Empty state copy

What an empty state is

A moment in the product where there is no data to display. Most common the first time a reader interacts with a product or page, but also used when data has been deleted or is unavailable.

The three cases

The source names three distinct situations this content type covers, and the copy job differs across them:

Type	Use case	Goal	When to use
No data	First time use — no data yet	The reader understands what will populate the page and how to add data themselves.	Simpler situations, or secondary features where a bite-sized message is enough.
User action	Feedback after something the reader did — no results from a filter, confirmation of a completed process	The reader understands how to adjust their search or filter, or that their action succeeded.	Whenever feedback is needed after an interaction.
Error management	Permissions, system, or configuration issue	The reader understands the problem and, if a corrective action exists, what it is.	Something is wrong and troubleshooting is needed — this case wants more detail and specificity than the other two.

These three cases need different copy, not just different illustrations. “No campaigns yet” (no data) and “No campaigns match these filters” (user action) describe genuinely different situations, and using the first for the second tells the reader to go create something that already exists. See TITAN-EMPTYCOPY-03.

Anatomy of the copy

Part	What it does
Graphic	A non-interactive image relating to the situation. Neutral or humorous in tone; consistent with the brand.
Title header	A short, concise statement — written positively where possible, rather than as a bare status word.
Body text	Explains the next action clearly. May also explain why the space is empty and what the reader gains from acting.

The primary action, when there is one, is presented one of three ways: a button beneath the copy, a link inside the copy itself, or a pointer to the relevant control elsewhere on the screen — the source does not state when to choose among the three.

Do and don’t

Do	Don’t
If the empty state has an action, style it as a link button, not a solid one.	Use a solid button for an empty-state action.
Respect a maximum width and height for the empty-state container.	Scale the graphic, or apply ad hoc bounds instead of the container’s own constraint.

The container’s max-width/max-height values need re-verification — see Open issues for their provenance.

Constraints

ID	Constraint	Rationale
TITAN-EMPTYCOPY-01	The title states what is missing, phrased positively where possible — not a bare status word like “Empty."	"No campaigns yet” tells the reader what to expect; “Empty” only tells them something is absent.
TITAN-EMPTYCOPY-02	Body text explains the concrete next action, in a sentence or two.	Matches Error messages’ “helps solve the problem” reasoning — an empty state is not a failure, but the copy job is structurally the same: tell the reader what to do next.
TITAN-EMPTYCOPY-03	A zero-state (“no data yet”) and a no-results state (“nothing matches your filters”) are worded differently, even when the visual layout is the same.	Confirmed by the source’s own three-case model — see Warning above.
TITAN-EMPTYCOPY-04	An empty-state action, when present, renders as a link button, never a solid one.	Directly stated in source.
TITAN-EMPTYCOPY-05	Empty-state copy names the real thing that’s missing — campaigns, calls, contacts — never a generic technical noun like “records.” Proposed, carried over from this component’s earlier page, not directly stated in the source fetched for this page.	A reader thinks in terms of what they see in the product, not the database table behind it.
TITAN-EMPTYCOPY-06	Empty-state copy is sentence case, with no exclamation marks. Proposed — inherited from the general UI-copy default on Capitalization and punctuation, not stated in this component’s own source.	Matches Error messages’ sentence-case default for non-button UI text.

Known issues

Empty state copy: open issues

Divergences, open decisions, and undocumented gaps for Empty state copy.

​What an empty state is

​The three cases

​Anatomy of the copy

​Do and don’t

​Constraints

​Known issues

Empty state copy: open issues

What an empty state is

The three cases

Anatomy of the copy

Do and don’t

Constraints

Known issues