Our UX writing principles are based on the guiding principles for excellent design. They provide our writers, designers and developers with a clear rationale to make informed UX writing decisions, ensuring each product aligns with our standards and brand identity.

We’ve refined our approach into eight core UX writing principles. These help us make informed and thoughtful microcopy decisions when creating UI text for industrial applications.

Trust

What	Why	How
We increase confidence and remove doubt. We help our users with fast and secure decision-making.	Users make high-risk decisions at work, e.g., initiate or postpone maintenance. Users need predictable interactions that create trust in the product as well as the brand.	We write with the correct level of urgency (warnings, alarms, errors, and consequences). We write with with consistency using user mental models, conventions and standards to remove the memory burden and prevent errors. We provide clear constraints so users can trust their actions, their consequences, and the product.

Accuracy

What	Why	How
Our writing is specific and concise. We ensure users understand the words in the same way. We leave little room for interpretation or guessing.	Users should not have to interpret text, dialogs or terms. Users cannot have doubt as to the meaning of the word. Users cannot have any doubt as to the consequences of their actions.	We do user research to become familiar with user terminology. We use precise, true, explicit, and exact wording. We perform UX wording reviews and collaborate with designers. We write additional guidance to users for complex workflows.

Consistency

What	Why	How
We write with uniformity across screens, apps, and products from Siemens. Users can rely on our writing to be the same across screens and products. We write with the same voice and tone.	Users don't have time to get used to changes or variations when carrying out tasks in their daily work. Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing.	We ensure the same or similar contexts have the same wording. We follow platform and industry conventions. We apply voice and tone guidelines consistently.

Efficiency

What	Why	How
We move users through their daily work tasks easily and quickly. We move users through high-risk and exceptional tasks rapidly. Users move through our products logically and find our writing intuitive.	Users within industrial settings need immediate feedback. Users within industrial settings need to filter information quickly. Users within industrial settings need to make decisions quickly.	We make text scannable and brief. We offer contextual help and reduce information users must remember. We present the right words at the right time, or not at all.

Human

What	Why	How
We create products with engaging and supportive interaction. We have authentic conversations with our users. We write products that sound human.	Users need human-centric language based on their needs and behaviors. Our products need to match our users' way of thinking and working.	We work to understand the technical terms required by the users without using excessive jargon. We design end-to-end conversations for tasks.

Empathy

What	Why	How
We put ourselves in the users' shoes. We anticipate their confusion and pain points. We understand what our users want, need, and are engaged by.	Users want products that understand their requirements. We genuinely care about the people we design for. We need to write according to our users' emotional state. Industrial application users represent more sensitive and urgent situations.	We conduct user and product research. We use personas, including pain points and needs. We use user journeys that include their daily tasks. We apologize when appropriate.

Accessibility

What	Why	How
We write for everyone, whatever their expertise or background. We aim to implement WCAG principles.	Users have varying literacy skills in all levels of life. Users have cognitive, visual, and motor impairments. Users, regardless of ability or circumstance, must get the information they need.	We follow our company's voice and tone guidelines. We write at the correct literacy level for our users. We run accessibility checks.

Branding

What	Why	How
We follow product principles. We follow company voice and tone principles. We speak the brand.	Users need to know they are using a product from our company. Products need to feel familiar to users. We want users to recognize and recommend our products.	We apply our UX writing guidelines and continually align them with the company’s voice and tone. We focus on creating microcopy with one voice instead of marketing copy within our industrial applications.