Hi there. I’m James Callan. I practice content strategy from a user experience perspective. My writing and editing background make me a strong UX advocate, with a keen appreciation for the power of language as well as its limits.
I’ve made it easier for people to buy gift cards, find spatulas, select frying pans, visit Oregon, and reconnect with high school friends.
Highlights of my work:
- Complete redesign of SurLaTable.com’s gift card selection page. This project was a huge win — we quintupled online gift card sales year-over-year.
- Reworking of the global navigation and taxonomy on SurLaTable.com.
- Redesign of product pages at SurLaTable.com.
- Blog posts about spatulas vs. turners, hand mixers vs. hand blenders, and really sour iced tea.
- Content and design of a bacon-themed trivia app for AllRecipes.
- Flashbacks trivia game, an interactive marketing piece promoting a new Classmates.com feature.
- An email campaign for Classmates.com using Mark Twain and humor to sell upgrades.
- A brand-appropriate (funny, nostalgic) message telling people Classmates.com was down.
I’ve given presentations on taxonomy and vocabulary work, and why self-proclaimed “grammar Nazis” are mistaken about how the English language works.
Much of my recent work has been as the sole UX professional working with larger teams — designers, developers, QAs, writers, project managers, and stakeholders.
I’ve addressed design problems with a variety of skills and tactics, including:
- usability research
- UX writing
- copywriting
- page tables/content templates
- wireframing
- content modeling
- form design
- content audits
Clients and employers have included Travel Oregon and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (while working at Substance), Sur La Table, Allrecipes, Maritime Training Services, Panopto, and Classmates.com.
I serve on the board of the Friends & Foundation of the Camas Public Library.
I write trivia and quizzes — language games — in my spare time, and produce a weekly trivia newsletter for fun.
Let’s figure how to make language work better for you, your audience, and your bottom line.