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
• Avoid to talk to the user directly on the UI
• Talk to users directly in formal contexts only (e.g., email bodies, app tour, …)
• Address users in second-person (you) and use first-person plural for the application (we) if direct communication is used
• Use gender-neutral language
• Use polite language
• Avoid 'please', 'sorry' and other forms of apology
• Use positive instead of negative framing
• Avoid using contractions in general

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

Capitalization¶

• Capitalize the first letter of the first word in a title / sentence / tooltip / menu item / list item / button
• Do not use all-caps (e.g., PLANNING → Planning)
• Capitalize proper nouns, i.e. places, organizations, tools, languages, products and things according the proper nouns chapter
• Capitalize named app functions and UI elements: Go to Settings, Allocate users in User management, Press OK

Common UX wording mistakes¶

The following table contains frequently discovered UX writing mistakes.

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