Text

Text is part of many design elements such as buttons, menus, modals, search fields, navigation, and error messages. With such a wide range of usages, text plays an important role in a user’s experience of a digital product. Users often rely on text to navigate a product and complete their goals. Furthermore, text can impact a user’s emotional state and shape their opinion about the product, brand, or company.

To support usability, the text’s appearance and content must be accessible. First, the text must be perceivable so that users can find it and read it. Additionally, the text should convey a clear message that is easy for users to understand. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3) and WebAIM provide concrete strategies for making text accessible in digital products.

Within the UX field, some roles may focus more heavily on text. Content strategists focus heavily on written content, and UX writers focus specifically on product copy, for example, error messages, the microcopy that appears on a button, or the onboarding copy for an application.

In design software, text properties can be adjusted to update the appearance of the text. Properties like typeface, size, color, spacing, and alignment can be customized to support accessibility and contribute to the design’s aesthetic.