Practice Exercise:

Objective: Apply the principles of usability and accessibility to improve a user interface (UI) element.

Choose a UI Element:
- Select a common UI element, such as a form field, button, or navigation menu.
Evaluate Usability:
- Assess the usability of the chosen UI element. Consider factors such as clarity, efficiency, and error recovery.
- Write down any usability issues you identify.
Evaluate Accessibility:
- Assess the accessibility of the chosen UI element. Consider factors such as perceivability, operability, and understandability.
- Write down any accessibility issues you identify.
Propose Improvements:
- Based on your evaluations, propose improvements to enhance the usability and accessibility of the UI element.
- Justify your suggestions with reference to UX principles.

Example:

UI Element: Submit button on a form
Usability Issues: Label is unclear, button is small and hard to click.
Accessibility Issues: Color contrast is insufficient, no keyboard focus indicator.
Proposed Improvements: Change the label to "Submit Form," increase button size, improve color contrast, add keyboard focus indicator.

Submission:

Submit your evaluation and proposed improvements for the chosen UI element. Include a brief explanation of how your suggestions align with usability and accessibility principles.

Presenting Your Work

For the first five modules of the course, you’ll have several UX writing exercises to complete. We call these our Drill Down exercises. Each module has at least one mandatory and one optional bonus exercise.

These exercises are based on our insider knowledge of the type of take-home assignments that companies give to candidates as part of the hiring process. So take them seriously because they are the kind of exercises you’ll need to do if you want to get hired as a UX writer.

Drill Downs and take-home assignments

The Drill Down exercises have two primary purposes:

To help you practice and hone your UX writing skills
To prepare you for interview take-home assignments