Editing Technical writer (section)

=== Technical Writers and UX Design ===
Historically, technical writers, or technical and professional communicators, have been concerned with writing and communication. However, recently user experience (UX) design has become more prominent in technical and professional communications as companies look to develop content for a wide range of audiences and experiences.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Verhulsdonck|first1=Gustav|last2=Howard|first2=Tharon|last3=Tham|first3=Jason|date=2021-09-21|title=Investigating the Impact of Design Thinking, Content Strategy, and Artificial Intelligence: A "Streams" Approach for Technical Communication and User Experience|url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00472816211041951|journal=Journal of Technical Writing and Communication|volume=51|issue=4|language=en|pages=468–492|doi=10.1177/00472816211041951|s2cid=240552938|issn=0047-2816|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

The User Experience Professionals Association defines UX as “Every aspect of the user’s interaction with a product, service, or company that make up the user’s perception of the whole.”<ref name=":1">{{Citation|last1=Baxter|first1=Kathy|title=Acknowledgments|date=2015|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-800232-2.09986-7|work=Understanding your Users|pages=xxxiii–xxxiv|publisher=Elsevier|access-date=2021-11-07|last2=Courage|first2=Catherine|last3=Caine|first3=Kelly|doi=10.1016/b978-0-12-800232-2.09986-7|isbn=9780128002322|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Therefore, “user experience design as a discipline is concerned with all the elements that together make up that interface, including layout, visual design, text, brand, sound, and interaction."<ref name=":1" />

It is now an expectation that technical communication skills should be coupled with UX design. As Verhulsdonck, Howard, and Tham state “...it is not enough to write good content. According to industry expectations, next to writing good content, it is now also crucial to design good experiences around that content."<ref name=":0" /> Technical communicators must now consider different platforms such as social media and apps, as well as different channels like web and mobile.<ref name=":0" />

As Redish explains, a technical communications professional no longer writes content but “writes around the interface” itself as user experience surrounding content is developed. This includes usable content customized to specific user needs, that addresses user emotions, feelings, and thoughts across different channels in a UX ecology.<ref>Redish, Ginny. (2020, September 30). ''UX Writing - A New Role for Technical Communicators? The MasterClass in TechComm for Society for Technical Communications'' (Washington DC and Baltimore). [Apple podcast]. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ux-writing-a-new-role-for-technical-communicators/id1534090690?i=1000493180560</ref><ref name=":0" />

Lauer and Brumberger further assert, “…UX is a natural extension of the work that technical communicators already do, especially in the modern technological context of responsive design, in which content is deployed across a wide range of interfaces and environments."<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lauer|first1=Claire|last2=Brumberger|first2=Eva|date=2016|title=Technical Communication as User Experience in a Broadening Industry Landscape|journal=Technical Communication (Washington)|volume=63|issue=3|pages=248–249}}</ref>

UX design is a product of both technical communication and the user identity. Effective UX design is configured to maximize usability according to unique user backgrounds, in a process called design ethnography.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hodgson |first=David Travis, Philip |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.1201/9780429430787/think-like-ux-researcher-david-travis-philip-hodgson |title=Think Like a UX Researcher: How to Observe Users, Influence Design, and Shape Business Strategy |date=2019-01-25 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-0-429-43078-7 |location=Boca Raton |doi=10.1201/9780429430787}}</ref> Design ethnography closely analyzes user culture through interviews and usability tests, in which the technical writer directly immerses themself in the user environment and gathers UX information from local users.