I crafted these mini case studies and UI mockups (via Figma) as part of the Daily UX Writing Challenge. For a number of days, a prompt landed in my inbox with a new user problem to solve.
Day 1: Flight cancellation message for a traveler
A traveler is in an airport waiting for the last leg of a flight home when their flight gets abruptly canceled due to bad weather.
Challenge:
Write a message from the airline app notifying them of the cancellation and what they need to do next. Character constraints: headline (45), body (175), button (25). Beyond max character counts, I imagined a not-best-case product scenario — the app simply helps travelers find new flights, no extras.
Path to the solution:
Define user need: Jane, a college student flying home for a family wedding, needs to find a new flight to get home as quickly as possible once weather passes.
Understand context of flow: If Jane isn’t watching flight monitors, this notification would be the moment she learns about her canceled flight. The notification must meet her frustration while guiding her into a solution flow.
Deliver useful messaging: To help Jane solve her need with confidence and ease, I wrote from a neutral yet direct tone that draws on a supportive and assured product voice. In the headline and body text, I included her flight number, first name and destination to ensure she’s clear on what’s happening and feels assisted personally in her next step. And I aimed to make the button text solutions-driven and actionable.
Imagined next steps:
Align with the Product Manager and Engineering on leveraging unique user data in copy.
Sync with Research about testing how the offered info and tone land with users.
Day 2: Promotional screen for a busy sports fan
A user is a working parent, and a big sports fan, in the midst of their favorite sports season who can no longer attend games.
Challenge:
Write a promotional screen for an app that lets a user choose teams, sends game reminders, real-time score updates and highlight videos. Character constraints: headline (40), body (175) and button (25).
Path to the solution:
Define user need: Erin, a die-hard Red Sox fan and new working mother, needs a way to stay up-to-date on her Sox so she can be a mom, professional and sports fanatic.
Understand context of flow: This promotional screen must position the Front Row app as the answer to her need. The content should drive her awareness, consideration and conversion into the sign-up flow.
Deliver useful messaging: I imagined Front Row targets leads for whom they have data, like preferred sports teams. In the headline and first line of body text, I leveraged this data to draw Erin into the promotional funnel. From an empathetic lens, I highlighted the app’s benefits in the body text to inspire her consideration. At the point of conversion, I chose “sign up” to offer her a clear, easy next step.
Imagined next steps:
Review copy with Product Marketing to ensure product value and brand positioning are on point.
Align with the Product Manager and Engineering on leveraging unique user data in copy.
Day 3: Sign-in error message for a return-user
The user entered the wrong email address to sign in to their account.
Challenge:
Tell the user to enter the right email. Character constraints: 40 characters max.
Path to the solution:
Define user need: Amy is an analyst who savors mini creative breaks during the workday. She needs help signing in to her Happy Haiku app to enjoy getting a quick poem in before a break wraps. (Happy Haiku is a fictional creative-break app for all wordsmith levels.)
Understand context of flow: At this point, Amy may have entered a totally wrong email or simply mistyped the correct one. I considered how to support both contexts.
Deliver useful messaging: Amy wants a quick creative release — this sign-in delay is irksome. To ease her frustration, I aimed to say what happened and what to do next concisely. Building on the app’s friendly and fun-loving voice, I delivered this error message amiably.
Day 4: Promotional screen for a grocery shopper
A user is in their favorite supermarket. They open the supermarket’s app on their phone to see what’s on sale and are greeted by a promotion.
Challenge:
Write a promotional home screen for a subscription service that delivers groceries to the user once-a-month for a flat fee. Character constraints: headline (45), body (175) and button (25).
Path to the solution:
Define user need: Cathy is tech-savvy 62-year-old who is anxious about keeping herself and others happy and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. She needs to shop for necessities without feeling stressed about her and fellow shoppers’ health.
Understand context of flow: Prioritizing the health and safety of their shoppers, Cathy’s favorite supermarket is heavily promoting their new home delivery service. When Cathy opens the app, an interstitial promotion takes over her screen.
Deliver useful messaging: To hook users like Cathy, in the headline and body text, I highlighted the hyper-relevant benefits of the delivery service. Then, I included a “SUBSCRIBE” button to offer users a clear next step and the business a valuable conversion point. However, anticipating users might prefer to get their shopping done right away, I worked with the Designer to indicate a clear exit from the full-screen promotion.
Imagined nexts steps:
Review copy with Product Marketing to ensure service value and brand positioning are on point.
Sync with Research and Product Marketing about setting up an A/B test to see if users prefer a less assertive call to action like “learn more.”
Day 5: Error-state messaging for a graphic designer
The user works in graphic design. While critiquing a design in a mobile app, their phone abruptly turns off. When they restart the phone, they reopen the app.
Challenge:
Write a message that the user will read immediately upon opening the app. What do they need to know? What steps (if any) do they need to take to recover their content? What if they can't recover the content? Character constraints: headline (40), body (140) and button (20).
Path to the solution:
Define user need: Mike is a busy graphic design lead feeling the pressure of a deadline. He needs to share critiques with his team fast to keep them on schedule for an upcoming leadership review.
Understand context of flow: Responding to the unexpected shutdown, the app serves Mike an interstitial message to tell him what happened and what to do next.
