At the recent Future of Web Apps event in London, Erika Hall of Mule Design gave a presentation entitled “Copy is interface“, (for which Suw Charman took excellent notes) where we were pleased-as-punch to see Dopplr feature as an example.

As Erika states, using language as interface is particularly powerful if you’re taking that interface across a number of different contexts, e.g. website, RSS feeds, mobile etc.

It’s also great for doing all of the traditional things that copywriting is used for - establishing a posture or voice for the service and communicating that consistently.

However, if you’re…

1. dealing with events in the future, the present and the past
2. primarily using the English language to do so
3. trying to get, y’know, computers to do both

…it can be quite a challenge, but as Erika says, it’s a very worthwhile one!