Systems Thinking

Enabling Long-Term Consistency

Opportunity

Resources specific to UX copy at Gap Inc. were incomplete. With a robust view across channels, products, and designs I was able to improve the ways the organization spoke with our users by identifying and filling needs used across brands and channels. The first step was to improve UX Copy Guidelines. While vast details were made available to designers and developers, few included content specifics which lead to inconsistent messaging and formatting across a variety of customer experiences.

Process

Shortly after starting in UX at Gap, I executed an audit of resources which were found across multiple channels. As the guidelines evolved, I was able to consolidate and build resources including company-specific nomenclature, channel-specific recommendations, voice and tone guidelines.

Solution

Our consolidated guide starts with the most important thing - it exists where designers, developers, and business partners are. By building tools where partners are used to going, I was able to raise awareness immediately.

Impact

As a result of this added breadth and consistency, copy and treatment considerations are readily available and serve as a foundation for working with the UX Content team. Greater efficiency allows all cross-functional members of the team to produce more work, more consistently.

Within the Writing Guidelines

These are a sample of some of the most prominent sections of the UX writing guidelines used by designers and brand creatives at Gap Inc.

  • Best Practices

    • A scannable section that provides designers with a high-level understanding of what UX content can and should be at Gap Inc.

  • Voice & Tone

    • Although all brands with in the organization have their own voice & tone, we often need an umbrella voice and tones that match the circumstance. For example, the tone shouldn’t be playful when a shopper comes across a technical error or some other friction.

  • Capitalization

    • UX best practices tell us that ALL CAPS can be hard to read and lowercase can add to a brand’s styling in other ways. UX casing guidelines support brands but also provide structure based on how people absorb content.

  • Punctuation

    • Like casing, punctuation is an important part of how a user consumes the content on a page. It can’t be distracting but it must also serve a purpose - every pixel needs to earn it’s space.

  • Brand-Specific Uses

    • Like all organizations, Gap Inc. has unique names, phrases, and uses. Consistency leads to familiarity and confidence which is especially important for shoppers navigating across our brands. See more about our brand-authenticity below.

Brand Authenticity

Screenshot of UX copy guidelines for Gap Inc., detailing best practices for associate-facing, customer-facing, and rewards, loyalty, and payments communication, with columns for do's and not do's.

Gap Inc. has global shoppers across platforms and brands. Familiarty is key to a confident experience and authenticity is crucial for all of our brands.

As the owner of content seen across platforms and brands, I’m was in the unique position to develop a set of rules that would drive user confidence and their comfort with our brands, despite their size.

Customer-facing crossbrand UX tonal map with four quadrants. Top left: brief and personality, includes 'any community messaging' and 'apology/appeasement emails'. Top right: detailed and personality, includes 'fulfillment emails' and 'product details'. Bottom left: brief and direct, includes 'push notifications', 'any SMS', and 'error messages'. Bottom right: detailed and direct, includes 'customer service policy pages' and 'legally-required copy'.

The Importance of Voice & Tone

Crafting appropriate tone was something previously lacking at Gap Inc. While each brand maintained their authentic voice, they needed help identifying when to adjust their voice for the situation.

With a simple visual, I helped UX and brand creatives identify the need to craft content based on several variations.