Andrew Lawn

I'm a published author, UX Writer and Head of Content at a football, travel and culture magazine, with over a decade of writing and editorial experience, plus qualifications in user research and UX design.

Currently I am a UX Writer at Foolproof, an internationally renowned product and service-design agency. During my time with Foolproof I have written and edited copy for a variety of major international businesses including Sky TV, Adobe, Suzuki and a multinational, B2B financial trading platform.

These projects have been very varied, but in brief;

• For Sky TV, I wrote the copy for their Sky Stream product launch
• For Adobe, I helped them re-design and localise their product navigation menus across the UK, Spanish, Italian, French and German markets
• For Suzuki, I helped implement their new brand guidelines and tone of voice as part of a large-scale ‘mobile-first’ website redesign
• For a multinational B2B financing company I content designed the trading onboarding platform

I combine my role at Foolproof with being the Head of Copy for Glory Magazine, an award-winning football, travel and culture publication, which focuses on the footballing culture of one country, or one city at a time. 

As the Head of Copy, I am responsible for all the words in each edition of the magazine. This means, alongside researching and writing original content for the magazine, I am responsible for sourcing, managing and editing the work of a team of freelance contributors. Through Glory, I have been privileged to interview a number of high-profile people including, Lise Klaveness, John Arne Riise, Egil Olson, Martin Ødegaard, Lluís Cortés, Artem Gagarin and Manuel Pellegrini.

As well as managing contributors for Glory, my leadership and managerial skills extend outside work too, as I am currently the Head Coach of Gorleston Football Club U18s. As you can imagine, leading a football team of 25 young men (aged 15-18) is a challenging one, but it is also hugely rewarding. To watch them pick up new skills - both personal and footballing - has been a joy and as difficult as it has been at times, I have loved pretty much every minute.

Going back in time, before Foolproof, I moved from academia into a commercial business, with a short-term role as a UX Writer at Pickatale. This role saw me conduct a full content audit of their digital comms, rewrite copy translated by Google from Norwegian to English. I have also created a ‘Tone of Voice’ and ‘Style Guide’ for them to move forwards with. In this role, as well as my previous roles, I have worked with a variety of teams and individuals including UX Designers, Researchers, Product Managers, Marketing, Developers, Data Analysts and end users.

Previous to this role, I was the Digital Channels Manager at the John Innes Centre (JIC), a plant and microbial research institute in Norwich, where I had been from April 2017 through to December 2021. My role at JIC was essentially an amalgamation of UX Writer, User Experience Researcher, Website Designer, Email Campaign Creator, Blog Writer and Editor, Search Engine Optimiser and Social Media Manager.

During the five years I was responsible for JIC’s digital outcomes, I’m proud to say we improved dramatically and continued to consistently hit our KPIs. As well as positive qualitative feedback, this improvement was quantifiable and all achieved without spending a penny on paid-search or advertising;

• 33% increase in web traffic
• 1,175% increase in industry collaboration enquiry emails
• 334% increase in scientific enquiries
• 259% increase in vacancy enquiries
• 154% increase in traffic to vacancy pages
• 25% increase in press and media enquiries
• 115% increase in followers of our social channels
• 98% increase in our social reach

The John Innes Centre is co-located with the University of East Anglia (UEA) on the Norwich Research Park. My reputation for successful digital content campaigns on the park led to the UEA approaching me to guest lecture for both staff and students on ‘Effective Digital Communications’. On the back of the lectures, the Head of UEA’s Senior Biological Sciences asked me to mentor a number of students to improve their digital communication skills. The lectures also led to me being commissioned to lecture on ‘Designing Better Academic Posters’. 

Finally, I am also a published author. My debut book, ‘We lose every week: the history of football chanting’ was published in November 2020 by Ockley Books. As the title suggests, the book tells the story of football chanting, from its origins in Victorian Music Halls, to the global phenomenon it is today.

I am delighted the book has received critical acclaim and been nominated for a number of ‘Non-Fiction’ awards, as well as being added to University reading lists and been featured on The Athletic and BBC’s Bargain Hunt - where unfortunately they made me sing ‘On the Ball City’ on my own in an empty stadium and then broadcast to the nation. It was as embarrassing as you would expect. I was also asked to be a keynote speaker for the 2018 ‘Sound of Football’ conference at Oxford Brookes University.

Professional Diploma in UX Design

Ba Hons Politics with Media