Design 4 April 2026
The Underrated Craft of Interface Copy
The best UX writing isn't clever — it's invisible. Three rules we use to write button labels, error messages, and empty states.
Daniel Walter
If you can swap your button copy with "Submit" and "Cancel" and nobody notices, you have a copy problem. Good interface copy is the cheapest UX win on the table — and the most consistently overlooked.
Three rules that work
- Verbs over nouns. "Save changes" beats "Save". "Delete account" beats "Delete".
- Apologies cost nothing. "We can't load this right now" beats "Error 500".
- Match the user's verb. They came to "buy a course" — call the button "Buy course", not "Proceed to checkout".
Copy is design. Treat it with the same care.
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