My approach to scripting
Scripting requires a strong knowledge of tone, voice, and the audience being addressed. In some ways, it can be the most like story telling, and requires a narrative eye to maintain a consistent authorial voice.
Case study: Instructions for a design thinking workshops
Role: UX writer
Team: Product owner, UX designer, video designer
Company: ExperiencePoint
Objective: Update copy and create consistent user instructions across every stage of the workshop.
Medium: In-person, virtual and hybrid workshops with capability for web and mobile.
Project background
ExperiencePoint (EP) teaches organizations to use design thinking methods to solve business problems. They do this through a series of virtual, hybrid, and in-person workshops.
After the pandemic, EP needed to update to update their digital workshops to meet current accessibility standards for virtual delivery. We identified areas for improvement across the entire product: tech stack, UI, UX, and content.
Due to proprietary ownership, I’m unable to provide visual examples or writing samples from the final product. The following outlines my process.
Process
Define product needs
Users: design thinking novices and Master Facilitators delivering the workshop experience.
Problem: the writing was inconsistent, instructions were ambiguous, and there was no uniform voice, tone, or consistent grammar.
Refine the problem statement
How Might We: consistent present instructions that reinforce user tasks and learning with accessible, conversational language across scripts, in-app text, microcopy and videos?
Research the workshop needs
- Conduct accessibility assessment for colour, layout and iconography.
- Use design heuristics to assess the quality of the existing design.
- Write with an eye for accessibility standards (AODA), plain language, facilitator speech patterns and workshop goals.
- Devise consistent phrasing for listening activities and participatory activities.
Research user needs
We aligned with our SMEs, the Master Facilitators, and watched them deliver workshops, studying how our standard-issue scripts differed from what they were actually saying.
For new virtual-specific activities and interactions, we conducted user testing and took in feedback from stakeholders, including long-time associate facilitators and intercompany SMEs.
I guided the team as we synthesized our ideas, tested our assumptions, and refined the work over iterative editing sessions
- Used the Ditto Words app in Figma to script out activity instructions in their shortest form.
- Consulted with Master Facilitators to craft bespoke, specific language based on how they actually spoke and gathered their insights about user responses.
- Wrote longer versions of the virtual activity scripts for video instructions designed to animate how users should perform tasks.
- Conducted user testing on the scripts, making observations and adjusting the talking points where users reported inconsistencies or a lack of clarity.
- Adapted the video scripts for pop-out screens so users could click into written instructions if needed.
Results
A conversational, user-first experience that used the same language across all media to describe activities and tasks.
In the end, I led the team to produce:
- New facilitator scripts for every activity
- Standardized terms and repeatable phrasing
- Error-free instructions for the in-app activities
- Consistent video scripts for voice-over performers
- Simple, conversational language designed to help non-native English speakers understand the activities
chill content design 