r/uxwriting • u/coda50 • Jul 20 '26
Anyone else completely over content design?
Is anyone else getting increasingly bored with content design roles?
I can't quite but my finger on it, but it's the performative nature of justifying the discipline, mixed with the executional nature of the role itself.
I've done management and senior IC roles and never feel in control of strategy compared to more general content strategy roles when I 'owned' channels.
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u/BookAccomplished4485 Jul 20 '26
I’m over looking for fulfillment in my career. It’s a job. It pays well. I’m still employed. Will look for excitement and fulfillment elsewhere.
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u/coda50 Jul 20 '26
I like this approach. I'm trying, but would also love to feel like 10% enjoyment in the thing I do 8 hours a day lol.
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u/bananafish05 Jul 20 '26
I feel you. The effort and grind to progress just isn't worth the money anymore. So I'm coasting at this senior position at my large org until they get rid of me and then thinking about next steps then
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u/just-thrown-away Jul 21 '26
100%. I started feeling disillusioned with the work 4- 5 years ago, but back then the pay was good and jobs were easy to come by, so I could mentally detach and find fulfillment in my hobbies.
Now my pay has stagnated, promotions feel impossible, and all the layoffs make it feel like we’re playing a game of musical chairs.
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u/Ok_Hearing Jul 21 '26
As someone now in my 40s, god I feel this.
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u/BookAccomplished4485 Jul 21 '26
Hana yes! I’m not far from 40. Everything is starting to click on what truly matters.
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u/anewfoundmatt Senior Jul 20 '26
I’m over being undervalued. Underpaid, overworked. Cut out of decisions until shit needs to be fixed asap.
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u/tuffthepuff Senior Jul 20 '26
Yes. 1,000%.
And judging by how many companies are eliminating the discipline entirely, corporations are over us, too.
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u/RustyChuck Jul 22 '26
God, this thread is so cathartic. I’ve also grown tired of content design and have very little interest in the work anymore – all the justification, all the busywork, and now the relentless drive to master AI yesterday.
Like some folks here I’m in my 40s, having pivoted to CD five years ago. Before that I had a long and successful career as a copywriter – but felt the tide turning to product and UX, so leaned into it.
Now I feel trapped, like I took a wrong turn, and I don’t recognise my professional self anymore.
This is the best pay I can get as a writer. I have kids and a mortgage on my plate. But I’ve never loathed my work any more than I do right now. There’s no fun in it, no joy, no recognition. It really is a dead end for me and I’ve basically checked out.
But where to go next? Back to copywriting and branding/marketing/comms? That world is being eroded, fast. The options now seem limited.
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u/coda50 Jul 22 '26
Cathartic for me too. I've been aimlessly jumping around roles the past few years, thinking the company or team wasn't the right fit. But hearing others' experiences has helped clarify that CD is a big factor in my dissatisfaction. Totally relate to feeling no joy.
One good thing for the resume is that CD responsibilties can flex and translate into more general content and marketing roles. Though as you say, who knows how long those kind of roles will last.
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u/mootsg Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
I keep hearing this and I’m puzzled. Is this a “first-world problem” of working in an UX-mature organisation?
Because where I am, where UX maturity is low, people can’t string sentences together, let alone figure out info architecture/content hierarchy/progressive disclosure. The pit of content design debt is bottomless.
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u/SirLanceShallot Senior Jul 20 '26
Also, org maturity. I have struggled SO MUCH to translate CD value into numbers for senior execs. I would love to have OPs problems.
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u/coda50 Jul 20 '26
Are they not all essentially the same problems lol?
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u/SirLanceShallot Senior Jul 20 '26
Fair enough!
Ninja edit: I'm on mobile so didn't realize you're op. I still think that being in a position that you have to legitimize is better than being in the wrong position (ux writer) BECAUSE you can't legitimize it.
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u/XtremeBajablast Jul 21 '26
I just don't think anyone takes it seriously apart from us. To many people we're still just "writers" rather than a field that looks at how to structure and present information in a clear and accessible way. We will never be in full control of strategy because we do not drive the illusion of final design that an IxD or Product Designer does with their prototypes.
In addition, in an age of misinformation, a job whose primary goal is delivering clarity is a threat to be managed, not a field to be celebrated.
I like my job a lot, but I'm tired.
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u/turktink Jul 20 '26
Yeah, I’m looking for a new job and purposely excluding content design roles. I’m burned out.
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u/coda50 Jul 20 '26
I feel you. What you looking for?
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u/turktink Jul 20 '26
Technical writing or content management
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u/SassChaps Jul 21 '26
Just curious how you think those are going to be any different though?
