About Andrew
We tend to curate personal brands that are all work, no play. I’ve been guilty of that too.
But there’s more to life than just work projects. This page is about what you won’t see in a resume or a cover letter.
I think like a user, not an industry lifer
Your users and clients don’t understand your lingo or core concepts because they haven’t worked in the same industry for 20 years. I bring those fresh eyes to every project because I don’t stop learning.
It’s how I stay focused on the challenge of reaching people and earning their trust, whether that’s in the product UI or the campaign supporting it. I question conventional wisdom and support my opinions. I expect the same from my team.
This is what’s important to me:
Meritocracy
Merit isn’t about taking curtain calls; it’s about owning our work and helping each other turn good ideas into successful plays for everybody’s benefit. That’s why I strive to pull my weight and then some. I also ask for help when I hit roadblocks, and I like it when my team does, too.
Learning and growth
I thrive in teams that grow as much as I do. Learning new tools, platforms, and schools of thought have always helped me approach problems from new perspectives with lateral thinking. It’s not as if businesses survive by staying the same for decades, right?
Action and iteration
I’m a big believer in following a focused strategy, but I’ve also been hamstrung by leaders and clients who won’t stop deliberating. That’s why I like to get started and then log the field time in intervals. It lets me keep momentum on my projects while making course corrections.
Andrew really raised the bar, and not just with SEO. He laid the early groundwork for our PPC campaigns (now 50% more cost-effective than the industry average), and we built a website together with a visual builder. He took organic search from a sliver of traffic to a dominant channel and he’s still excited to implement new SEO strategies over a year later. He just doesn’t stop learning.
My thoughts on business and teamwork
Culture wears the crown
I don’t think 75-page employee etiquette manuals are effective. Healthy teams don’t need codified bureaucracy when they already show respect for their peers, their leaders, and the company itself. That’s what I aim for.
Working sessions are life
My best projects–design or marketing–have started with 2-4 driven people sharing ideas. That’s because the best projects tend to come from small teams of driven people who commit to an idea and see it through it to the end.
Systems thinking is key
I’ve seen more than a few projects suffer because the company didn’t build the systems it needed first (that includes big tech companies). I’m one of those people who will point it out and recommend we fix the foundations before renovating.
Andrew’s diligence and attention to detail make him a valued asset for any client or project. While working together at DDE Media, he maintained a plethora of accounts by working in tandem with both clients and DDE employees. This helped meet client goals while creating crucial learning experiences for employees, thus supporting everyone to generate success as a team.
Andrew can also handle unexpected transitions—he seamlessly integrated one of my biggest clients into his own workload after I sustained an injury that caused me to miss some time in the office. This allowed DDE to maintain a close relationship with the client during my absence, and upon my return I was able to pick up where he left off without any issue.
Andrew was a strong mentor to me during his tenure at DDE Media, and I cannot recommend him highly enough.
Fun facts about me
Meyers-Briggs type: INTJ
I know psychologists don’t consider the Meyers-Briggs test to be up to date, but I’ve found the Architect persona to be an eerily accurate description of my own personality. It fits my interest in strategy and systems thinking.
Building a community
I’m working with a small group of people to make a community of content designers in Canada. We’re building a job board, a support group, and a calendar filled with career-supporting events.
I might be an author... one day
I want to write a book one day—more than one, in fact. I’d love to write a fantasy or historical fiction series that introduces the world to Celtic mythology, tracing it from the distant past into the modern world.
About that life outside of work…
This is a snapshot of me outside of the Zoom meeting.
I have a Pippin
He’s a rascal and has way too much energy for someone who only eats 2 cups of food per day, but he has also been a fun companion since the pandemic started.
Fantasy novels are life
I’ll nerd out over fantasy any day of the week. I’m reading The Lies of Locke Lamora and its sequels currently. I’ll jump back into the Stormlight Archive after.
A lifelong gamer
I’ve been hooked on video games since I was 8. I worked in an EB Games through high school, and for a long time I wanted to be a gaming editor for IGN or Kotaku. Elden Ring is next!
I love castles and ruins
It isn’t a vacation without castles, cathedrals, and ruins. I could spend hours walking through corridors made of stone that has stood for centuries, or even millennia. They’re just so serene and majestic.
I've done the creator hustle
I started a website to help disenfranchised humanities graduates find their first job after college. I also built a small LinkedIn following, and even recorded a few podcast episodes.
Ancient history is my jam
I’ll watch any documentary about the ancient world or Medieval Europe, and I’m often on the hunt for BBC history series on DVD. If you’ve watched Rome or Time Team then we’ll be fast friends.
You can read my reflections on work, too
How I became a content designer (or UX writer)
I never thought of myself as any kind of designer. If you’d asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have said “video game journalist.” With a background in history I never expected to work in the tech industry, either. Yet now I’ve worked for two...
What is a UX content strategist?
A “UX content strategist,” more commonly called a “staff content designer,” is a fairly new user experience role, evolving alongside UX writing as a major component of the content design discipline. It can be a role on its own, but most commonly it just represents a...
Content design vs. content strategy: know the difference
Trying to understand content design vs. content strategy after a confusing look through job boards? Good news: I've done both, so I can tell you the key differences between them. Companies often interchange and merge these two phrases, but they are different. You only...
How I became a content designer (or UX writer)
I never thought of myself as any kind of designer. If you’d asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have said “video game journalist.” With a background in history I never expected to work in the tech industry, either. Yet now I’ve worked for two...
What is a UX content strategist?
A “UX content strategist,” more commonly called a “staff content designer,” is a fairly new user experience role, evolving alongside UX writing as a major component of the content design discipline. It can be a role on its own, but most commonly it just represents a...
Content design vs. content strategy: know the difference
Trying to understand content design vs. content strategy after a confusing look through job boards? Good news: I've done both, so I can tell you the key differences between them. Companies often interchange and merge these two phrases, but they are different. You only...
What is a content designer?
Most people I speak with don’t understand what content designers actually are, and it’s no surprise. “Content” has become synonymous with the digital marketing industry, and “design” has become a ubiquitous term for visual work. I was guilty of it, too. I would refer...
Want to work together? Let's chat.
Feel free to send an email if you'd like to chat.
I love talking shop over a cup of coffee, even if you just want a second opinion on something.
Coffee's on me.