Interaction Design Trends 2015 & 2016

Visual Conversations 37
It doesn’t matter if you sound sophisticated or blunt, if you use big
words or small, if you speak the Queen’s English or prefer abbreviations...what
matters is that your tone matches the visual design –
that’s what entices people into interacting with the design.
The Variability of Context
Taking the above point a step further, the context surrounding your
product determines the best tone and other language choices you
make. The golden rule is that no one rule will apply in every circumstance...
but similar contexts will have similar best practices.
When isolating the context you’re working with, there’s two areas
to focus on:
1. The Medium – App or website? Home page or About Us page?
Chosen content or pop-up? Each will have different expectations
from the users, and so the text will need to be modified appropriately
for the best results.
2. The Audience – Who is reading the text? Targeting your specific
audience is one of the fundamentals of communication since
the dawn of time, whether designing an ecommerce website or
editing an ancient Greek play.
The rules for a specific medium tend to be pretty common sense – you
shouldn’t try to fit a paragraph inside a single call-to-action button.