About Me
My name is Olivia Trout, and I'm a technical writing and communication graduate with a strong background in UX writing, design, and research. I am passionate about creating and improving user-centered digital experiences that seamlessly integrate/intersect engaging content with intuitive design.
With professional experience as a Content Strategist, UX Writing Intern, and Technical Communication Research Assistant, I have honed my skills in technical writing, information architecture, voice and tone profiling, and accessibility. My ambition, curiosity, and attention to detail allow me to deliver exceptional written and visual results that resonate with diverse audiences.
Beyond my professional pursuits, I enjoy traveling, hiking across Colorado's scenic trails, experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen, reviewing movies from my Letterboxd watchlist, exploring local antique shops, and getting lost in DIY projects.
Thank you for visiting my portfolio—I look forward to connecting and collaborating!
Skills & Expertise
Writing
- Versatile writer/word designer
- Information architecture
- Voice and tone profiling
- Original style guides
- Copywriting
- Navigation menu, button labels, banner messages, notifications, error messages
- Proofreading and editing
Design
- Graphic and UX design
- Iconography and typography
- Visual storytelling and infographics
- Personas and user story development
- Wireframing and prototyping
- Intuitive navigation and user flow
Research
- Literature reviews
- Qualitative and quantitative research studies
- Competitor heuristic evaluations
- Card sorting
- User testing protocol and execution
- Data analysis and implications
Senior Capstone Project
Project Overview
For my senior capstone project, I conducted a qualitative research study to explore and evaluate the effectiveness of current UX collaboration trends between UX writers and designers. By conducting interviews with five UX professionals, I aimed to analyze the collected data to answer my three key research questions:
- How are technical writing and communication (TWC) graduates qualified for UX careers?
- How do UX writers and designers collaborate on projects together?
- How are UX writers valued and represented within UX teams and the overall UX landscape?
Research Process
- Develop interview questions and protocol
- Interview five UX professionals: Two UX writers, two UX designers, and one UX leader
- Analyze interview data using the three phases of qualitative data analysis–coding, categorizing, and modeling
- Apply findings from the six overarching themes of data to recommend implementations within the UX educational and professional realm
Data-Driven Recommendations
- TWC graduates should continue fighting for expanded representation in the UX field by promoting their overlapping UX qualifications
- UX product teams should develop and implement standardized collaboration expectations between UX writers and designers
- UX writers and designers should establish structured models of communication to help guide cross-disciplinary collaboration
- Design and TWC programs and practitioners should further incorporate UX courses–involving cross-disciplinary collaboration skills–into the curriculum to better prepare and present students for UX careers
- UX leaders should reassess and adapt their current team structures to ensure that there is at least one UX writer on every product team and that writers and designers are always staffed on projects at the same time
- The UX industry should redefine UX writers’ role to reflect the value of their work accurately
Final Research Report & Presentation
Work Samples
The images within this slideshow showcase my wireframe designs for an internal app, which focused on improving the maternity experience for patients and primary care providers. The page of the app that I designed is a personalized birth plan quiz that expecting mothers can take to share their preferences directly with their healthcare provider through the app.
The images within this slideshow showcase my process of writing various iterations of reassuring and correctional messaging to boost patient engagement with two key features (last care lead interaction and track blood glucose levels) of the free diabetes management tool within the healthcare company’s patient portal. For each banner message, I wrote the heading, copy, and call-to-action button texts.
The images in this slideshow showcase my contribution to an internal resource called the "West Monroe UX Research Playbook," where each chapter provides employees with information regarding UXR best practices. My playbook chapter, called "Research Planning," focuses on developing strategy statements, learning agendas, research plans, goals and objectives, and research questions.
In this argumentative essay, I make a persuasive case to the FDA for the restriction of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in the United States through quota limits. My research found that limiting HFCS production and consumption can significantly reduce obesity rates and associated health problems. I wrote this argumentative essay in the form of a citizen petition following the FDA's template, highlighting the adverse effects of HFCS.
Note: This essay won the 2022 Ruth and James Brown Scholarship.
This blog is the first of a six-part series I wrote explaining popular social media networks to those aged 50 and older. The series includes an overview and how-to guides for getting started with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and TikTok. To read more of my blogs, visit the Living50+ website.
Note: This blog was recognized as one of Cantissimo Senior Living's (now known as Living50+) top ten most-read blogs of 2020.
I created this website to analyze the effectiveness of the Marine Stewardship Council's (MSC) use of rhetoric devices to persuade its target audience of environmentally conscious seafood consumers to buy MSC-certified sustainable seafood products. My goal was to determine whether or not the MSC is persuasive based on the rhetorical appeals showcased within their website and recent campaign.
