Project overview and my role

Schema is a design and data visualization firm in Seattle, and I was hired as their first Communications Manager in 2019.

The boutique firm had been growing, and they wanted new communications materials and strategies to help them continue reaching clients, employees, and peers. As a mission-driven firm dedicated to innovation and social impact, they were also interested in sharing more about their UX and data-driven approach with the design, data visualization, and tech communities.

To do this, I developed digital strategies and content to share the firm’s unique design approach, increase brand recognition, and drive new creative opportunities. I created a digital communications plan and editorial calendar with content that included thought-leadership writing, company announcements, and new self-initiated data visualization projects supported by an e-newsletter and social media presence across key channels.

I also led content strategy and writing updates for the website using its current build (i.e. without major redesigns) to improve the user experience for the site’s primary audience (new clients). This included writing project narratives, creating new home and about page messaging, and updating navigation for the work landing page. While doing these updates, I also began the discovery work and information gathering for a site redesign.

Discovery

To create a good communications plan, content strategy, and writing, I collaborated with the firm's leadership to understand Schema’s work, mission, goals, competitors, target audiences, and voice through interviews, conversations, competitive analysis, and a light content audit. Working with the design team on client work also gave me a good perspective on the firm’s strengths and creative perspective.

Communications plan and editorial calendar

I developed a communications plan and content strategy to boost the firm’s outreach and improve their brand positioning. This included designing Keynote presentations and hosting internal brainstorming sessions to share plans with the office, gather ideas, and incorporate feedback. We needed a content plan that would highlight the team’s inspiring interests and skills while providing meaningful value to our audience—though I would be managing the content, creating it would be a team effort and it needed to reflect the perspectives and passions of those in the office (I would be writing some content and working as an editor/manager or ghostwriter on other posts and projects).

The resulting editorial calendar I created (using Asana) focused on regularly publishing different types of content across platforms, for different purposes and audiences, supported by regular social media posting and other ongoing website updates. The schedule was designed to fit the bandwidth of our small, and very busy, team while still creating a regular publishing cadence to build an audience.

Medium

Medium would be used for longer articles with thought leadership content exploring both high-level ideas and “how-to” articles from employees breaking down data visualization, digital design, UX, and software development topics. For example, below is a post I created for the firm in which team members share inspirational book ideas around the holidays (my intro and book blurb are shown) and a thought-leadership piece by the founder of Schema talking about “information anxiety” and data-driven design, expanded from a TEDx talk he gave.

News

Posts on the “News” section of the website (designed as a lightweight blog), would share short company announcements, including new work, and drive traffic to other key pages.

Schema Labs data projects

Schema Labs would include new and experimental data visualizations, journalism, and design projects by the team (self-initiated work to complement client projects). Medium articles would tie into these projects, explaining the process or ideas behind them.

Social media and e-news

Social media, particularly Instagram and Twitter, would share Schema’s work, drive traffic to Medium posts and the website, and help better connect Schema to clients and the design community. The e-news was also used to share news and drive traffic to longer content.

Website content updates: project narratives

Outside of the editorial calendar, I regularly created content for the website to share the firm’s projects. The firm was constantly designing interesting new work touching on complex topics, and I wrote descriptions for several new projects with curated images.

Working within the website’s existing design, I restructured the project text from a longer, process-oriented narrative to a shorter upfront summary followed by highlights with scannable headers—this would be easier for the primary users (potential clients) to quickly digest and better fit their information needs. The narratives and headlines underscore the project’s societal topics (important to the firm’s mission-driven approach and the types of work they focus on) as well as the team’s design solutions, providing key information for potential clients scanning the site.

Website content updates: home and about

Schema continues to evolve, and using the website’s existing design, I consulted with the founder/principal to update content and write new and/or revised copy for the home and about pages to articulate the firm's increasingly deep experience, specific expertise, and compelling vision.

Website content updates: navigation for “work” page

One of the most important parts of Schema’s website is the “work” section, and I pinpointed that the navigation needed updating to fit the firm’s increasingly large portfolio and create a good user experience. The “work” landing page presented projects chronologically with the ability to filter by topic (e.g. education, arts, etc.). Recently the firm’s portfolio had grown beyond these topics, and stand-out projects were getting lost low on the page due to the ordering. The firm also worked on a variety of project formats (websites, visualizations, installations, etc.), and this wasn’t indicated in the text or navigation (and this is likely what the primary users, potential clients, would be scanning for). To address this, we changed the ability to filter by topic to a visible subnavigation that categorizes projects by format. The first item in the navigation is “featured work,” highlighting important projects in the initial view, an easy solution to improve the user experience.

Results

The resulting new communications plan, strategy, and content inspired the team because it was based on their authentic strengths—it took what they were excited about, and their excellent work, and highlighted those aspects for the community to see while providing value to users. It gave the firm new brand positioning to fit their current vision while providing more opportunities to actively reach out to their audience and forge new connections. Though some of this work has been put on hold due to the disruptions caused by the pandemic, the firm has a strong foundation for the future.