UX Writing #7
Writing for a sports fan informing about a touchdown!
This challenge for me is a good example of building empathy for the user before attempting to design for them.
I had no idea what a touchdown was and was not fully sure which sport it is related to. My guess was Rugby.
A Google search led me to what a touchdown is —
A touchdown is a scoring play in both American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent’s end zone.
So it was indeed Rugby (also known as American Football), I followed this up with seeing videos of touchdown in action.
In the field of Product Design (of which UX Writing is a very integral part), not always do we really understand our users immediately as their use-cases or job-to-done with the product being designed is something which we cannot relate naturally. Let’s say you are designing a cockpit, now you are not a pilot so you will not what the cockpit is for, what all features should it contain, what all can go wrong and so on.
Hence its absolutely necessary to know everything you can about your user and what kind of jobs they have for your product. Only then your product will be able to meet the needs and wants of your user.
In this case, I had no idea what a touchdown was and yet I was given the task of crafting experience using words for my user for whom touchdown is a significant moment in the game, being a sports fan.
Never skimp on Research.
Let’s breakdown the brief given —
Scenario — A sports fan is at a wedding while his team is playing their arch-rivals. His team makes a touchdown.
Sports fan is at a wedding — User is unable to catch the game live
his team — User is a he
arch-rivals — adds significance and emotions to the game and for the user
his team makes a touchdown — a moment of celebration for the user as his team has scored points against their arch-rivals. For any sports fan, this is a jubilant moment.
Challenge — How would you, quickly, let the sports fan know about the latest play, the current score and the key players?
It feels like a touchdown to me, I have probably one chance to convey all this to the user while he is enjoying (hopefully) the wedding and at the same time increase his happiness, by letting him know about the touch-down! :)
Some more Research, on which Teams/Countries play Rugby (Men) and who are the top players in the game, led me to —
Teams — New Zealand is #1 followed by Wales at #2
Players — Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland) followed by Jonah Lomu (New Zealand)
Let's presume that our sports fan supports New Zealand and his favourite player is Jonah Lomu who makes a touchdown.
Version-ONE
And its a touchdown by none other than Jonah Lomu. New Zealand wins the match 24–18!
Version-TWO
Jonah Lomu takes his New Zealand team to win the World Championship by his touchdown! Final score 24–18.
Version-THREE
2 mins to go and Jonah Lomu makes a touchdown!
Version-FOUR
Jonah Lomu makes a touchdown in the last 60 seconds of the game to clinch the World Championship for his team!
Version-FIVE
A dream come true! New Zealand wins the World Championship thanks to a touchdown by none other than Jonah Lomu.
This was a whole lot of fun. UX Writers indeed have the power to change the user’s emotions by their writing!
Past challenges —
