Design system standards
PatternFly is Red Hat's open source design system. When I started working with the company, the design system had some existing writing standards, but no guidance on voice, tone, or how to write for different UI components.
PROJECT TYPE - UX WRITING AND CONTENT STRATEGY
MY ROLE - LEAD CONTENT STRATEGIST
MY CONTRIBUTIONS - UX DESIGN, UX WRITING, CONTENT STRATEGY

The challenge

Limited writing standards in the design system led to product inconsistency and made it difficult for the team to make even the most basic decisions about capitalization, terminology, voice, and tone.

The solution

UX writing standards developed and included as part of the launch of PatternFly 4, Red Hat's redesign of their open source design system.
The process
📚 CONTENT AUDIT + USER RESEARCH
I conducted an audit of the existing content across the product. Then, I worked with product teams to identify key pain points with the current system to identify high priority areas of focus.
USER Pain points
  • The guidance is too vague
  • The capitalization standards are complex and confusing
  • I don't know how to write for specific components like buttons
  • These standards aren't helping me make better decisions about the content I include in my designs - I'm still feeling unsure about a lot
FREQUENTLY ASKED questions
  • What terminology should I use for [x]?
  • How should I format date and time in this design?
  • How formal or informal should I be here?
  • How do I decide what to use as the header/button label for this confirmation message?
What I contributed
🗣 VOICE STANDARDS
I contributed overarching guidance on voice as well as general UX writing best practices to our PatternFly 4 design system.
✍️ WRITING STANDARDS AND BEST PRACTICES
✍️ WRITING STANDARDS FOR UI DESIGN SYSTEM COMPONENTS
I also contributed writing guidance at a UI component and design pattern level to help designers understand how to write effective microcopy for things like buttons, labels, errors, and empty states.
Example - Writing for forms
Example - Writing for empty states
Use empty states as an opportunity to educate the user about what to do next and communicate the value of taking an action.
Up next:
AI forecasting for HubSpot

Let's connect 🤝

Open to opportunities in product design, writing, and content strategy
‍
📭 silvernail.stacy@gmail.com