Is there even a difference between them?

If you’ve been into UX for up to a minute, you’ve most likely come across the terms ‘UX Writing’ and ‘Content Design’. Although it’s clear that both are UX job titles, how they differ, however, seems to be no clearer than our vision on a foggy day.

A quick Google search of “What’s the difference between content design and UX writing?” will leave you more perplexed than informed. (I know because I’ve tried it — multiple times.)

Some search results suggest that both job titles mean the same thing. Others swear that they are distinct jobs with different responsibilities. The latter group even argues that Content Design focuses on the overall strategy for organizing and presenting content, while UX writing is about the specific language used to communicate with users.

Who to believe?

I don’t know. However, I was determined to clear the air of confusion I had about these job titles.

And what better place to learn about what these terms mean in practice than on job listings? So, that’s where I looked. I spent hours rummaging through job descriptions for Content Design and UX Writing listings on Linkedin, hoping to identify any distinctions between the two.

But… I couldn’t find any real difference.

At their core, both UX Writing and Content Design roles require you to do the following:

• Be a relentless advocate for the user.
• Create, iterate, and manage user-centered content using content principles, user research, and other sources of info.
• Collaborate with designers, researchers, product managers, engineers, and data scientists to create a delightful user experience.
• Participate in all stages of the project lifecycle, such as requirements gathering, user analysis, testing, implementation, and result analysis.
• Work with other team members to maintain and evolve voice and tone guidelines and help evangelize those resources across the company.
• Work closely with writing and design teams to ensure seamless mobile and web experiences that reflect the company’s brand, values, and tone.
• Optimize the performance of UX copy via user testing and data validation.
• Define the content strategy for a given product and write clear and concise content across multiple touch points (including product names, labels and navigational elements, emails, tutorials, marketing pages, and notifications).

It might (or might not) surprise you to know that the last task listed above is actually from a job posting for a UX Writer, not a Content Designer.

So, remind me…what did they say the difference between Content Design and UX Writing was again?

On a final note

“It ain’t what they call you, it’s what you answer to.”

Really, the job title used (whether Content Design or UX Writing) is merely a term and depends on the company doing the hiring. Both roles have a lot of overlapping responsibilities, making them quite similar, if not the same.

So, whether they decide to call you a UX Writer or Content Designer, it doesn’t change what you do: guide users toward achieving their goals.

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