User experience is like a delicious cake.  (And I love cake!)   Just as a cake requires a variety of quality ingredients, user experience requires the “good stuff” from many disciplines, ranging from cognitive psychology to communication to information architecture to visual design.  And just as a master pastry chef knows how to combine these ingredients in the right way, user experience experts know how to combine the best and most pertinent aspects of these disciplines, “baking” them into a satisfying experience.

An important, yet sometimes forgotten, ingredient in user experience is effective words.  It sounds so basic—precisely why it’s so important.  Like flour in a cake, words are almost always a part of user experience.  Below are a few principles and simple examples to make a website or interface wordalicious:

Concision – Pick the right words, not more words.
Users don’t typically read; instead, they scan.  Therefore, it’s critical to make the most of the words in an interface by selecting them carefully.   For example, the headlines on news  websites, such as cnn.com, convey the crux of each story in very few words. 

Clarity – Say what you mean.
Again because users scan, it’s important to pick words that are clear to the targeted users.  Generally, simpler words are better than more complex ones. Even if the targeted users are well-educated, they will recognize simpler words more quickly than complex ones.  For example, e-commerce websites say “shop” or “buy” rather than “procure.”

Tone and Brand – More than words.
Just as graphics and colors give a website a certain look and feel that conveys a company’s brand, words convey a company’s brand through tone. One way words create tone is through their connotation—their implied, subjective meanings beyond the dictionary meanings.  It’s important to pick words and phrases with connotations that resonate with users and are consistent with a company’s brand attributes.  For example, Virgin Mobile creates a fun, informal tone through wording, even in its log in instructions.