Error messages: A pocket guide

Nobody was interested

When I joined Oracle, one of my first jobs was to take a group of information developers and product managers and start creating a framework for making error messages more user-centric. But the error messages were awful, there were tons of them, and getting resources or buy-in felt impossible. Nobody was interested.

So before Oracle's design week, I decided to make a zine.

150 handmade copies

I made 150 copies by hand. A friend created pixel art landscapes of every city that had an Oracle design hub, including Seattle, San Francisco, and New York.

A brief intro to error messages

Inside, I wrote a brief introduction and three principles of exemplary error messages: provide a precise account of what happened, explain how to move forward, and establish a gentle, supportive tone in a proactive voice. There's also a "paper alert" error message printed on the page. "It seems this error message has been printed on paper. Please put me back inside a computer."

Giving borders to a complex topic

The zine breaks error messages into two core components: persistent components (required information about what happened, why, and how to rectify it) and dynamic components (politeness markers like apology, acknowledgement, confirmation, clarification, coaching, and encouragement). Giving borders to a seemingly endless concept makes it more approachable.

A single sheet of paper

The center folds out into a core syntax for error messages in conversational design, covering acknowledgement, what happened, how to move forward, and coaching. I would tell the story of how a single piece of A4 paper unfolds, and how that felt similar to the way seemingly simple experiences can unfold into complex error states. People latched onto that story.

The entire guide is printed on a single sheet of A4 paper. Simple things can unfold to reveal complexity.