“I build the quiet architecture under the words.”
Beneath the words
Sarah describes herself as a UX writer, copy culler and design thinker. In her account, content design is mostly the structure that comes before the sentence: what someone needs to know at each step, in what order, and what happens when it goes wrong.
She set up her own business, Sarah Ann Creative, in 2015. Through it she wrote for advertising and design agencies including iRIS Worldwide, DesignStudio and forpeople, on brands such as Shell, Samsung, Wacom, Barclaycard and Domino’s, and she wrote a television advert for the organic yoghurt brand five:am.
She studied marketing and PR at the University of the Arts London, where she also took a degree in fashion design at the London College of Fashion, and she studied economics and political science at London Metropolitan University.
Inside the product
From 2018 to 2020 she was a UX writer for John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners, defining the role of content across their new ventures. Her projects included John Lewis Home Assurance, a financial insurance product written with legal and compliance teams, and Waitrose Rapid, a two hour delivery service. She also worked on Stylist & You, a personal styling service that used an AI stylist.
In 2020 she worked at Chelsea Digital Ventures, the digital business spun out from Chelsea FC, on the messaging for a health and wellness product built on technology, AI and data. At Pearson, from 2021 to 2022, she led UX writing for the English and Global Schools portfolio, worked to the WCAG AAA accessibility standard and helped shape the Pearson English Portal, a mobile app for English language learners around the world.
From 2022 to 2024 she was lead content designer at Pret A Manger, where she led the content for the global roll out of Club Pret, the coffee subscription that grew to include money off food. Her work covered the journey from sign up to cancellation, so that renewal and cancellation decisions stayed clear and fair to the customer.
With Group Partners
Sarah has worked with Group Partners on client programmes. From 2024 to 2025 she worked on the content and accessibility transformation of the British Small Animal Veterinary Association. She carried out a full WCAG 2.2 accessibility and content audit and wrote a brand bible and staff handbook. She also led the content for its Congress and Expo in Manchester in 2025.
In 2025 she worked with Group Partners on the overhaul of Exadel’s brand narrative and the messaging on its homepage and products, written for a senior audience and including the messaging system for its AI and data offer. She was part of the team on the Exadel.AI page in June that year.
Proof that it worked
Since April 2026 Sarah has been senior content designer on AJ Bell’s investment app for iOS and Android, a platform regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. She started its content design system from scratch, covering rules for headings, error states, confirmation messages and terminology, and every copy decision went through regulatory sign-off before it shipped.
She ran comprehension testing with 100 people to find out whether the words were working, and used A/B testing on the riskiest moments to support compliance sign-off. Her focus now is responsible AI and inclusive design, with accessibility to WCAG 2.2 and the European Accessibility Act in mind on every project.
She lives in the Alps. Outside work she writes fiction and reads widely, and she cares about social justice, which she sees as the same preoccupation in a different form: who gets to understand things.
The path
From agency copy to the systems behind regulated products.
- 2001 to 2004
Studies marketing and PR at the University of the Arts London.
- 2015
Founds Sarah Ann Creative and writes for iRIS Worldwide, DesignStudio and forpeople.
- 2018
UX writer for the John Lewis and Waitrose ventures, including Home Assurance and Waitrose Rapid.
- 2020
Content strategist at Chelsea Digital Ventures.
- 2021
Lead UX writer at Pearson, working to WCAG AAA on the English and Global Schools portfolio.
- 2022
Lead content designer at Pret A Manger for the global launch of Club Pret.
- 2024
Works with Group Partners on the content and accessibility of the BSAVA.
- 2025
Works with Group Partners on Exadel’s brand narrative and messaging.
- 2026
Senior content designer on AJ Bell’s investment app. Joins the Group Partners Expert Network.
In her own words
“People assume content design is the sentence at the end. It’s mostly the structure before it.”
“Get that right, and the words become easy.”
“I work on products where clarity has consequences.”
“I believe digital systems should feel as human as the people who use them.”
“Feeling the human beneath the pixels.”