Visual Design

My work with rewriting error messages, and microcopy to help reduce user confusion

Timeline

Ongoing iterations

2022-2025

Introduction

At MTEK, like at many fast-moving startups, speed often took priority over polish. Building and scaling a complex MES system takes intense focus, and consistent UX writing guidelines weren’t yet in place.

Problem

While exploring the system, I noticed opportunities to improve clarity, tone, and consistency in our error messages, CTAs, and labels. Some copy was vague, overly technical, or inconsistent with UX best practices.

These weren’t high-visibility issues, and no one was actively complaining, but they added invisible friction.

Without clear, consistent language, users had to think harder than they should, especially during key moments like submitting a form or encountering an error. And in complex systems, like a MES, that is the last thing you want.

Solution

I took the initiative to audit the system, identify problem areas, and rewrite key pieces of microcopy using UX writing best practices.

My focus was on making actions clearer, removing fluff, and making our microcopy more consistent across the whole system, reducing the cognitive load on users!

Impact

The team had a lot of priorities in motion, so I asked if I could pick up this microcopy thread myself to help bring more clarity to our users.

While some changes might seem small, they made a difference:

QA and developers reported fewer questions about unclear UI text,
Support noted that users were making fewer mistakes in areas that previously triggered errors.
The work also helped establish early momentum for more intentional UX writing within the team.
Some of the patterns I introduced, like clearer error messages and verb-first CTAs, are now being used across the system and new features!

Last but not least, things look better and more polished!

Reflection

This project reminded me that users don’t always tell you that they're confused, even if they are!

And to be fair, our old microcopy wasn't technically incorrect, it just needed some UX improvements.

UX writing is easy to overlook. This is in part because when things work well, we barely notice them. However, that’s exactly why it matters. Thoughtful microcopy reduces friction before it becomes a problem and makes a problem easier to solve if it does happen.

If I could do this project again, I’d advocate for lightweight user testing or internal reviews to validate copy changes even further.

I also made a lightweight microcopy guide that the dev team can use if they want!