Project: Writing Guidelines for Race and Ethnicity

Background

 

 

As a User Experience Writing intern at Airbnb, my capstone project involved creating writing guidelines for race and ethnicity on the platform. 

These guidelines were created to be used mainly by UX writers, but I anticipated that in the future they could also be useful to teams such as marketing and policy. 

 

Goal

Prior to this project, there was no central set of guidelines that UX writers could refer to for questions relating to race and ethnicity. 

As a global company with a vested interest in fostering belonging, it was important for us to create a resource that addressed the following: 

  • Why do we as a company care about anti-discrimination as it relates to race and ethnicity? 

 

  • How do we differentiate between different terms such as equity and equality?

 

  • What terms and expressions are considered respectful and inclusive when referring to different racial and ethnic groups? Conversely, what terms and expressions are considered offensive or outdated? 

 

 

Process

During my research phase, I met with several XFN partners to discuss the company’s current work on anti-discrimination and how we could use these guidelines to supplement that work. I also analyzed several other companies’ approaches to the topic and brainstormed how I could tie those approaches in with Airbnb’s unique mission and values. 

The writing and feedback phase allowed me to start drafting guidelines, inspired by that initial research. I also decided to get real input from some of the company’s employees, regarding what they thought should be included in the guidelines based on experiences within their individual racial and ethnic groups. I also attended writing critique sessions to get feedback and suggestions from fellow writers. 

In the review and publication phase of the process, I sent the guidelines to stakeholders such as the anti-discrimination team for approval final review. The last step was to publish the guidelines using the same content design standards as previously published guidelines. 

Solution

The final product was a fully developed standards doc that included several sections such as: 

  • Overview – why are these guidelines important to Airbnb as a company? 
  • Audience– who are these guidelines for? 
  • Guiding principles – how and why do we communicate in the way that we do about race and ethnicity in our product? 
  • Voice and Tone – how do we apply our brand voice and tone in different scenarios? 
  • Key terms – how do we define and differentiate important terms? 
  • General and specific guidance – which rules do we adhere to when referring to racial and ethnic groups? 
  • Additional resources – which resources can we look to for more in-depth information regarding inclusive and respectful language surrounding race and ethnicity?