Why Writing Matters for Designers?

The main reason is that designing involves writing: the UX copies in the design, presentation slides that sell ideas to stakeholders, the functional requirement documents that translate vision into reality, and etc,.

But the deeper I dive, the more I realized that writing and design aren’t just related — they are similar crafts. Both serve the same purpose of communication: to get ideas across. And both are generative: to make something up in your head, to create something from nothing.

Writing vs Designing: Similarities

The more I learned about good writing, the more parallels I found:

Simplicity

The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. — William Zinsser

Simplicity is also a tenet for design.

Iteration

This one surprised me the most. I always thought words would flow effortlessly from great writer’s minds, but that’s a myth. Most writers spend their time contemplating and fiddling with words — just like how we fiddle with components on canvas.

Audience

Good writing resonates with the audience. Similarly, good design always keeps the user in mind.

Invisibility

Nobody every stopped reading E.B. White or V.S.Prichett because the writing was too good. — William Zinsser

Good design is invisible, good writing is also “invisible” — readers just keep reading. If a reader pauses and struggles, that means there is something wrong.

The Craft of Both

Becoming a good writer, I've learned, follows the same path as becoming a good designer. It requires time to develop mastery. To master principles — grammar for writing, visual hierarchy for design. To learn from great works — reading master pieces, analyzing design standards. To develop taste through practice and attention.

Maybe writing really is the a form of design, the most ancient form. Long before we had digital screens, we were arranging words in our head, on paper, crafting experiences that guide readers from one thought to the next. In that sense, every writer has always been a designer, and every designer carries forward this ancient tradition of making meaning clear.