Your website — or app or service — does not need cutesy and clever copy to “sound human.” Humans can be direct. Clear. Serious.
In fact, there’s a word for humans that value cleverness over clarity in conversation: annoying.
And there’s a word for humans that speak in an overly-familiar way with people they don’t really know: creepy.
I, too, like to feel clever and creative. I have created opportunities in my life for that that don’t necessarily involve my work product.
If you’re a UX writer, content designer, or similar, you need to learn to resist the pressure to be clever, to be funny, to be creative, to “make it pop”, to “give it personality” — especially if you’re not sure that it’s appropriate for the experience. (It’s probably not.)
It’s a website, not a carnival. Quit trying to delight me.
Photo by Devon Rogers on Unsplash