Six principles. Four side-by-side rewrites from real work. Cut from longer pieces — like the writing itself.
The cheapest place to fix bad copy is in Figma, before anyone has shipped it. The most expensive is after a release note has gone out. I'd rather argue about a button label early than rewrite a help article late.
"Something went wrong" tells the user nothing. "We couldn't reach your payment provider — try again, or use a different card" tells them what happened, what to do, and what's available. Clever taglines fade. Specific copy keeps working.
Onboarding isn't a tour — it's the first 90 seconds of someone trying to do work. Cut motivational language. Cut "Welcome aboard!" Tell them where they are, what they can do here, and how to do the thing they came for.
"Friendly but professional" isn't a voice — it's a wish. A voice is a set of rules: contractions yes, exclamation marks no, second person always, jargon only when it's the user's jargon. Document it. Reuse it. Argue about it.
Empty states, error messages, tooltips, confirmations — these aren't garnish. They're where users meet the product when something is uncertain. Treat them with the same rigor as the happy path.
If you can't kill your own line, you can't be trusted to kill someone else's. Most UX writing improves when you remove the second sentence.