Hi, Scott here. 👋🏻 Over the last 15 years, I’ve mostly worked as a content strategist, content designer, and/or information architect, and I teach students and train teams on those topics, too.
Over that time, I’ve made a lot of stuff.
This guide collects everything of value I can find to share from my history of writing, public speaking, interviews, and teaching — over 100 items! It’s all stuff I’ve written, made, or contributed to.
While this collection is naturally ego-centric, many of the resources contain links and connections to further resources from others — as do most of my talks, classes, and workshops. I took inspiration for this page from Amy Santee’s excellent resources page, which is worth a look for anyone into UX research or design.
Happy exploring! Please contact me if you catch any errors or omissions.
Table of Contents
Yellow highlights are standout recommendations.
Green highlights are things that cost money.
Getting Started in UX & Content
Are you new here? Great! Here are some places to start…
Extremely useful articles about content and design
kubie.co guide (2020)
Paths into UX content
kubie.co article (2021)
What is UX writing?
kubie.co article (2020)
How do I get started in UX design?
kubie.co article (2020)
How do I get started in UX writing?
kubie.co article
How do I get started in content strategy?
kubie.co article
Where to find UX writing classes, events, and workshops
kubie.co article (2023)
S3 Episode 5 w/ Scott Kubie
UX Growth w/ Nick Mann (podcast, 2024)
UX Content YouTube Playlist
Curated collection of 80+ videos on UX, IA, CS, & CD topics
Careers in UX & Content
Real talk and practical approaches on moving forward in your UX and/or content career.
Where and How to Find UX Writing, Content Design, and Content Strategy Jobs
kubie.co guide (2022)
Content Career Accelerator newsletter
Weekly-ish updates with essays, tips, tools, & opportunities
Content Career Accelerator community
A private coaching & learning community for UX content professionals
Four tips on writing about design
kubie.co article (2020)
Career Strategy Workshop
One-shot coaching session w/ Scott
What to put in your UX content portfolio
kubie.co article (2020)
Getting ready to ask for a raise or promotion in a UX content role
kubie.co guide (2022)
I’m interviewing for a content strategy job. How do I sound like I know what I’m talking about?
Video (2021)
Landing Your First Content Design Job
SVC Panel (event recording, 2022)
Is UX writing a career dead-end now with ChatGPT?
kubie.co article (2023)
Make sure you actually want the design job you think you want
kubie.co article (2022)
Tactics for responding to UX job recruiters
kubie.co article (2022)
Portfolio tip: Show your understanding with ‘work stories’
Article + video (2022)
Finding Your Place: Two Factors that Shape Every UX Role
Ladies That UX Seattle (event recording, 2023)
Two attributes that shape every content role
kubie.co article (2021)
You don’t have to be a native speaker to excel as a UX writer
kubie.co article (2021)
Design jobs and design roles are not the same thing
Video + article (2020)
Make sure you actually want the design job you think you want
kubie.co article (2022)
Understanding Content Strategy & Content Design
Philosophical musings and other high-level perspectives on the nature and practice of content strategy and content design. These aren’t how to do it, they’re how to be about it.
Content Strategy is Boring (and That’s OK)
Brain Traffic article about the nature of CS
The value of content design is built-in and self-evident (the brick analogy) 🧱
kubie.co article (2023)
Writing ain’t religion
kubie.co article on choosing a writing approach thoughtfully (2023)
Content strategy is not just one thing
kubie.co article (2020)
I still care about content
kubie.co article (2023)
You can’t convince everybody
kubie.co article (2022)
Hire Product People Who Already Understand Content (CS as world-building)
kubie.co article (2019)
On the value of content design: Proving or providing?
kubie.co article (2021)
What UX writing and content strategy get wrong (and how to get better)
Writers of Silicon Valley w/ Patrick Stafford (podcast, 2020)
UX Writing & Content Design Craft Skills
Being the writer on a product team, collaboration with design, UX writing and content design craft skills.
Writing for Designers
A Book Apart (book, 2018)
Working with graphic and UX designers as a designer who writes
Content Design w/ Vanessa Barlow (podcast, 2020)
It’s a website, not a carnival (so quite trying to ‘delight’ me)
kubie.co article (2023)
How to Get the UX Writing Done
Interaction 19 (event recording, 2019)
Ep. 73 – Writing for Designers
Content Strategy Insights w/ Larry Swanson (video, 2020)
Dear User, Let’s Be Friends
UX Lisbon (event recording, 2022)
Good interfaces are not, in fact, like jokes
kubie.co article (2022)
The Consistency Trap for UX Writers (and How to Avoid It)
kubie.co article (2022)
My most-used UX writing tool is PasteBot
kubie.co article (2021)
Who should own the text in our design process?
kubie.co article (2020)
Should UX writers use Lorem Ipsum?
kubie.co article (2020)
A button is not a call to action
Video (2023)
Fighting back against proper noun feature names
kubie.co article (2021)
Ep. 59 – Writing for Designers
User Defenders w/ Jason Ogle (podcast, 2018)
Practicing Content Strategy
Ideas, methods, and tools for setting strategy and improving your craft skills as a content strategist, whether or not you’ve got the title.
