Nicola Fleming
Verified Expert in Design
Content Designer
London, United Kingdom
Toptal member since July 13, 2020
Nicola is a content strategist, content designer, and UX writer focused on beautiful, usable digital experiences. She's an expert in both front-end and back-end content. Nicola has managed teams and held senior roles at Facebook, Microsoft, HSBC, BP, and Barclays. As a designer, she delivers simple, clear, and human interface copy. As a strategist, she helps brands maximize the value of their content as a business asset.
Portfolio
Facebook Security Checkup: Product Content Strategy
Work Experience
Content Designer, Content Strategist, and UX Writer
Freelance
- Led a content team at BP to deliver an IT digital transformation project. Was part of the project leadership team involved in making IT services easier to find, understand, and manage for BP employees.
- Supported the design and launch of GrowthDay, the world's first personal development app. Delivered a content strategy and design that helped translate the work of leading coach Brendon Burchard into a motivational set of digital growth tools.
- Acted as a content designer on the launch of Italic, an analytics app for eCommerce businesses.
- Provided content design for GameFace, an online gaming tournament and community experience.
Content Strategy Manager
- Participated in the design of Facebook's Privacy Checkup product. Mark Zuckerberg announced the launch on Data Privacy Day and the product has now been rolled out to 2 billion users globally.
- Co-led the redesign of Facebook's Security Checkup product. The new experience is available on more devices and offers the user a better understanding of their security settings.
- Led a team of content strategists dedicated to minimizing bad experiences on Facebook through good design. Partnered with team leads across data science, product design, UX research, engineering, and product management to keep users safe on Facebook.
- Spearheaded the creation of a tone framework for integrity experiences. The framework offers designers and non-designers alike guidance on the appropriate UI tone to apply in specific contexts.
Global Head of Content Planning (Contract)
HSBC
- Co-led an initiative to help a communications organization modernize its content operations. Helped to organize a series of cross-team workshops to co-create a new org vision and execution plan.
- Conducted a detailed business analysis to identify internal pain points and opportunities. Methods included mapping content roles, workflows, systems, and processes.
- Delivered an inventory and audit of historic editorial articles that included performance analytics and a topic taxonomy. The data helps to inform ongoing editorial planning decisions, and the inventory is a tool for content governance.
- Co-created and managed a content planning workflow, including editorial meetings, calendars, and request systems.
- Co-chaired an employee resource group that promotes the benefits of flexible working practices.
VP | Head of Digital Content Strategy
Barclays Digital
- Led the bank's first dedicated digital content strategy team. Developed senior content professionals into strategists skilled at using content to meet business and user goals.
- Co-led agile workstream to improve the discovery of Barclays online banking services. By applying user-centered design techniques to help and SEO content, we increased engagement by up to 50%.
- Delivered website accessibility content strategy. Led cross-team discovery phase to understand customers' needs with physical and mental impairments and delivered new language guidelines and accessible content recommendations.
- Delivered documented content strategies for many website redesigns, including wealth and business banking. Each strategy was informed by a comprehensive discovery phase, typically combining qualitative and quantitative content and UX research.
- Drove Barclays first large-scale audit of digital content, including web pages, videos, and email. Assets were optimized and streamlined by as much as 60%, improving internal efficiencies and external customer experience.
- Acted as product owner on the program to migrate 20+ websites to the Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) CMS. Worked within an agile team to create requirements, user stories, and the product roadmap.
- Led the connected future content strategy for reusable micro-content structures. Drove the creation of a semantic content model for websites and collaborated with UI designers to align the model to the new design language.
- Drove the design of the Barclays product taxonomy and controlled vocabulary. Helped to set up the first governance committee to measure and maintain the taxonomy on an ongoing basis.
VP | Digital Propositions
Barclays Digital
- Collaborated on the strategy and development of online banking services for business customers using insights, prototyping, user testing, and metrics.
- Partnered on the design of a digital mandate change feature. This transformed a painful paper process to a quick online step and improved customer satisfaction scores.
- Collaborated on the redesign of an international payments process that integrated FX rates.
- Workshopped end-to-end mobile onboarding for new business accounts.
Digital Delivery Manager | Web Content and Publishing Manager
Barclays Digital
- Led the redesign of mortgages content on Barclays.co.uk, shifting focus from product rates to user needs. Partnered on the design of the site's first mortgage calculator that subsequently became the website’s biggest income generator.
- Devised and launched a video campaign to promote the Barclays mobile banking app. Generated the highest ever user engagement on Facebook for a Barclays video at that time and drove almost 9,000 pre-registrations within a few weeks of launch.
- Developed a digital video strategy, including social sharing strategy, voice and tone guide, and archive player design.
- Managed the delivery of a series of promotional and instructional videos for online banking.
