Writing guide & content library

The problems

As BigCommerce's first dedicated UX writer, I inherited a product with no content guidelines and no shared copy resources. The consequences were predictable:

• An excess of copy request tickets for routine interactions that any designer could handle
• Inconsistent copy across product domains, each team had developed its own patterns
• No content design guidelines made it hard to justify decisions to stakeholders
• My own writing lacked internal consistency: "On Monday I might write a status message one way. On Friday I'd write something completely different."

The goals

1. Create a UX writing guide with voice, tone, and best practices
2. Build a design library for reusable copy strings
3. Enable designers to write their own copy for everyday interactions
4. Reduce design debt and save time
5. Improve overall writing quality across the organization

The audience

Ideation and development

The writing guide had three requirements: convert theoretical advice into practical guidance, meet designers in the space where they already work (Figma), and create a taxonomy that made content retrieval fast and intuitive.

I selected Ditto, a Figma plugin that enables reusable copy components. A simple example: standardizing acknowledgment button labels across the product, which had accumulated variations like "OK," "Ok," and "Okay" across different domains. One component, one string, one truth.

You can read the UX writing guide I created for BigCommerce.

Iteration

The initial component library contained over 100 copy strings organized by parts of speech, verbs, nouns, adjectives, plus error, success, and confirmation statuses. Early feedback revealed that designers preferred navigation over search, and struggled to locate components in the original structure.

I ran a card sorting exercise with the design team using OptimalSort. The final taxonomy combined my original system with their mental model:

• Modals
• CTAs
• Status (error / success / confirmation)
• Input
• Product group (login / checkout / catalog / shipping)
• Parts of speech (noun / verb / adjective)

Results

The component library automated approximately 80% of the more mundane design interactions. Content-related Jira ticket turnaround improved from ~3 days to 2 days or less. Copy-related design debt decreased, with new tickets dropping to 7–12 per quarter while resolving 50–100 existing ones.