From the What Not to Do file comes this unexciting (and yet strangely satisfying) example of unfriendly micro copy. This screen shot comes from Pearson’s MyMathLabs learning series and offers a keen reminder that even boring, instructional copy is an integral part of any user experience.
As my anonymous source said when sending me this capture, “How much more accusatory can you get?” Not much, Sourcey, not much.
First of all, “Settings Detected?” Everyone stand back, this computer has settings!
But second of all — and far more importantly — what student wants their software to bark accusations at them when things go wrong? There’s a simple lesson to be learned here. Even with the charitable intention of delivering a short, helpful message, it’s easy for a seemingly minor piece of copy to injure a product’s brand or user experience.
For anyone writing hand-holder copy such as this, my advice is to have fun with it and challenge yourself to express the mundane in an interesting manner. It’s amazing how much better the results are when you don’t consider hand-holder copywriting a dry, remedial task.
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