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Taking the plunge: from marketing officer to content designer with Claire Furnish, Content designer at University of Southampton

This talk is about my personal journey of moving from marketing to content design at the University of Southampton. Marketing colleagues have become subject matter experts, content effectiveness is measured by meeting user needs rather than lead generation, and marketing messaging is replaced with readability techniques and plain English. In my talk I’ll share how I dealt with this move and why I’d recommend it.

Key takeaways:

  1. Prepare to question things - content design can change your outlook, professionally and personally

  2. Don’t be afraid to embrace accessibility - it’s an important part of a content design role and you can learn about the barriers we all face

  3. Recognise your organisational knowledge - HE marketers can bring great business insights to content design teams

About Claire Furnish

I spent 15 years as a graphic designer working for agencies in Hampshire and Berkshire. Clients included Pfizer, Toshiba and De La Rue. In 2012 I moved into faculty-based marketing at the University of Southampton looking after subjects from healthcare to social sciences. In 2019 I became a content designer as part of the University’s digital transformation programme, OneWeb. My work includes helping relaunch over 200 postgraduate taught course pages.

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November 25

A purpose renewed: pandemic, human-centred design and the role of new tech with Rich Prowse, Director of Experience Design at Pickle Jar

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November 25

Going agile in a non-agile world: how to make it happen at your university with Padma Gillen, CEO at Llibertat