Content systems · Plain language · Accessibility
Content Design leader turning complexity into clarity.
I've launched UX writing, product UI, internal comms, marketing campaigns, brands, mobile apps, learning articles, and the knowledge repositories that hold them all together — I most recently worked 4+ years as a Senior Content Designer in Cisco's IT Design org.
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Explore public, shortened projects in the Selected Projects section below. Most of these don't include images, but they do provide a solid summary of what happened.
How I work
01
Inventory the issue
I treat business needs like a set of assets. I evaluate existing content, journeys, identify key partners and stakeholers. I need to best understand each asset before devising my next steps.
02
Embrace the process
Content problems are rarely surface-level issues and I solve for business needs. This often means that the process is not linear — and that's okay. Each new challenge is an opportunity to learn, collaborate, test, and innovate.
03
Think ahead
Throughout the design process, I identify metrics for data collection that show the business needs are being supported going forward. This can also include documentation and building maintenance check-ins.
“... Cate is one of the best brainstorming partners I have worked with. She is an excellent communicator, a gifted storyteller, and someone who knows how to turn complex ideas into clear and engaging experiences...”
“... Cate is a thoughtful, insightful UX professional and I counted on her to provide world-class content and UX feedback for our platforms. I especially appreciated Cate’s keen ability to cut through the noise and to anticipate issues in the user’s journeys before we launched new features, and her tireless advocacy for user experience, understanding and accessibility.”
Accessibility advocate
I write for high-stress moments, low bandwidth, screen readers, and translation.
Plain language is an accessibility feature, but accessibility goes beyond the words themselves. It also means using a heading structure that’s easy to navigate with a screen reader, links that clearly tell you where they lead, concise alt-text, and error messages that explain what went wrong and what to do next.
- Build accessibility into the design process
- Make errors actionable and easy to understand
- Structure content for all users and assistive technologies
- Reduce cognitive load and ambiguity
- Rely on content for context, not visuals or colors
11 awards · ADDY winner · Cisco alumna
Selected projects
Some Cisco work is under NDA-style privacy policy. Public summaries here. details behind a password on request.
The front door 90,000 people open every morning
I helped redesign a large enterprise intranet experience, improving content hierarchy, navigation, search, and pathways to frequently used resources. The work focused on making a complex employee experience easier to scan, navigate, and use.
The redesign increased employee engagement by 78%.
Read a shortened summaryData Migration, Designed for Confidence
Employees needed clear guidance to move their data safely between company devices during a hardware upgrade. I led the content design for the migration experience, partnering with Product, Development, Research, and Technical Writing to refine instructions through multiple rounds of testing.
Final testing reduced reported migration failures to 4%.
Read a shortened summaryCisco IT Content Challenge: Bay to Breakers
Our team was challenged to reimagine a new way to communicate the information that a participant of Bay to Breakers, a race in San Francisco, would need to know to successfully complete the race. I reimagined the event experience through a mobile app, carefully reconstructing design and content that brought the experience to life.
The project earned an award and my figma skills improved dramatically.
Read the full summaryAwards & recognition
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ADDY Award
Recognized advertising work
An American Advertising Federation honor for a Thanksgiving campaign ad called Turkey Engine.
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Cisco
Innovation recognition
Eight awards for visionary thinking and impactful contributions on IT Design products.
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Multiple employers
Branding excellence
Two awards for successful brand launches with assets spanning print, digital, and commercial.
A skill collector
I'm quick to raise my hand for the thing nobody's done yet — which is how my career has ended up holding this many crafts. Over time, the skills have connected and compounded.
Off the clock, I’m doing genealogy research, volunteering to scribe old documents written in calligraphy, traveling, and trying out new recipes. Similar instincts, different mediums: research, documentation, patterns, and experiences.
- Content design
- AX Content
- Plain language
- UX writing
- Mobile UX
- Information architecture
- Taxonomy
- Content standards
- Naming
- Editorial strategy
- Internal comms
- Social media
- Video & commercial scripts
- Accessibility
- Learning articles
- Knowledge repositories
- Workshops & mentoring
- Cross-functional facilitation
Got a content issue?
Whether it’s too much content, not enough content, confusing content, or anything in between, I ‘m eager to work on it.
I’m open to Senior / Lead Content Design roles, content engineering, accessibility work, UX research, CMS work, branding, executive communications, and the occasional workshop.