Deliver useful messaging: When Mike reopens the app, I crafted headlines to meet his stress and answer his burning question—did my work save? In the body copy, I aimed to give him clear, reassuring next steps. In the case of the app failing to save changes, I included timestamp data to give Mike as much clarity as possible about his work’s status. Also, I apologized and linked to a figurative olive branch (a free premium trial) to begin mending the relationship between Mike and the app. It’s not enough to heal Mike’s new distrust of the app, but it’s a start.
Imagined next steps:
Align with Product Marketing on the premium offer to ensure it’s the right olive branch to offer users.
Sync with the Product Manager and Engineering on the ability to personalize the body copy with timestamp data.
Day 6: Public safety alert for a driver
It’s Monday. A user has just gotten into their car to drive to work. They plug their phone into the car and start driving.
Challenge:
How would you let the user know there’s a fire happening in a nearby town that is causing road closures? The effect on their commute is unknown, but there is a definite danger if the fire gets closer. How do you communicate this to them? When? Write it. Character constraints: headline (30) and body (45).
Path to the solution:
Define user need: Jen, a busy mom and small-business owner, needs to commute safely so she can provide for her family and keep doing what she loves professionally.
Understand context of flow: To deliver information about this level of threat effectively, I approached this message as a public safety alert.
Deliver useful messaging: To raise immediate, relevant caution for Jen, I included the town and road impacted by the fire. I also chose the authoritative verb “obey” to assert clearly what steps she must take for safety.
Day 7: Game update for a multi-tasking sports fan
A sports fan is at a wedding while their favorite team is playing against their arch-rivals. Their team scores.
Challenge:
How would you, quickly, let the sports fan know about the latest play, the current score, and the key players? Write it. Character constraints: headline (30) and body (45).
Path to the solution:
Define user need: Stacey, a Carolina Panthers fanatic, needs a quick, quiet and real-time way to keep up with her favorite team (no matter the situation she’s in).
Understand context of flow: Front Row, the app Stacey uses to keep up with her Panthers, pushes a notification to her mobile home screen any time an influential play happens during a Panther game.
Deliver useful messaging: To give Stacey the critical Panther facts she needs, without disrupting the moment she’s in, I used the headline to communicate the type of play, timestamp and score. In the body, I offered detail about the specific game action, including the players involved.
Imagined next steps:
Partner with Research to user-test the content. I’d want to see if fans feel they’re getting enough info in this one notification — enough to keep them informed while not interrupting whatever else they’re doing. I’d especially wish to see how acronyms land with beginner and novice sports fans: Do they understand “TD” stands for “touchdown”? Do they know the acronyms of various NFL teams?
Day 8: Live gig alert for a casual music fan
The user is a casual music fan and (on occasion) goes to live concerts. They have a music player app on their phone.
Challenge:
Tell the user that one of their favorite bands is playing live in their town. How would you compel them to want to go? Character constraints: headline (30), body (45) and button (25).
Path to the solution:
Define user need: Sarah, who loves listening to music while walking to and from work, needs an easy and smooth music player app experience to rev up for and unwind from her day.
Understand context of flow: When Sarah opens the app right before walking home for the day, it pushes a concert-promo interstitial.
Deliver useful messaging: This interstitial disrupts Sarah’s routine. To guide her through the disruption smoothly, while hooking her concert-going interest, I loaded the band name, plus show date and time in the headline. I then highlighted the low starting ticket price as well as venue, which is right in her neighborhood. I also offered primary and secondary actions to give Sarah the next step she needs in her moment.
Imagined next steps:
Look to A/B test primary-action button copy. Is “GET TICKETS” too aggressive? Do casual music fans, like Sarah, need a less committed CTA, such as “LEARN MORE” or “GET DETAILS”?
Day 9: Error message for a last-minute planner
The user is trying to rent a car using an application but the credit card on file has expired.
Challenge:
Write them an error message so that they can correct the problem. Character constraints: headline (30) and body (45).
Path to the solution:
Define user need: Jane, who is organizing a last-minute weekend getaway for her and her husband, needs to get a rental car quickly and smoothly.
Understand context of flow: After looking at one too many rental choices, Jane finally selected her vehicle and is SO ready to pay. Anxious, she moves hastily through the payment screen not noticing her card on-file expired.
Deliver useful messaging: To help an anxious (and now frustrated) Jane overcome this roadblock, I crafted a clear, concise and friendly error message about what happened and what she needs to do next—either choose the other card on-file or add a new card.
Day 10: Data request from a prospective car buyer
The user is trying to view a website to help them buy a car. But, the content can’t load without the user’s location. They need to enter their ZIP code and first name.
Challenge:
Ask them where they live and who they are without sounding like you're unnecessarily mining their data. Character constraints: headline (25), body (45) and button (15).
Path to the solution:
Define user need: After a decade in New York City, Evan relocated to a mountain town. They need a car for cruising around their new home. They hope for an easy car-buying experience.
Understand context of flow: Evan jumps online to start their research. They path to a car-buying site via their search results. Before landing on the homepage, they encounter an interstitial.
Deliver useful messaging: In the headline, body and button text, I elevated the benefit of sharing their first name and ZIP code—they'll enjoy a localized car-buying experience.
Imagined next steps:
Partner with Research to monitor user dropoff at this point in the journey.
Word the user benefit differently and A/B test. For instance, do users respond better to the idea of “buying” or “searching” locally at this stage?