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uShip
Crafting a Sophisticated Voice for a Start-Up That Was All Grown-Up
Content Strategy / IA / Web Copy / User Experience
Overview.
Though there are quite a few shipping marketplaces these days, uShip innovated the space back in the early oughts. A very successful start-up in Austin, uShip made a name for themselves, both as a cool company to work for and as a reliable platform. And while their frat-like shipping puns worked in their early stages, it was time to elevate the brand and lay the groundwork for the next phase in their growth.
Scope.
Team + My Role
I worked with uShip’s in-house design team, specifically the amazing Dustin Ground, ACD, and Susan Le, CD, to create and deliver the entire writing portion of their rebrand. Being on the outside allowed me to be the fresh writing blood uShip needed to overhaul their brand.
Goals
Establish a fresh, more mature, and human voice for uShip to reflect the company they had become
Redesign the entire uShip website for a cleaner design and better user experience
The Way They Were
This homepage is all you need to know about where uShip had been the first decade of their existence.
Process.
Finding Their Voice
I was set up for success with a well-developed content strategy plan that outlined uShip’s new voice as: Confident, Straightforward, Considerate, Energetic, and Human. Each of these traits were in service of making the uShip user experience: Clear, Consistent, Educational, Intuitive, and Simple.
6 Approaches, 1 Winner
We kicked off the project with me creating six hero banner directions, varying in length, style, and according to whether we were talking to both shippers and carriers or the AirBnb approach with the main message speaking to shippers. I presented the six options to the entire design team and discussed the validity of each one. In the end, we went with the first option, which is the exact headline (with a tweaked subhead) on the site today. With approved direction, I went full steam ahead to simplify, clarify, and humanize the content for the Getting Started section for the two audience streams, Company page, Career page, and Homepage.
Work.
Homepage
Headline
Though this seems like a simple, friendly headline, it’s very hardworking. You know exactly what uShip does.
Main Navigation Labels
I worked with the ACD to narrow down, vet, and refine the navigation labels. Using research that helped guide some of our word choices, I pushed using the 2-word structure for consistency.
Information Architecture
I was given the autonomy to design the homepage (in Gdocs) the way I saw it. Writing copy is always organizing information in the most logical and useful way, but it was cool to be given the offical task of Information Architecture.
Getting Started Section
Getting Started (aka How it Works) is divided into the two user streams and facilitates good practices on both ends of the experience by giving relevant info and tips for each phase of the process. Being that this is where customers are likely made or lost, it was important that uShip’s personality (and expertise and confidence) came through. I used a clear, conversational, and sometimes playful approach to speak to both audiences.
Shippers Stream
Welcome Page
The subhead was tweaked a bit since I wrote this page, but everything else is intact.
Other Pages
Carriers Stream
Welcome Page
Other Pages
Appendix.
After completing the above section, I developed uShip’s Style Guide based on the voice traits and values that were already established in their content strategy plan. I also wrote several transactional emails for the bidding marketplace.