Lil Cameron writes.
  • Home
  • Services
  • Work
    • Westpac NZ case study
    • AlphaImpactRx case study
    • NZQA case study
    • Umbrellar case study
    • 9 Spokes case study
    • Content writing
    • Articles
    • Tools of the trade
  • About me
  • Testimonials
  • What's Goss?
  • Contact

Thank you, Westpac: on the perks of working for a large corporate

29/9/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
I've had a long relationship with the Westpac team – long for freelancers, that is. 

Since 2011 I've been in and out of Westpac on projects, starting with work on overhauling their whole website. I learned a lot during that project about usability, about page architecture, how to turn the things I understand inherently – like a brand's tone of voice – into presentations that bring others on board. 

My second project taught me how UX principles can be applied to offline elements.

I've always been aware of how the amount of time I spend on the internet and writing for the internet has influenced my style in general, but when I took up the task of overhauling Westpac's brochure offering, it became more clear. They had 42 key brochures, I turned them into 20. And I did so by creating them into a sitemap, applying IA principles.

With the architecture sorted, I then applied page IA to the brochure content. 

Through-out the pages I added lots of bullet points and pull-out boxes, links to related brochures, tabs for easy 'navigation', and – much like good digital writing – culled sooooo much copy. It used to be that a brochure was where you went for the full detail on something. Now, you go to the website. So the brochures became simple, stripped-back sales tools for branch staff to use. Some brochures just became what we dubbed "Super Overviews" - giant tables with stripped back information that let you compare products easily. 

Side note: Sadly Westpac changed its ad agency and the brochures never got signed off in the turmoil. Sigh.

My third project with Westpac let me practice getting the little details right.

Homeclub.co.nz is a tool that lets people pull in house listings in from TradeMe, make notes and compare prices. They needed me for all those little bits of copy that have become so important on online tools and apps: the words on the buttons, the pop-up copy, the 'Site tour' copy, the response emails and error messages. These are the small things that leave a lasting impression on a reader.

Then I turned a printed booklet into digital format, and honed my skills more.

Turning Westpac's popular 'Home Buyer's & Seller's Guide' into pages on Westpac.co.nz was great fun. Only a nerd like me would love to pull apart a 30,000 word document and re-organise it. I worked closely with Westpac's Online Content Developer in Wellington, and it gave me a taste for using Westpac's CMS: Silverstripe. 

The last few months at Westpac has given me a chance to be Westpac's Content Specialist, using the CMS daily. And that's why I want to say thanks.

It's not often you get the chance to be paid while you increase your skills. Because of my past relationship with Westpac, they trusted that I could be the person they needed to review their site, improve tone and flow, create new content and teach others how to use the CMS – while I was still learning the CMS myself. I was given incredible freedom, and I did stuff up a few times because I was thrown into a job that technically I wasn't trained for... but I loved it!

Thank you Westpac. The truly rewarding  jobs are those that teach you the most.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    June 2022
    January 2022
    November 2020
    January 2019
    November 2017
    March 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    December 2015
    July 2015
    March 2015
    October 2014
    October 2013
    September 2013
    May 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    January 2012
    November 2011
    May 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010

    Categories

    All
    2012 Round Up
    2022
    Ad Agency
    Adam Nz Play Award
    Advertising
    Agencies
    Amanda Palmer
    Article
    Art Of The Envelope Awards
    Auckland Uni
    Big On Writing
    Billboards
    Bitch Magazine
    Bloggers
    Christmas Card
    Clients
    Close Up
    Comedy
    Cool Shit
    Creative Agency
    Creative Director
    Creative Work
    Critical Analysis
    Culture
    Digital Writing
    Dm
    Draftfcb
    Express
    Facebook
    Fake News
    Fanfiction
    Favourite Blog
    Federation
    Feminism
    Feminist
    Fintel Insurance
    G2
    Gay
    Google
    I Ask Myself Questions
    Ifamily
    Indiego
    Infographics
    Internet
    Internship
    Interview
    Interviews
    June
    Lecture Series
    Lesbian
    Lil
    Magazines
    Marketing
    May
    Media
    Media Representation
    Metro
    Monthly Round Up
    Monthly Round-up
    Music
    News
    New Technology
    Online
    Online Behaviour
    Outline
    Out Takes
    Overview
    Play
    Politics
    Pop Culture
    Print
    Published
    Rainbow Youth
    Recent Work
    Research
    Return On Investment
    Rugby World Cup
    Seventeen Magazine Project
    Shine
    Small Ad Agency
    Social Media
    Soda Communications
    Specialist Writing
    Stage Play
    Stoppress
    Sugar
    Technology
    Teenagers
    Television
    Tower Insurance
    Tv
    Tvcs
    Volunteer Work
    Weber
    Westpac
    Work
    Writers
    Writing
    Wtf New Zealand
    Yearly Round-up

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Services
  • Work
    • Westpac NZ case study
    • AlphaImpactRx case study
    • NZQA case study
    • Umbrellar case study
    • 9 Spokes case study
    • Content writing
    • Articles
    • Tools of the trade
  • About me
  • Testimonials
  • What's Goss?
  • Contact