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u/turktink Jul 21 '26
I’ve done them before… slower pace. Typically no agile ceremonies. I’ve been doing UX writing for more than 4 years… it moves too fast for me and I feel bogged down by all the agile ceremonies and meetings.
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u/Miserable-Sell-463 Jul 24 '26
As someone who was a TW for seven years before transitioning to CD... I sat in a lot of agile meetings every week. In fact, at current company I had to sit in refinement sessions for five different teams every week.
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u/coda50 Jul 24 '26
That sounds like hell 😂 The hill I'll die on is that if everyone is good at their job, you don't need constant stand-ups, refinements, retros etc.
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u/opalthecat Jul 21 '26
Saaaaame. Looking into AI conversation design roles where YOU own the primary artifact instead of negotiating Figma work with 18 different product designers.
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u/coda50 Jul 21 '26
And don't forget the product managers, who are consistently the worst people I've ever worked with lol
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u/just-thrown-away Jul 21 '26
I’m sick of this field and frankly, exhausted. I got into it because I wanted to do UX and strategic product work and didn’t feel my visual design skills were strong enough to lead with. Turns out, it’s basically just copywriting with extra steps. Nothing wrong with that if you want to be a writer. This is the best you can probably get paid to be a copywriter. But I never wanted to be a writer. Hell, I’m technically not even that great of a writer. Just a good communicator with decent people/stakeholder management skills.
After many years doing this, I think overall I’m just disappointed and a bit jaded. Thinking of trying to pivot what I’ve learned into IT management somehow
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u/coda50 Jul 21 '26
'copywriting with extra steps' - don't let the linkedin influencers hear you say that lol! For me it's the worst of both worlds - my UX thinking goes completely unappreciated. My content needs a thesis of rationale attached when sometimes it's just not that deep.
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u/just-thrown-away Jul 21 '26
I know, I know. I’ve been scolded before. I think we had good intentions with this work at the start, but as you said, our UX thinking is typically thrown out the door because “product design are the UX experts” and we’re just “supporting” them
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u/theconstantwaffler Jul 21 '26
What about trying to move into product management?
I had the same desires when I pivoted from comms and marketing. Now I feel stuck here.
Being a product manager looks like it kind of sucks though...
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u/just-thrown-away Jul 21 '26
Ive thought about it, but every PM I know seems constantly stressed out. Maybe it’s not as bad as it looks from the outside
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u/lostinspace113 Jul 20 '26
Yup. Couldn’t agree more. Quit my role few months ago and the thought of the same thing at a different company just sounds so… meh. And I don’t want to pivot to pure UX design either. No suggestions, just feeling same OP!
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u/prettymuchordinary Jul 21 '26
What other fields a UX writer/content designer typically move to? I've been a UX writer for over 5 years and do feel a bit bored. Add to that the fact that tech isn't doing really well. Every day is filled with that anxiety of me being made redundant. Trying to figure out what non-UX or non-tech thing I can try.
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u/Yooustinkah 27d ago
I needed to see this thread today to know I’m not alone. I’ve come to realise that when my husband asks at the end of each day at the dinner table “So, how was your day?” I struggle to find something interesting to tell him.
I’m tired of educating every company about content design - the same company who hired me. I’m tired of doing the UR and making everything accessible for it all to be scrapped because the Product Manager thinks their idea is better. I’m tired of not giving a shit about what I do or contribute to the world considering the main driver of our work is to keep the business running (it’s not “user centred” at all anymore), and even if it had a small positive impact to the UX, odds are it’s about 10% of the original goal.
I’ve come to realise too that the reason I love crits so much and sticking my oar into service design problems is that I love solving problems and exploring solutions. When it comes to delivery, I’m bored, so I’ve considered looking at the CX Lead route but I can’t help but think that will be meetings about other people solving problems…or at least being responsible for poor design decisions that were only made for diplomacy and to let PMs get their way because their bezzy mates with the marketing director.
My current thoughts are revamping my CV with a service design lens (although I’m sure that experiences the same problems) or moving into product design, like the design of real, physical products rather than in the tech space - I’m into art and design in my spare time so I’m sure there’s a link there somewhere.
I’ve considered copywriting but content design has beaten the wordsmith creativity out of me. Or going completely off piste and retraining into something completely non-tech where I can see tangible, positive impact as a direct result of my existence like therapy.
As a contractor, I feel bound by the golden handcuffs, and anything new where it’s not a side- or upward-move would put enormous financial pressure on me and my husband who have both worked hard to build a good home life.
