BrainPOP:
Leading content design by establishing standards and driving impact
Voice and tone chart for our BrainPOP Science product created by Sarah Mondestin after leading a product workshop with key stakeholders.
What I did
Integrated UX content into the product design system
Partnered with product designers to embed UX writing guidelines directly into our existing component library.
Provided specific guidance on character limits, preferred verbs, and tone for every component.
Ensured content was considered from the outset and scaled seamlessly with design efforts.
Wrote a company-wide Content Design Playbook to share best practices in UX writing.
Video of new activities after prioritizing specific taxonomy and terms with product, marketing, and legal teams.
Part 4: The result
A noticeable increase in language consistency across our four products, which directly contributed to reduced user frustration during tasks.
More moments of delight and celebration incorporated through consistent, empathetic in-product copy, improving overall user sentiment and engagement.
Scalable content systems, marketing style guides, and writing processes that reduced content errors by 20% and improved user efficiency ratings by 15%.
UX Writing Community of Practice Charter for the cross-departmental content design group I created.
Part 3: The action
What I did
Established foundational content principles and guidelines
Conducted UX research to define BrainPOP's core content strategy.
Led workshops to create unified voice and tone guidelines for different products.
Established a cross-departmental UX Writing Community of Practice.
One of several celebratory screens with copy written by Sarah Mondestin and the UX Writing Community of Practice. Design, graphics, and I ensured consistency in button copy, labels, visuals, and formatting.
Video of the UX Writing and Content Design Playbook, written by Sarah Mondestin and the UX Writing Community of Practice.
BrainPOP’s homepage redesign with copy from the UX Writing Community of Practice, led by Sarah Mondestin.
Part 1: The situation
Background
At BrainPOP, I started as a Content Manager, leading a team of 5 writers. I later grew into a Senior UX Content Designer and UX Researcher. As my roles expanded, so did the company's content needs. We were an edtech company creating lovable instructional activities and AI-assisted grading for over 25,000 students worldwide! But after completing a major project, our team of 6 was downsized to one. I became the sole UX writer supporting a team of six product designers who served five different product and marketing teams.
Problem
Through my UX research work, we uncovered a significant problem: our four different products had four different voices, leading to a lack of consistency. Users were frustrated with simple tasks, even though they loved our core activities. We were also missing moments of delight that could make users feel more at ease. It was disjointed, and we needed better content systems and frameworks to ensure consistency and delight users.
Part 2: The task
Establish impactful content design systems and frameworks across all projects with limited resources as the only content designer.
Establish clear content principles, guidelines, and processes.
Contribute directly to the overarching product design system.
Educate and train cross-functional teams to empower them to use these systems.
Measure and showcase the impact of this work to secure ongoing buy-in and value.