Content keys and variables help teams find, reuse, localize, and update product language consistently across screens.
Watch from 15:44 - 04
Keep content context inside design work
Naming text layers with stable keys reduces the separation between spreadsheets, designs, and implemented interface copy.
Watch from 20:35 - 05
Prototype copy changes without a full release
No-code experiments and lightweight research can test whether a language change creates measurable customer or business value.
Watch from 25:56
Read edited transcript highlights
These concise notes were edited from automatic captions and checked against the talk structure. They are not a verbatim transcript.
Content work crosses organizational boundaries
Product language rarely comes from one writer. A product manager may name the feature, a designer shapes the interaction, a developer introduces system messages, and localization changes the final wording. Without a shared workflow, each handoff creates a new version of the truth. Content design must therefore coordinate decisions, not merely polish strings at the end.
Watch from 1:55The cheapest correction happens during alignment
A discovery checkpoint gives the team permission to question what a feature is called, what promise it makes, and whether the language matches the intended behavior. Resolving those questions before detailed design prevents copy and interface logic from drifting apart and avoids a late debate when development and localization have already begun.
Watch from 6:20Review the rendered product, not only the mockup
Existing interfaces carry constraints and failures that may be invisible in a design file. Inspecting the live page, running an accessibility checker, and listening with a screen reader can expose missing labels, unclear sequences, and reused backend messages. A content review becomes stronger when it includes the experience customers actually encounter.
Watch from 10:59Keys make product language traceable
Content variables and stable keys can turn scattered strings into a manageable system. Designers can see the available language, reuse the intended phrase, and connect screens to implementation and localization. The benefit is not simply faster editing; it is a clearer record of where a piece of language belongs and which experiences depend on it.
Watch from 15:44Evidence can come before engineering investment
A content designer can use a no-code layer or a lightweight prototype to test a proposed wording change in a realistic flow. That experiment can reveal customer behavior and business impact before the full team commits to implementation. Research and localization data then help explain why the result differs across audiences or markets.
Watch from 25:56
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