I look beyond words too. I've trained with Content Design London to use content design principles to make sure your audience gets what they need, when and how they need it.

I joined the Medical Defence Union (MDU) as digital editor of its student journal, Notes, and was tasked with boosting engagement.

As a quarterly journal for medical students, readership was low and irregular. What's more, Notes lived on a separate microsite, drawing traffic away from the main MDU site and creating competition with our other student resources.

The existing student section of the MDU website (left image) was popular but outdated: it was unresponsive on mobile, cluttered, and hadn't been properly updated in years. All the key membership resources lived there, but students struggled to navigate it – and the bounce rate was high.

I proposed and built a new central hub to bring everything together in one section, replacing outdated content with engaging monthly content and essential resources on electives, exams and more.

Guided by qualitative research and surveys, I mapped out the structure of the student hub and cut or refreshed outdated content, and set up a monthly publishing workflow and schedule.

The results? The student hub became a clear, accessible home for all MDU student resources and users stayed for longer or were clearly signposted to what they needed. 

I was award the MDU's Customer Champion 2023 for this work.

"Carlotta is an exceptional editor and content professional with a creative and inquisitive mindset, and she's always looking for ways to improve both the quality and performance of her content as well as the experience of her users.

"One of many successful examples of this approach was her revitalisation of the MDU's student content by proposing, building and overseeing a dedicated hub section on the website, replacing the previous digital publication. 

"This allowed for a broader and more flexible approach that continues to see excellent engagement from users. It's a key part of the organisation's recruitment offering that wouldn't exist without her insight, and is typical of her focus on delivering quality, user-centred content."

John Lyons, the Medical Defence Union

I created the Medical Defence Union's (MDU) first dedicated online space for international medical graduates – its largest membership group at the time with no visible presence on its website. 

I did this by:

• Mapping out user needs
• Restructuring existing resources
• Commissioning new content

Understand user needs. I drew on product research, spoke with subject experts and carried out keyword analysis to understand these users' challenges, needs and search behaviour.

Create a user story. I defined international graduates as a distinct audience with a clear story: an international medical graduate arriving in the UK needs straightforward, reliable guidance on medico-legal topics and careers.

Identify relevant existing and new content. The MDU already had a wealth of high-quality resources, but not always tailored to this group.

I outlined a handful of umbrella topics that could act as cluster pages, gathering together and updating relevant content. I also identified gaps and commissioned new pieces to fill them.

Map out a user journey. I designed a journey that reflected their lifecycle – from preparing to arrive in the UK to securing a role and working. This helped ensure pages flowed logically, with clear calls to action and links to deeper guidance.

Develop webpages. After planning the structure, I built the new pages in the CMS, ensuring content was accessible, intuitive and consistent with the rest of the site.

The hub gave the brand parity with competitors, improved engagement through more consistent publishing, and positioned itself as a proactive voice on issues beyond the standard content this group could find elsewhere. Sales teams could also signpost members to tailored resources rather than leaving this group unsupported.