Demetri Martin is a master of comedic situations. If you’ve never seen

Demetri Martin是喜剧情境的大师。 如果你从未见过

him before, he has a sort of dry brand of observational humor, relying more on anecdotes than full stories, and often uses visuals or music to frame jokes so his audience can understand him in a different way.他以前是一个干humor的观察性幽默品牌，他更多地依靠轶事而不是完整的故事，并且经常使用视觉或音乐来描述笑话，以便听众以不同的方式理解他。

On the surface he sounds like any other comedian, but what I think makes him brilliant is the way he frames his jokes, and the power of context to illustrate our strange societal quirks.

从表面上看，他听起来像是其他喜剧演员，但我认为让他出色的是他讲笑话的方式，以及用语境的力量来说明我们奇怪的社会怪癖。

“When I cross the street I always look both ways. That’s not crazy.” He says. “But if I look both ways any other time in life, then THAT looks crazy.”

“当我过马路时，我总是双向看。 那不疯狂。” 他说。 “但是，如果我在生活中的任何其他时间都去看这两种方式，那就太疯狂了。”

Examples:

例子：

“Getting a slice of pizza” (he looks both ways carefully) “Watch out we got a sneaky pizza eater here”

“拿一块披萨”(他仔细地看了两眼)“当心，我们这里有一个偷偷摸摸的披萨吃者”

“Is this your baby? Can I hold him? (Holds baby and looks both ways) “Just keep your eye on the baby, you can’t do that”.

“这是你的孩子吗？ 我可以抱住他吗？ (抱抱婴儿，双向看)“只要注意婴儿，就不能那样做”。

But one of my favorite Demetri Martin jokes is one of his simplest ones, and goes like this:

但是我最喜欢的Demetri Martin笑话之一是他最简单的笑话之一，它是这样的：

Simply brilliant.

简直太棒了。

What makes it funny is its simplicity and human truth. Accidentally bumping into someone at the supermarket can warrant either a “I’m sorry”, or a “I apologize”. When you forget to send that email to your boss he/she was expecting, you can use “sorry” or “apologize”.

让它变得有趣的是它的简单性和人类的真实性。 在超市不小心撞到某人可能会引起“对不起”或“我道歉”。 当您忘记将该电子邮件发送给他/她期望的老板时，可以使用“抱歉”或“道歉”。

But in the context of a funeral-when empathy and words matter, the difference is everything.

但是在葬礼的背景下，当移情和言语很重要时，区别就在于一切。

So what does that mean for UX writers? Writers know that great microcopy is finding the right tone between empathy, context and meaning.

那么，这对UX编写者意味着什么呢？ 作家知道伟大的显微镜正在同情，语境和意义之间找到正确的基调。

UX写作中的移情 (Practicing Empathy in UX Writing)

On the opposite end of the spectrum of telling a joke, sending out communications to the public, whether it be on a website, email, press release, etc…requires a high level of empathy in order for it to be received the right way.

在讲笑话，向公众发送通讯，在网站，电子邮件，新闻发布等方面，却恰恰相反，需要较高的同理心才能正确接收。

Example-In response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the IRS issued a stimulus check to every American meeting certain requirements.

示例-针对新的冠状病毒大流行，美国国税局向每个满足某些要求的美国人发出了刺激检查。

The problem: However, due to some technical difficulties, not every citizen received their checks on time, and the tool they used to find out more did not return any valuable information.This obviously caused quite a stir amongst confused users, wondering where their check was, and the expected turnaround time for when they could receive it.

问题 ：但是，由于某些技术困难，并不是每个公民都能按时收到支票，他们用来查找更多信息的工具没有返回任何有价值的信息，这显然在困惑的用户中引起了不小的轰动，他们想知道他们的支票在哪里是，以及他们何时可以收到它的预期周转时间。

For users checking the IRS website, here’s the response they received if their payment was not yet processed:

对于检查IRS网站的用户，以下是他们尚未收到付款的回复：

This messaging is vague, doesn’t set any expectations, and lacks empathy for frustrated users depending on this check to pay for their next utility bill.

此消息内容含糊不清，没有设定任何期望，并且对受挫的用户缺乏同情心，用户只能依靠这张支票来支付下一次的水电费。

The only thing of value it offers is pointing them to an FAQ page, but it still feels cold and devoid of empathy.

它提供的唯一有价值的东西是将他们指向FAQ页面，但是仍然感到冷漠和缺乏同理心。

So how would a UX writer do it better? Here’s how one UX writer on LinkedIn revised it:

那么，UX编写者将如何做得更好？ 这是LinkedIn上一位UX作家的修改方式：

There’s a much clearer picture of what’s happening with the payment. The simple use of the word “yet” implies that while the information isn’t available at this time, it will be at a later date.

有关付款情况的图片要清晰得多。 简单使用“还”一词意味着虽然目前尚无法获得该信息，但它会在以后发布。

The rest of the body copy accentuates that point, and provides a specific date to make it crystal clear to users when they can expect to check again.

正文的其余部分强调了这一点，并提供了一个特定的日期，以使用户在可以期望再次检查时清晰可见。

It’s a message full of empathy and understanding.

这是充满同情和理解的信息。

However, in my personal opinion, I think even this message can be further improved in 2 ways:

但是，以我个人的观点，我认为甚至可以通过以下两种方式进一步改进此消息：

• Less apologetic: I believe this messaging may be a little TOO apologetic in terms of messaging. Why? Because in cases like this, it’s often not due to a particular fault of anyone(a large batch payment to all Americans may take time)…and I’d imagine the style guide for government properties like this refrains from overusing an apologetic tone if possible.

  不太抱歉 ：我认为此消息传递在消息传递方面可能有点过分道歉。 为什么？ 因为在这种情况下，这通常不是由于任何人的特殊过错(向所有美国人大笔付款可能需要时间)……而且我想像这样的政府财产风格指南会避免过度使用道歉语气。

• Too wordy: This exceeds the character count and attention span for many people who just want a simple explanation for what’s going on with their payment.

  太罗word：对于许多只想简单解释其付款情况的人来说，这超出了字符数和注意力范围。

Here’s how I would write it:

这是我的写法：

Solution: Clear, concise, and appropriate for an IRS communication.

解决方案：清晰，简洁且适合于IRS通信。

Writing for the web and interfaces is a lot like writing a joke, as both disciplines require a deep understanding of human psychology, context, and empathy. Poor communications can result in a backlash of complaints, confusion, and more work for the content creators down the road. A joke that doesn’t speak on a human truth, or needs more information to be explained, typically results in a light chuckle, silence, or worst of all, boredom.

为网络和界面编写就像在开玩笑一样，因为这两个学科都需要对人类的心理，情境和同理心有深刻的理解。 沟通不畅会导致投诉，混乱和内容创建者的大量工作。 开个玩笑说不出人类的真相，或者需要更多的信息来解释，通常会导致轻笑，沉默或最糟糕的是无聊。

By implementing the 3 rules of good UX writing: clear, concise, and useful, and balancing the right tone of empathy and tone, we can achieve better user experiences across all industries.

通过实施良好的UX编写的3条规则：清晰，简洁和有用，并平衡移情和语气的正确语调，我们可以在所有行业中获得更好的用户体验。