Skip to main content

Basics

The following sections contain advice we follow at Siemens to create our own products and includes common writing errors to avoid when creating industrial products and experiences.

Style​

  • Use as few words as possible

  • Use simple, specific, clear, and informative wording

  • Use the same words and grammatical forms, lengths, and styles repeatedly

Tone and voice​

  • Use natural, conversational language and not robotic, funny, cool or clever

  • Address users in second-person (you) and use first-person plural for the application (we)

  • Use gender-neutral language

  • Use polite language

  • Use 'please' and 'sorry' only when necessary, for something inconvenient or unplanned

  • Use positive instead of negative framing

  • Use positive contractions to avoid sounding too formal

  • Avoid using negative contractions as they can appear too informal

their, them, theirs, salesperson
his, hers, him, salesman
Welcome to this application
Hey there!
X appears when detail view has selected events
X doesn’t appear if detail view has no selected events
cannot, will not
can’t, won’t
you’ll, we’ve
you will, we have

Length​

  • Use sentences only when necessary

  • Use short words (3, 4, or 5 letters) instead of long words (8 or longer)

  • Use short, scannable segments, not paragraphs

  • Keep sentences under 25 words (average = 15 words)

  • Keep titles under 65 characters (including spaces)

  • Use info icons only when necessary: Icons cannot contain the same content as the UI

Use of big and small letters (capitalization/casing)​

  • Capitalize the first letter of the first word in a title / sentence / tooltip / menu item / list item / button

  • Capitalize proper nouns, i.e. places, organizations, tools, languages, products and things: Siemens, SIMATIC PCS myexpert, iOS, JavaScript, MindSphere

  • Capitalize named app functions and UI elements: Go to Settings, Allocate users in User management, Press Ok

Go to Settings
Go To Settings
Press OK
Press Ok
Log in
LOG IN
For more information, see Siemens Industry Online Support.
For more information, see Siemens industry online support.

Common UX wording mistakes​

time zone
timezone
log file
logfile
log in (as an action)
login
login (as a noun)
log in
equipment
equipments
feedback
feedbacks
training
trainings
current
actual
avoid "shall"
user shall manage users
Siemens has
Siemens have
34 million / 35 billion
34’ / 35“
34 million
34 millions