Intermediate
Open
Pro
Designing Empty States for a Project Management Tool
You're writing copy for a project management tool. There are two screens that can both currently render "empty":
- Screen A: A brand-new account, seconds after signup, before the user has created anything.
- Screen B: An existing account with 30 active projects, where the user just applied a filter ("Status: Archived, Owner: me") that happens to match zero projects.
The current copy is identical on both screens: "No projects. Create one to get started."
- Explain concretely why using the same copy on both screens is a mistake, referencing what each screen's empty state should be communicating.
- Write the correct empty-state copy for Screen A, including a call-to-action.
- Write the correct empty-state copy for Screen B.
- A teammate suggests solving this by just removing the call-to-action button from both screens, so the copy is "safely" vague and works everywhere. Explain why this is worse, not better.
Share this question