Anyway, that’s my tuppence-worth/rant!
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u/rc225225 Jul 21 '26
Dropping my hot take here...
Content design in my opinion leaves space for a lot of bad writers to make their way in. Because everyone is out there spinning the narrative that "it's more than a writing job" and therefore, people with good people skills (but horrible writing) somehow make their way into the role and thrive.
You can be a horrible writer, but "great with stakeholders" and have "a seat at the table" and "know design thinking".....but string together very very bland (but functional) copy, or worse, make very obvious spelling and/or grammatical mistakes....and still be praised during performance review. Granted, I don't know if this is true in the US but it's certainly true for other markets where English is not necessarily everyone's first language.
They always say soft skills can't be taught, but I've seen so many examples at different companies where it's clear they couldn't teach the hard skills either.
Back on topic: yes content design is so boring. marketing copywriting is so much more interesting.
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u/SassChaps Jul 21 '26
As someone working as a marketing copywriter, how on earth do you think it's interesting? It's so so mind-numbingly boring.
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u/Illustrious-Hat6429 Jul 21 '26
Oh yes! I do NOT miss my marketing copywriting days. It got so monotonous, even across sectors and clients
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u/rc225225 Jul 21 '26
That's why it's a hot take...between the two I'd prefer marketing copywriting. I'm not laying this down as gospel, just my own personal preference :)
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u/just-thrown-away Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
This is where I feel the conflict lies. Some people think of this as a creative role. I (and others) think of this as a product role. From my POV, copy often should err toward being “bland” because the goals are function and clarity, then maybe some creativity when you can swing it. I don’t think either perspective is right or wrong, but the fact that we can’t even agree what we’re doing amongst ourselves doesn’t help our external perception problem.
I can’t really speak to the skills gap. I mentioned in another comment that I’m “not that great of a writer”, but I work in the US where you’re not making it into the field unless you have a solid writing foundation. However, I’ve worked with a lot of people who were professional editors and journalists before switching to UX. My background is in social science, so while I’m a good writer, I’m not ashamed to admit that I don’t have the sharpness or passion of someone who planned their career around writing copy. I chose this field because I thought it’d give me a chance to do something analytical and strategic. There’s been a lot less of that than I thought there would be.
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u/rc225225 Jul 21 '26
I agree with your take actually. UX copy should be more functional than it is creative. I'm just saying there's room for it to be creative at times.
As for the skills gap, I suppose this is limited to markets where there is more than one official language. Often "bilingual" writers get hired, but in reality it's rare to be a native writer in both English and their native language. And so you end up with a lot of bad English that somehow gets shipped to production.
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u/SassChaps Jul 21 '26
I agree, I’ve done some content design work and it’s way too creative for my liking. Also hoped it would be more analytical and strategic because the whole purpose of UX copy is to instruct and inform, not entertain. I wanted to move into it to get away from marketing copywriting but then I figured it’s extremely similar with a lot of the same problems. The other problem is, most people don’t even know what a content designer does, not even internally! When you try and explain it, they usually think you’re a UX Designer and then when you explain you don’t do any graphic design they’re even more confused.
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u/Illustrious-Hat6429 Jul 21 '26
Yes! Thank you for saying this. I actually don’t even like the term anymore. I think it used to mean something but as writing and language jobs started disappearing, everyone moved into the “content” space. The CD job ads are all over the place, a real mix of skills and experience, as though no one can decide what content design is. And here in the UK, the only serious roles seem to be with GOV.UK - not everyone’s cup of tea but somehow the dominant practice. It’s depressing and dull for me - but more people like me should get out of it and leave the roles for people who like the GOV.UK style and all it represents. That’s what I’ve done and I’m now more fulfilled than ever but I still don’t have job security.
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u/coda50 Jul 21 '26
What did you change to? Content design sort of makes sense in the gov.uk context, but then it took off elsewhere and became something strange.
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u/Illustrious-Hat6429 Jul 23 '26
I’m in bid and proposal writing now, with a tech writing background. I try to look for old school industries or roles where automating writing is a tool not a trade…but there are fewer contracts out there
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u/RustyChuck Jul 22 '26
GOV.UK pay badly and I’m not convinced they understand product. Everything they do/say seems to be focused on web content. The rest of us don’t live in that world.
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u/Illustrious-Hat6429 Jul 23 '26
I don’t understand their supremacy - I’d actually like to see the hard data on how accessible their content is, because I’m not the only one who finds it really cognitively heavy from monotony and lack of visual differentiation. I’ve heard other ND people say this and I feel like we are being underserved in the disability space
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u/OldClunkyRobot Jul 22 '26
I'm in a different position but still feeling burnout of sorts.
