Sure, it could help to have a user experience (UX) professional look over all of your assets before they go out. UX designers are especially useful when designing a new website or app. However, some assets can be improved on behalf of the end user by any layman who has some extra time on their hands and has the willingness to learn.
For example, here are a few of our quick-and-dirty tips to ensure copy is easy to read:
1. Easy peasy: Stick with consistent fonts, colors, and sizes throughout a single document.
2. Break up dense text with subheaders.
3. Don’t underline text for emphasis. This can be mistaken for a link and lead to confusion.
4. Where possible, keep text aligned; try to avoid alternating between left/center/right alignment within the same document (except in some cases, aka: buttons, links, or callout boxes).
5. Consider the medium; use fewer chunks of text on mobile and make links easy to find and tap.
6. Program fixed-width text. This means it won’t realign or resize depending on the device. When you preview it, you will be seeing exactly how it should display everywhere.
7. Break up long sentences into shorter sentences, especially with text being read online.
8. Never spend a dime when a 5-cent word will do. In other words: Don’t be fancy just for the sake of it; accessibility is more important than showing off.
9. Leave plenty of white space in between your pictures/blurbs. Don’t make your pages look too crowded or busy. This helps readers absorb the text.
10. Most importantly: Remember your audience! Think of what they’re expecting, their language levels, what they arrived to find out, and how to best deliver your message to them. Be inclusive and inviting, and put their needs before what you’re trying to accomplish.
Start here, and your audience will already have a much easier time engaging with all of your print and/or digital assets. Then, you can save your UX professional for the big projects where you can really put their specialized knowledge (and your budget) to best use.
For more accessibility and engagement insights, reach out to the experts at Mad 4 Marketing.