UX writing at Motorway: the story so far
By Fopé Jegede, UX Writer
It’s been three months since I joined Motorway, and what a ride it’s been. You’d think I’d be tyre-d of car puns by now, but wheel always keep them coming — no brake for you.
Okay, I’m done now, promise.
Aside from an influx of car-related wordplay (which delights a word nerd like me a little too much), my time so far has been jam-packed with learning, collaborating and creating.
Joining the design team as Motorway’s first-ever UX Writer came with a unique set of opportunities, challenges and rewards. I’ll dive into some of the biggest and best so far.
Looking back so we can look forward
My first project was planning and executing a UX content audit, followed by a report which analysed my findings. No small feat.
But it’s one of the most valuable pieces of work I could have completed, especially so early on in my time here. It gave me the time and space to put our current user journeys under the microscope, and gain a deep understanding of where we’re excelling with UX content and where there’s room to grow.
Without looking back at what we’ve done so far, it’s hard to create a roadmap or strategy for the future.
Forging new relationships and team dynamics
Building relationships — especially with product designers, product managers and a user researcher — has been a significant part of my first three months.
As the first (and currently solo) practitioner of UX writing on the team, we’ve had to work out how this role fits into cross-functional team dynamics.
We’re introducing and integrating a new, and specialist, discipline into existing workflows across product squads. So it’s been a lot of asking questions, listening and learning.
UX writing and content design is an inherently collaborative role, so figuring out how best to work with others has been essential.
Building out best practice from the bottom up
One thing that’s been challenging but also really rewarding is the opportunity to shape our best practice for UX writing and content design. Not just for what we do but how we do it.
It’s been big-picture thinking: creating our very own content design principles, writing UX copy guides, and integrating this into our existing design system.
And it’s also been smaller, granular details like setting up a UX Writing Jira board, and designing a process for the wider team to request and brief work.
What I’ve loved
What I’ve loved is the real range of work I’ve got stuck into: from writing microcopy for new product features, co-designing the info hierarchy for an exciting new release, to refining customer sales emails, to developing UX content strategy.
It’s even more enjoyable because of the people I work with everyday. A special shout out goes to the design team (our bi-weekly design JAMs are frequently a highlight of my week), but also to everyone at Motorway.
There’s a genuine, shared mission to transform the industry we’re in, and everyone is driven by excellence and innovation.
What I’ve learned
What I’ve learned is how to be an advocate for a new or specialist discipline (in my case, it’s UX writing/content design). I’ve learned how to take people on a journey, explaining the rationale behind content decisions, and demonstrating its impact not just on user experience but on business goals.
I’ve learned that testing and iterating shouldn’t be limited to building products, but also to building teams and ways of working. If we assume that products evolve over time, how much more do people? Optimising how we work is just as crucial as optimising what we work on.
Ultimately, joining Motorway has been a deep-dive into a high-growth tech company that’s solving a real-world problem at scale. Here’s to the next three months.
If you’re interested in working for Motorway it’s always worth checking out our careers page.