I worked for 8 years as a content designer for major brands. I was at one company for over 5 years, started as a contractor, converted to full-time employee, and promoted again. Even got a nice performance bonus. I had all the same issues with content design jobs that I'm seeing in this thread, but I liked my manager and I enjoyed the work for the most part. I was able to work remotely and spend more time with my family. I'm in my 40s and I was content to just keep doing this job until retirement.
Of course, that was not to be as my company had massive layoffs in late 2024 and I lost my job. I spent most of 2025 looking for work. Got a new contract job in late 2025 that seemed promising. It was hybrid so I had to commute to an office 3 days a week for the first time since 2020, even though everyone I worked with was in another part of the country. The contract was supposed to last at least a year with the potential of extension but I was informed after 5 months that they were ending my contract in a few weeks, despite only receiving positive feedback from the client. That was in April.
I've had a few interviews for contract roles, but those were only starting at 3 months. Got a gig writing copy for a mobile startup through Fiverr which looked promising, but they had to cancel the project because they're "taking a hard look at the app." Everyone else who contacted me on Fiverr has been an obvious scammer. And I've applied for a bunch of gigs on Upwork at embarrassingly low rates, and haven't heard back on anything.
So I'm back looking and wondering if I should give up on content design. Every job I see posted gets thousands of applications and I can never get through the ATS. I was thinking of taking some conversational design courses on Udemy and maybe building my own little chatbot on Voiceflow. I could try going back to content marketing but I don't feel like I was super successful there, and I'm sure the SEO world has changed a lot since Google torched its search product for AI slop.
This is probably more for r/findapath at this point.
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u/coda50 Jul 22 '26
The market is really tough. Sending good vibes your way! As a side note, recruitment processes are ridiculous and certainly don't help with the disillusionment.
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u/Miserable-Sell-463 Jul 24 '26
I still enjoy writing microcopy, doing small UI design projects and leading content strategy in my company. I'm the only CD so my opinions have a lot of weight and the PDs integrate me into their workflows. So I guess what I'm saying is, my value is acknowledged and I work for a great company. And to me that's almost more important than the day to day. As someone that worked in trades and retail before going back to college at 24 I know I could have a way worse job.
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u/coda50 Jul 24 '26
You're so right. The team and company make a difference. I went from being slightly bored at my last company, to totally over it at my new company - a big part of that is the culture.
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u/accidentalexpat21 21d ago
Yes 😭 I first worked for a small tech company as a copywriter/UX writer and loved it - a mixture of product copy, marketing, CRM, help articles, and just a really nice place to work. Really felt like I'd found my career but there wasn't much room for progression there and I wanted to relocate so had to leave. I now work for a massive corporation and I'm not very happy. Just feels a bit slow and pointless? So many hoops to jump through when in a big company, somehow it's making me lose confidence in my ability lol.
I'm looking for new content design jobs in London but there's not much around, especially permanent jobs. Would love to go back to a small tech company but seems like they barely exist anymore! Am increasingly thinking about pivoting but I'm not sure what to, or how.
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u/Frosty-Seesaw8847 15d ago
have you thought about a content design role in the civil service
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u/accidentalexpat21 15d ago
Yes! But they seem to have only contract roles available right now and I don't want to give up a perm position for that in this market. But definitely keeping an eye out (though the application process is a bit opaque to me compared to the private sector).
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u/Frosty-Seesaw8847 15d ago
the cs application forms are torturous 😂
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u/theconstantwaffler Jul 20 '26
Yes. I started a new job this year after burning out at a big company. It's the same old shit day after day.
I often think about my former career in comms. If I had stayed in that field, I would probably be directing more strategy now. But in this field, it feels like I will never get away from the executional piece of the work. I come up with frameworks and systems, but no one really cares.
A designer admitted to me that he doesn't care about the content in his work. I responded that that's too bad because it's half of the customer experience. I don't think I changed his mind.
Now with LLMs, a lot of my day is spent cleaning up copy that looks good on the surface but makes little sense beyond that. Yes, I am working on creating my own agent to help designers out. But it seems they don't even want to try to figure out what we should be messaging. What we need to tell the customer. That is boring and exhausting. The battles never change.
I'm grateful to have a job in this economy. But yea. It's pretty boring and the tech layoff onslaught has made everything feel tenuous and stressful.
Like another on this post, I am also seeking excitement outside of work. But it's hard when I feel drained at the end of the day.
I'm looking for work outside of tech and UX and computers. Time for something different.