Past Work
Explore projects from older work experiences that I’ve featured in the past.
Capstone Project for UX Content Collective
The fictional Handshake app is an all-in-one project management tool for freelancers and their clients. To earn my user experience writing certification from the UX Content Collective, I was tasked with writing the in-app copy and improving functionality for two user flows.
The ask: Create low-fidelity prototypes of the Handshake app “to present to the heads of UX and Product.”
My objective was to research user personas and write voice and tone guidelines as well as user-focused content that represents the product’s brand while helping and encouraging users during sign in and ongoing use.
The goal was to make the experience simple and frictionless so that users would leverage all the app’s features to guide their projects from initial estimate to final payout.
Final project deliverables:
Research: Researched user personas, defined brand attributes and terminology according to their needs.
Content: Created voice and tone guidelines that would resonate with both user types, wrote onboarding copy and the in-app text for user flows.
Design and Testing: After receiving qualitative feedback, I revised the UI to improve functionality and made suggestions for further usability testing.
I earned a grade of 21/20 along with kudos for my persona-driven writing, UI improvements, thoughtful reasoning and attention to detail.
App sign-up flow
Welcome - Created a carousel communicating product benefits using illustrations from undraw.co. Changed CTA text to match voice/tone.
Choose role or sign in - If the user has already created a project, she'll sign in. If it's her first time using the app, she'll need to create a project. Choosing Freelancer or Client customizes the rest of the screens going forward in the flow (with tooltips to explain the terminology)
Create account - Added password requirements below the Password form field along with a show function
Confirm account - Created a confirmation dialog that celebrates account creation in a casual, conversational voice and prompts the user to set up their first project
First-time user flows: Business owner and Freelancer
Project - Anticipated friction points and ensured users have enough information to complete setup successfully. To help Freelancers and Business Owners enter project data smoothly, I added hint text, microcopy, an error message and tooltips as well as refined the copy to support accessibility. I also introduced new design elements that would improve wayfinding and guide users, such as numbered steps informing them of their setup progress, and button text to the previous steps (breadcrumbs) helping the users know where they are in a process.
Select Payment Method - Organized payment methods into clickable boxes with strong visuals. Added a link to the FAQ to explain why these payment methods are the only current options (explains Handshake’s fee structure). Added microcopy to explain how Handshake makes money: by collecting a service fee from the freelancer’s pay, while staying free for the client. Another link to the FAQ provides additional details.
Payment setup - This screen was left intentionally blank as designs for financial transactions were to be added later.
Invite - Explains exactly what will happen and sets expectations of what users should wait for.
Ongoing use flows: Business owner and freelancer
Project - Changed terminology on the sticky navigation bars. Adjusted on-screen information hierarchies, aligning shared project data along with proposing new fields and pathways. Added headers with the project name on the second line to help users differentiate between active projects, and two CTAs to every page (secondary CTA is “View dashboard” so users can easily view other active projects - this is a new screen yet to be designed.)
Time - Added date, hours and rate, pay due titles in drop down menus for each week.
Billing - For Clients, added payment recipient and payment status to Paid Time. For Freelancers, made payment cancellation pop-up easier to understand with clear, simple CTAs.
Confirmation - Payment/invoice confirmation pop-up includes amount being sent, freelancer/client’s full name, and payment method.
Mini style guide
The app’s voice balances professionalism with just enough playfulness to make it fun to use - a friend who celebrates success and helps navigate the challenges of contractual requirements and business transactions. The taglines, onboarding text, and all other components needed to address both user personas to avoid alienating either audience.
Brand attributes
Encouraging: We cultivate great freelancer-business owner relationships by making their communications more seamless.
Empowering: We help freelancers build trust with their clients and feel confident in delivering the services they offer.
Genuine: We want to earn our users’ trust, and we want them to know that their data and business details are safe in our hands. We built this product for them.
Features
Adding a chat-based messaging interface. Conversations between multiple team members should function like a group chat.
Adding a dashboard screen that includes navigation, notifications, a progress tracker for the project, a way to create a new project and the ability to navigate between multiple projects.
App terminology
billable hours
hourly rate
flat rate
quote
project fee
meeting
project specifications
Further recommendations
deliverables
deadline
deposit
log sheet
time tracking
client
reporting
Testing
Click maps could tell us how users experience the flow and where they encounter issues. We'd take a closer look at navigation and the settings, support and dashboard screens.
Highlighter testing could reveal whether our word choices resonate with users in order to establish trust.
Testing outputs would inform revisions for the final design review.
Onboarding copy
Billing made simple
Send and receive estimates and invoices.
Instant payments
Request or transfer money on the go.
Manage accounts
Set up profiles for repeat billing.
Track time
Log or view hours as work gets done.
Skip the emails
Share project estimates and updates.
Content strategy and copywriting for Flexsteel
Flexsteel is a 125-year-old furniture manufacturer that makes products for residential, contract, and recreational use. Their online channels were in desperate need of transformation: six separate websites housed the products and content for the different lines of business, and navigating between the sites was confusing, to say the least. Their branding was nearing 30 years old and needed a fresh identity for the digital age.
Walkthrough video
Taxonomy and navigation
The UX team created a new architecture in order to turn these fragmented sites into a consistent experience for all users and designed the site navigation to highlight product and allow the various types of users to find retailers. Discovery activities included a competitor audit, customer journey mapping, whiteboarding session and card sorting exercise.
Brand and page copy
As a member of both the UX and Creative teams at Almighty, I was lead writer helping to reimagine the Flexsteel user experience and design their website and online catalogue from the ground up. The proprietary Blue Steel Spring at the heart of Flexsteel's upholstered furniture became the cornerstone of the new brand, from the redesigned logo to the 'Heart of Steel' tagline I created to guide visitors through the online brand experience.
