TD Ameritrade

I helped TD Ameritrade deliver a seamless user experience.

Working with Dell EMC, I was the lead UX writer for the TD Ameritrade Veo One Institutional Investor platform.

The major UX challenge of Veo was that the platform was meant to not only perform the gamut of TDA-native account functions, but also to interface with about a dozen external applications that had their own unique data types, nomenclature and UX.

After interviewing numerous internal and external stakeholders, I created a content solution for the Veo platform that allowed users to interact seamlessly with information from a wide range of sources. Additionally, I developed data-formatting and copy guidelines for all future versions of the site.

Used by thousands of registered investment advisors to manage hundreds of billions of dollars, the Veo One institutional investor platform nearly doubled the custodial funds parked at TDA from $300 to $600 billion.

In 2020, Veo One won a wealth management award for best technology from the publication "Wealth Management."

the Y

I helped YMCA-USA officially become 'the Y.'

I've worked on a lot of brand voice projects, but the Y (a.k.a., the YMCA) was and is one of the most satisfying. A genuine, purpose-driven organization with global reach and everyday local impact, the Y is a real force for good.

It's also a monster of a brand, in that each branch historically had its own ideas about the mission, and developed its own marketing materials in its own ways. My task was to help the Y define the organization's purpose in a way that resonated for millions of members in thousands of communities, and provide them with an easy-to-use set of guidelines that could be used to shape every communication made by every branch, nationwide.

In collaboration with a brand strategist, I developed a brand voice and messaging guidelines toolkit that is friendly, elegant and useful. You can see the effect of this toolkit in the branches and on the websites of every American Y local association (New York City, Chicago, etc.), and especially on their national association site:

YMCA.org

KeyBank

I helped KeyBank become the big bank for main street.

I worked on KeyBank with two different agencies: Siegel+Gale and Eric Mower + Associates. With S+G, I was part of the team that helped develop the KeyBank brand identity and voice, which was "clear, welcoming and knowledgeable" — the emphasis being on "clear." The whole point was that this was a bank dedicated to serving ordinary people and helping them realize their goals. Simplicity and friendliness were built into every customer touchpoint.

Here's a retail merchandising guide I wrote to direct in-branch customer experience:

"People First" in the Retail Experience

And here's an everyday banking guide I wrote:

KeyBank Everyday Banking Guide

Later, when I worked with Eric Mower + Associates, I was their lead writer for the KeyBank account.

Here are a few of the many KeyBank print ads I wrote:

KeyBank print ads

MDA

I helped MDA discover a new way to talk about itself.

When MDA cut its longstanding ties with Jerry Lewis, it lost a big part of its identity. And as they broadened their focus to include a wide range of neuromuscular diseases, the organization found it increasingly difficult to define their mission.

In part inspired by MDA's longtime association with Harley-Davidson, I helped develop MDA's new freedom brand strategy — positioning the organization as a leader in the fight for the independence of kids and adults affected by all kinds of debilitating muscle diseases.

After rolling out their new brand strategy, the MDA doubled their funds for drug and clinical trials and increased by 50% the families they support.

MDA.org

Motorola

I helped Motorola reinvent itself as Motorola Solutions.

When Motorola split into two different companies — "Motorola Mobility" the cellphone maker and "Motorola Solutions" the industrial-grade telecommunications company — they needed two new identities that focused exclusively on each new company's core mission while preserving the best of the Motorola heritage.

Working with Siegel+Gale, I helped develop the brand voice for Motorola Solutions and created a "vignette" storytelling framework that's still used to this day, all around the world.

The goal of the vignette framework was to get Motorola employees to stop just spewing out product specs and to start speaking in terms of how their technology helped real people "in moments that matter." To provide Motorola Solutions with some sample vignettes, I waded through hundreds of spec-sheets and came up with a plausible story scenario for each product. The vignette framework is illustrated in some of my brand posters:

Motorola Solutions posters

For the AIGA award-winning brand book I wrote, I took the vignette idea even further. To ensure credibility with Motorola personnel (a lot of whom were, if not actual engineers, at least technically-inclined), I developed benefit-focused infographics to accompany the sample product vignettes:

Motorola Solutions brand book

Citi

I helped Citi find itself as a force for good.

In the long wake of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Citi sought to present itself not as an impersonal money-making machine, but as a genuine force for progress.

Working with Lippincott, I focused on framing Citi's work in terms of "Progress," and developed a brand voice that captured openness, dynamism and a commitment to personal development.

One brand awareness approach we used was something called "Citi for Cities," in which case studies (which I wrote) told the story of the impact the bank was making on real people's lives.

Here are a few of the one-sheets I developed for "Citi for Cities" that were used to generate the C4C website and other collateral.

Citi for Cities guides