I started editing copy for them in 2011, then got involved in content management, then did some user experience work on the website, which was rebuilt from scratch and relaunched on 5th October 2011. Now I work part-time in the Digital team as the website editor, building and editing pages using eZPublish’s content management system. I also help revise the usability of online tools, looking at both functionality and copy.

All staff work remotely, so I got used to managing my time and taking initiatives.

Online community for professionals, dadsincluded.org:
Project-managed site build; designed database and helped with the technical integration; worked with coders to choose and improve the functionality; rewrote all functional copy.

After launch, I moderated the forums, answered user queries and managed the site’s back end in Joomla.

Main site, fatherhoodinstitute.org:
Managed migration from old site to new. Designed structure of new site. Helped build and integrate new database.

Wrote, edited and designed web pages in WordPress; wrote, designed and tested email newsletters in MailChimp; and managed database of 17,000 names; produced reports and advised on IT and web strategy; managed FI domains; dealt with suppliers.

Due to funding cuts, I was made redundant on 11 February 2011.

MRM is a digital agency that builds websites for huge global clients such as Intel, Microsoft and Unilever.

As a user experience architect, I designed the structure of (mostly big and complicated) websites, thinking about what users would need and expect. I also wrote proposals and content strategies, did site audits, and created user journeys, site maps, wireframes and functional specifications to show how sites would work, and ran user testing sessions to find out what could be improved.

Unlike most UEAs, I also wrote and edited copy – useful on small projects, as I could develop a whole site from site map to final page copy.

Good accessibility was always a requirement and we agreed early on that what’s good for disabled users is good for everyone: clear, concise, user-focused text, logical, hierarchical headings, and sites that can work without pictures and plug-ins.

Although I didn’t build the sites – the technical team did that – I gained a good understanding of what can and can’t be done online; I learned how to work with both coders and designers, and I can design an effective user interface. On smaller sites, I can find cost-effective solutions. I am aware of the possibilities and the limitations of the digital environment.

Went from full-time to part-time, then made redundant.

I wrote articles, commissioned copy, sub-edited copy, designed ads, redesigned and laid out the 52-page magazine; organised printing and liaised with the printer.

I’ve done design work mostly as an amateur but like to keep my hand in as the technology changes so quickly: I specialise in low-budget publications with an emphasis on information design and typography.

I wanted to write, and produced both informative factual articles for new parents and more personal pieces. Here’s an example of a personal piece.

Stopped to become editor of my local village magazine.

Returning to Siegel & Gale as a freelance information designer, I did several complex projects:

• rewrote all the letters that Freemans catalogue sends out to its customers, including demands for outstanding payments;
• wrote, in collaboration with its legal team, all the documentation for Standard Life Bank’s Freestyle mortgage, one of the first offset mortgages, translating legal gobbledegook into plain English.

Also did sales work, both cold-calling leads and giving new business presentations.

Skills: developed my knowledge of financial services, found out how to collaborate with experts.

Emap
Freelance production editor for Internet magazine and then a freelance sub-editor and production editor for about a year on various telecoms titles for Emap. Good practice at turning up and getting on with things in a new team. And I learned a lot of weird telecoms acronyms.

Online
Did three days’ information design work on a website for the company that became MRM and was asked to join.

Sub-editor of Sound on Sound magazine. I worked as a sub in the production team, editing copy, researching information, and liaising with writers. This was less responsibility than the previous job, so I didn’t really learn much.

Made redundant when the company shrank.

Production Editor then Deputy Editor of Keyboard Review magazine: managed the flatplan, worked out a house style, sub-edited all the copy and prepared the pages for the designers, in Quark Xpress; wrote album reviews, researched original articles, and interviewed musicians such as Tori Amos, Gillian Weir, and Chas and Dave. Took on responsibility for a new music supplement: budgeted, commissioned copy, negotiated with copyright holders.

Skills: learned how to use Quark XPress, and how to plan, budget and run a magazine.

Made redundant when the company was taken over by Future Publishing and relocated to Bath.

Rewrote complex information in plain English and improved the usability of forms, statements, manuals and suchlike. For example, I rewrote the mortgage terms and conditions for NatWest and helped redesign the Royal Mail’s forwarding form.

Left to do a job I’d been previously offered which had then disappeared – and returned unexpectedly.

Re-wrote, re-designed, indexed and typeset software manuals for industrial temperature-monitoring systems using Microsoft Word and PageMaker 5 on a PC. Established a house style for six different languages; commissioned translations and typeset them.

Left to do a similar information design job for a London consultancy, where my boss’s partner worked.