In my essay, I emphasize the pressing need for healthcare institutions to adopt principles of critical literacy. I argue that these principles can effectively tackle issues related to doctor-nurse collaboration and disruptive physician behavior within the healthcare system. To rectify these problems and foster a healthier work environment, I propose two key solutions that have the potential to transform the power dynamics between doctors and nurses, ultimately leading to better patient care.
In this essay, I analyze the visual rhetorical strategies used in the COVIDaware MN app, emphasizing how the app leverages ethos appeals, graphic design, typography, verbal arguments, color, and juxtaposition to persuade Minnesotans to download the app and combat COVID-19 collectively. The central message conveyed by these strategies is the importance of community engagement to combat rising infection rates during the pandemic.
In this essay, I apply Norman's five design principles to analyze the design of the Ninja Air Fryer. After a thorough examination, I found that the design of the Ninja air fryer incorporates Norman's conceptual model, affordances, constraints, feedback, and mapping principles, creating a user-friendly product with only minor improvements required to achieve complete usability.
This essay assesses my communication theory perspective to understand further how I conceptualize communication practices and problems to determine whether I am an objectivist or an interpretivist. Through thoughtful review and consideration, I classify myself as an interpretivist because I prefer interpretive analysis to reach the truth rather than experiment and survey.
In this how-to article, I explain how to transform white canvas shoes using Rit all-purpose dye, offering an affordable way to refurbish old, dirty shoes. I provide a list of materials and detailed step-by-step instructions on cleaning, dyeing, and drying the shoes for best results.
In this essay, I discuss the design decisions of my infographic titled "How to Stay Safe on Campus as a Woman." The infographic employs visual rhetoric strategies such as ethos appeals, graphic design, typography, color, and white space to persuade the audience to prioritize safety measures on the University of Minnesota campus, aiming to address the pressing issue of student safety, particularly for women who have a higher risk of being targeted for sexual assault.
Highlights
College of Liberal Arts
"The possibilities that lie ahead"
Olivia Trout is ready to tackle user-experience improvements head-on. With her technical writing & communications major, there were a “variety of possibilities” to explore. From internships to research, Trout shares how her experiences have prepared her for her career after graduation.
Testimonials
Letter of Recommendation
"I’m pleased to recommend Olivia Trout, who served as a Content Strategist at Nook from November 2023, to April 2025. During her time here, Olivia contributed meaningfully to a range of content initiatives across our brands, including Living50+. Her work spanned blog articles, email content, graphic design, and other marketing materials.
Olivia demonstrated solid writing and organizational skills, helped manage our content calendar, and supported efforts to improve engagement through thoughtful analysis and collaboration. She consistently approached projects with professionalism and timeliness."
–Mark Portz, Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer, Nook
Freelance Blog-Writing Exit Interview
"Olivia had no prior experience writing for our older adult audience, and she quickly learned how to do so. Her writing skills are strong, and her ability to deliver on time was outstanding."
–Pete Keers, President, Concision Communications
UX Writing Internship End-of-Summer Review
"Olivia was always positive, collaborative, attentive in meetings, a quick learner, responded to feedback very well, and asked good questions!"
–Caylie O'Neil, Senior UX Researcher, West Monroe Partners
"Olivia has demonstrated her ability time and time again this summer to be a Next Generation Leader and excel at West Monroe full-time. She is a great collaborator, actively seeks out feedback and ways to grow, is able to adapt and work through ambiguous challenges, and is a talented writer that we would be proud and excited to have join the team full time."
–Zac Simon, UX Writer, West Monroe Partners
Professor's Feedback on Rhetorical Analysis Paper
"Your sustained focus on the audience shows you to be clear on the core goal of (visual) rhetorics —keeping the audience's needs/preferences/expectations uppermost in your mind as a composer. Excellent work."
–John Logie, Professor of Writing Studies, University of Minnesota
Professor's Feedback on Senior Capstone Project
"This is a STELLAR senior capstone. The level of detail throughout your project and the execution of research here is very impressive. You should be so proud of this work! The literature review was excellent -- thorough and compelling. I found your research approach especially impressive and clearly well-thought-out. The overall research approach was of graduate-student-level quality. I especially appreciated the data displays and figures in the Results section to help bring your results to life. I think your concluding recommendations were also quite interesting and well-grounded in your data!"
–Dr. Molly Kessler, Associate Professor of Writing Studies & Director of Graduate Studies, University of Minnesota
View my full Letter of Recommendation.
View my list of Professional References.