Before leaving to travel again, I was super
busy juggling multiple projects, but a stand out for me was my involvement in the
creation of the Lloyds Bank Academy. It’s a piece of work I’m really proud of
and is hands down the biggest project I’ve ever had the pleasure of working on.
The best thing is, it’s actually making a real
difference to vulnerable people, helping them learn digital skills and
improving their understanding of the digital world. For me, that makes it all
the more worthwhile.
It all started when Six (a digital agency
in Bristol) approached me with an exciting brief. I was intrigued, if not a
little out of my depth. Either way, I was keen to get stuck in. They initially
hired me for a period of three weeks, but it soon became clear that the job needed
a lot more time than that - I ended up with them for a total of seven months.
They brought me in as the ‘Senior Copy Lead’.
Yeah, you read that right. I don’t know how I managed to blag that one, but it couldn’t
have worked out any better. The team around me were highly motivated and enormously
experienced; so unsurprisingly working alongside them in such close proximity
filled me with confidence – giving me invaluable experience in
handling the workload required of a multi-million-pound brief.
I want to thank Raymond O’Sullivan (Digital
Director) for leading the project seamlessly and for trusting my involvement,
Mike Etheridge (Creative Director) for constantly pushing my creativity, Kate
Redfern (UX Strategist) for letting me get under the skin of some seriously complex
UX, Gareth Wall and Sam Stanistreet (Lead Designers) for always valuing my
ideas and implementing them for the team, Christopher Malt (Copywriter) for double
checking my words, Steve Sackett (ECD) for overseeing the marketing campaign and
Jo Pemberton (Traffic) for getting me through the doors at Six in the first
place. Not forgetting everyone else I had the pleasure of sharing an office
with.
Together our challenge was to help close
Britain’s digital skills gap. A whopping 11.3 million people in the UK don’t
have or struggle with basic digital skills. This is putting people in a dwindling
position, preventing them from returning to work, applying for jobs or
generally using the Internet for their own benefit such as booking holidays or
connecting with friends and family.
We designed and built a free-to-use digital
learning platform to help people improve their digital skills and understanding
of technology through a series of video lessons and quizzes. The Lloyds Bank
Academy teaches people how they can apply their newfound skills to a number of real-life situations, allowing them to see the tangible benefits.
Over many months we slaved away on a number
of different elements including: naming, branding, advertising, website development
and ensuring that the UX and UI flowed seamlessly across desktop, tablet and
mobile. We also worked closely with partner company UpSkill Digital to come up
with the learning criteria and evaluation system within the Academy. All of
these elements had to be carefully considered with our digitally anxious target
audience in mind. We also had additional content and learning from our partners
Google, Linkedin and SkillSoft (to name just a few) that had to be incorporated
into our system as well.
Personally, I was responsible for crafting
the tone of voice and overseeing the marketing campaign. I also got heavily
involved in strategising the wireframes for the site. This is an area I haven’t
had much experience in before, but I loved getting under the skin of the UX and
UI, especially at such a complicated level - with multiple pathways and
outcomes all having to be carefully considered. I’m lucky to have gained some
valuable knowledge in this area that I can take forward with me. So I guess you
could say, quite ironically, that working on the Academy has improved my own
digital know-how.
In terms of copywriting, I had to ensure
that the tone and language were consistent at every touch point. The main challenge
was ensuring that the site is easy to understand and navigate for people who
aren’t digital natives. For me, that meant it had
to be friendly, approachable and helpful – talking them through each step, no
matter how simple or complex.
I’m over the moon with the results and it’s
made even sweeter knowing that it’s helping real people and changing their lives
for the better. Here are a couple of quotes from people who’ve benefitted from it
so far.
Anne-Marie, Denton
“The Academy has
given me bigger and better ideas on how I can simplify and improve my charity’s
website.”
Natalie, Manchester
“I have a more positive view on the
digital world and understand what it can offer me to help me achieve my goals.”
And finally, please check out Lloyds Bank Academy for yourself, and feel free to share it with anyone who
could benefit from learning and improving their digital skills.
Cheers me dears.
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