Change is a feature: Effective strategies for communicating product changes
UXPA Boston (event recording, 2023)
How to Answer: How Long Will This Content Take You to Write?
Brain Traffic article
Making Time for Content Strategy
Brain Traffic article
What to Do When You Need More Writers
Brain Traffic article
Put the Work Before the Words
Define CS for yourself, first (Brain Traffic article)
The Situation Analysis: How to Put Your Research to Work
Brain Traffic article
Assessing Your User-Centered Content Strategy
Brain Traffic article
Design Like a Content Strategist
PSU Web (event recording, 2014)
How smart teams create and train writers
UX Writing Bern & Zurich (event recording, 2021)
How to Plan and Run a Content Strategy Alignment Workshop
Brain Traffic article
Tools for content migration planning (page tables + content matrix)
Start simply: page tables + content matrix (kubie.co article, 2022)
How smart teams create and train writers + Q&A
Plain Language Summit (event recording, 2020)
Writing rules are made to be chosen
A caution against ‘best practices’ (kubie.co article, 2022)
5 Uncomfortable Truths About UX & Content
ITSC Meets (event recording, 2022)
Can we let engineers and other non-experts write copy if we haven’t trained them?
kubie.co article (2022)
How many content reviewers are enough?
kubie.co article (2020)
How to make someone hate writing for you
Gather Content article (2015)
Information Architecture
Assorted thoughts on the design and stewardship of information spaces.
What Even Is a Website?
Everyone has a different context (Brain Traffic article)
21 Thoughts on Information Architecture
Why define it when you can make a big list instead? (kubie.co article, 2023)
Conceptual debt is killing your design process
Seriously though (kubie.co article, 2020)
The map in your head
On the real value of mapping (kubie.co article, 2019)
The website of Theseus
On “redesigns” and “new” websites (kubie.co article, 2018)
Content Ecosystem Mapping
Content ecosystem mapping is a design mapping method that helps team align and create clarity for large website, app, and digital strategy initiatives. I didn’t coin the phrase, nor invent concept modeling, but I’ve gone deep on this as a content strategy method.
What the heck is content ecosystem mapping?
kubie.co article (2023)
Ep. 29 – Mapping Content Ecosystems
The OOUX Podcast w/ Sophia Prater (audio, 2022)
The OOUX Happy Hour: Content Ecosystem Mapping
Event recording (2022)
An Introduction to Content Ecosystem Maps
Brain Traffic article
What to Include in a Content Ecosystem Map
Brain Traffic article
How to Use a Content Ecosystem Map
Brain Traffic article
How to Plan Your Content Ecosystem Mapping Project
Brain Traffic article
Ep. 3 – Content Ecosystems
The Content Strategy Podcast w/ Kristina Halvorson (audio w/ transcript, 2018)
Develop a Strategy for Your Content (Chapter 9)
The Web Strategy Guide (online book)
Websites Aren’t Rocketships (So Stop “Launching” Them, Please)
Content Strategy Seattle (event recording, 2022)
Ep. 29 Mapping content ecosystems w/ Scott Kubie
OmnichannelX w/ Noz Urbina (podcast, 2023)
UX Design & Design Thinking
Practical and philosophical takes on the nature of design, how to be a designer, and all of the myriad disciplines that comprise contemporary “UX design”.
Making sense of things is a designer’s job
On the point of the work (kubie.co article, 2020)
Learn thinky things
Figma is a tool, not a method (kubie.co article, 2022)
It’s all made up, and that’s okay
The design vocabulary police are not coming to get you (kubie.co article, 2022)
Creativity and Thinking Clearly
Reckons, notions, thought technologies and other things that aren’t about design or content per se, at least not in the business sense of those terms.
The Value of Slowthinking (Who doesn’t want to wear the ribbon?)
kubie.co article (2023)
You Get Email From Scott Kubie
One reader describes it as “a pep rally for creative weirdos”. I like that. (newsletter)
The effortful way
On getting the work done one way or another (kubie.co article, 2020)
Being the thing
On building writing habits (kubie.co article, 2019)
Give him some room
On catching your breath (kubie.co article, 2022)
A smaller toolkit
On ever-simpler tools (kubie.co article, 2019)
Always Be Deleting
On managing digital overwhelm (kubie.co article, 2019)
The Write Stuff Ep. 3
On writing as thinking (video, 2018)
40 stupid questions to reframe your next meeting
kubie.co article (2013)
Brainstorming is Broken
Ignite Ames (event recording, 2013)
Build your digital writing toolbox
PSU Web (event recording, 2013)
Paper carries, but it doesn’t keep
On what to do with all those old notebooks (kubie.co article, 2019)
Find something useful? Say thanks with a coffee!