- Collaborated on the build of Barclays.co.uk on the Fatwire CMS.
- Managed the planning, delivery, and build of multiple large-scale content projects and campaigns across Barclays.co.uk, mobile banking, and online banking.
Bing UK Homepage Editor/MSN UK Shopping Manager
Microsoft
- Collaborated on the global launch of the Bing search engine. Owned the planning of daily content and photography for the UK homepage.
- Created engaging and commercially successful daily content for MSN's shopping channel, including blogs, articles, interviews, videos, quizzes, and graphics.
- Devised a selection of eCommerce content templates that drove click-through rates as high as 80%. Templates were subsequently introduced to the French and German markets with success.
- Collaborated with European markets, merchant suppliers, and channel editors to devise and deliver audience engagement and revenue-generation strategies.
Digital Account Manager
77agency
- Managed an SEO link-building campaign for a well-known gambling brand. The company achieved top ranking for their chosen search terms within six months, resulting in significantly increased revenue.
- Managed search engine marketing campaigns and landing pages for a range of financial brands.
- Delivered a multi-language digital ad campaign for Veet in six European markets.
Web Editor
M&Co.
- Helped to launch M&Co's first eCommerce site that has since become the company’s highest-grossing store in the UK. Collaborated on the design and build of the site, and the integration with customer service operations.
- Edited an online magazine for pre-teen girls. Created daily lifestyle content and organized fashion photoshoots.
- Collaborated with fashion buyers to plan content in line with seasonal campaigns.
Education
Master of Arts Degree in English Literature
University of Glasgow - United Kingdom
Skills
Tools
Adobe Photoshop, Procreate, Trello, Confluence, Balsamiq, Lucidchart, Google Docs, Apple Keynote, Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe Analytics, Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), Adobe Illustrator, Jira, Sketch, Microsoft Excel, Google Analytics, Google Sheets, Figma, MURAL
Languages
HTML
Platforms
WordPress, SharePoint, Omniture, Shopify, Google Ads, Microsoft, iOS, Android, Desktop, PlayStation, Xbox, YouTube
Industry Expertise
Advertising, Security, Technology, Retail & Wholesale, Jewelry & Accessories, Banking & Finance, Marketing, Games
Other
Content Strategy, Conversational UX, Journey Mapping, Website CMS, Writing & Editing, UX Audits, Content, Web Content, Content Creation, Tone of Voice, Website Migration, Website Redesign, Contextual Help, Content-first Design & Development, Content Design, User Experience (UX), Voice, Content Writing, Digital Strategy, Personas, Stakeholder Mapping, Stakeholder Interviews, Information Design, Taxonomy, UI Audits, Content Marketing, Training Content, SEO Content, Style Guides, Agile UX, User Stories, Gantt Chart, Kanban, Roadmaps, User Requirements, User Flows, User Needs, Controlled Vocabulary, UX Flows, User Journey Maps, Information Architecture (IA), Wireframing, Workshops, Analytics, Semantic UI, Project Management, Scrum, Business Analysis, UX Research, Organic SEO, Facebook Ads, Quip, Content Management Systems (CMS), Product Design, Facebook, Localization, Privacy, Desktop Web Design, Desktop App Design, Social Media Apps, User Interface (UI), Business Strategy, Conversational Design, App Design, Conversational UI, Social, Product Research, Product Discovery, Safety, User Testing, User Journeys, Customer Journeys, Remote User Testing, Qualitative Research, Product Journeys, A/B Testing, UX Testing, UI Testing, Audience Targeting, Engagement Strategy, Web UI, Messaging, Branding, eCommerce, Websites, Social Media Marketing (SMM), Online Marketing, Jewelry, Instagram Ads, Instagram Marketing, Jewelry Design, Social Media Strategy, Wall Art, Facebook Promotion & Advertisement, Web Shops, Responsive UI, DSLR Photography, UX Strategy, Customer Discovery, Discovery, Online Banking, Consumer Banking, Online Help, Web Search, Credit Cards, Finance, Mobile Banking, Metadata, Analysis, User Research, User Personas, Financial UX, Financial Design, Website Audits, Buyer Personas, Mortgages, Sitemaps, Landing Pages, App UI, App UX, Onboarding, eCommerce UX, Gaming, UX Writing, Chatbots, Chatbot Conversation Design, Discord, SaaS, Headless Software, Videos, Strategy, Copywriting, Team Management, Microsoft Teams, Whiteboarding, ServiceNow, Audits, Design Systems, Push Notifications
Experience
- Writing & Editing - 15 years
- Content Strategy - 15 years
- Web Content - 15 years
- Content Design - 8 years
- Journey Mapping - 6 years
- Conversational UX - 6 years
- Content-first Design & Development - 6 years
- Taxonomy - 5 years
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