Hugo L

fquist

Berlin

Work

About

Hugo L

fquist

Berlin

Work

About

Hugo L

fquist

Berlin

Work

About

2018 — 2023

Working as a UX writer

A quick look at five years of building a neobank inside tech company

2018 — 2023

Working as a UX writer

A quick look at five years of building a neobank inside tech company

CONTEXT

Yandex is a tech company in Eastern Europe. About 20 thousand people work there, building services for almost every part of daily life.

Neobank

I worked at Yandex Money — a neobank with 60 million users and a thousand employees.

Think of it as PayPal on steroids: an e-wallet with debit cards, cashback, and more.

Internet search

Mail

Calendar

Translator

Music streaming

Movies

Browser

Video meetings

Taxi

Carsharing

Self-driving cars

E-scooters

Food delivery

Marketplace

Travel planner

Auto classifieds

Maps

File storage

Weather forecast

AI assistant

Instant groceries

Real estate

Event tickets

Online education

Public transit

Fuel payment

Smart speakers

Parcel delivery

Web analytics

Ad network

Cloud platform

+ 50 more

CONTEXT

Yandex is a tech company in Eastern Europe. About 20 thousand people work there, building services for almost every part of daily life.

Neobank

I worked at Yandex Money — a neobank with 60 million users and a thousand employees.

Think of it as PayPal on steroids: an e-wallet with debit cards, cashback, and more.

Internet search

Mail

Calendar

Translator

Music streaming

Movies

Browser

Video meetings

Taxi

Carsharing

Self-driving cars

E-scooters

Food delivery

Marketplace

Travel planner

Auto classifieds

Maps

File storage

Weather forecast

AI assistant

Instant groceries

Real estate

Event tickets

Online education

Public transit

Fuel payment

Smart speakers

Parcel delivery

Web analytics

Ad network

Cloud platform

+ 50 more

CONTEXT

Yandex is a tech company in Eastern Europe. About 20 thousand people work there, building services for almost every part of daily life.

Neobank

I worked at Yandex Money — a neobank with 60 million users and a thousand employees.

Think of it as PayPal on steroids: an e-wallet with debit cards, cashback, and more.

Internet search

Mail

Calendar

Translator

Music streaming

Movies

Browser

Video meetings

Taxi

Carsharing

Self-driving cars

E-scooters

Food delivery

Marketplace

Travel planner

Auto classifieds

Maps

File storage

Weather forecast

AI assistant

Instant groceries

Real estate

Event tickets

Online education

Public transit

Fuel payment

Smart speakers

Parcel delivery

Web analytics

Ad network

Cloud platform

+ 50 more

CONTEXT

Yandex is a tech company in Eastern Europe. About 20 thousand people work there, building services for almost every part of daily life.

Neobank

I worked at Yandex Money — a neobank with 60 million users and a thousand employees.

Think of it as PayPal on steroids: an e-wallet with debit cards, cashback, and more.

Internet search

Mail

Calendar

Translator

Music streaming

Movies

Browser

Video meetings

Taxi

Carsharing

Self-driving cars

E-scooters

Food delivery

Marketplace

Travel planner

Auto classifieds

Maps

File storage

Weather forecast

AI assistant

Instant groceries

Real estate

Event tickets

Online education

Public transit

Fuel payment

Smart speakers

Parcel delivery

Web analytics

Ad network

Cloud platform

+ 50 more

THE WAY I WORKED

Role in a cross-functional team

Most of my work was logic and structure — making sure things made sense before we even started writing.

Product research

Ran my own small tests, like hallway testing. For bigger studies, I paired up with UX researchers.

Information architecture

Kept terminology consistent everywhere: the app, help pages, support messages, docs.

Interface design

Designed layouts, handled edge cases, turned errors into friendly messages, and set up text variables.

THE WAY I WORKED

My role in a cross-functional team

Most of my work was logic and structure — making sure things made sense before we even started writing.

Product research

Ran my own small tests, like hallway testing. For bigger studies, I paired up with UX researchers.

Information architecture

Kept terminology consistent everywhere: the app, help pages, support messages, docs.

Interface design

Designed layouts, handled edge cases, turned errors into friendly messages, and set up text variables.

THE WAY I WORKED

Role in a cross-functional team

Most of my work was logic and structure — making sure things made sense before we even started writing.

Product research

Ran my own small tests, like hallway testing. For bigger studies, I paired up with UX researchers.

Information architecture

Kept terminology consistent everywhere: the app, help pages, support messages, docs.

Interface design

Designed layouts, handled edge cases, turned errors into friendly messages, and set up text variables.

THE WAY I WORKED

Role in a cross-functional team

Most of my work was logic and structure — making sure things made sense before we even started writing.

Product research

Ran my own small tests, like hallway testing. For bigger studies, I paired up with UX researchers.

Information architecture

Kept terminology consistent everywhere: the app, help pages, support messages, docs.

Interface design

Designed layouts, handled edge cases, turned errors into friendly messages, and set up text variables.

THE WAY I WORKED

Typical scope of work

I juggled four teams at once. We were always shipping something new or improving current products. My job was to check that the product speaks clearly and simply everywhere, way beyond the interface.

Interface logic,
structure, text

Help articles
and support scripts

System emails, SMS,
push-notifications

Simplifying legal text
with our lawyers

Documentation for engineers:
typography, variables, etc.

Preparing surveys
with UX researcher

Reviewing marketing

promos

THE WAY I WORKED

Regular scope of work

I juggled four teams at once. We were always shipping something new or improving current products. My job was to check that the product speaks clearly and simply everywhere, way beyond the interface.

Interface logic,
structure, text

Help articles
and support scripts

System emails, SMS,
push-notifications

Simplifying legal text
with our lawyers

Documentation for engineers:
typography, variables, etc.

Preparing surveys
with UX researcher

Reviewing marketing

promos

THE WAY I WORKED

Typical scope of work

I juggled four teams at once. We were always shipping something new or improving current products. My job was to check that the product speaks clearly and simply everywhere, way beyond the interface.

Interface logic,
structure, text

Help articles
and support scripts

Non-marketing emails,
sms, pushes

Simplifying legal text
with our lawyers

Documentation for engineers:
typography, variables, etc.

Preparing surveys
with UX researcher

Reviewing marketing

promos

THE WAY I WORKED

Typical scope of work

I juggled four teams at once. We were always shipping something new or improving current products. My job was to check that the product speaks clearly and simply everywhere, way beyond the interface.

Interface logic,
structure, text

Help articles
and support scripts

System emails, SMS,
push-notifications

Simplifying legal text
with our lawyers

Documentation for engineers:
typography, variables, etc.

Preparing surveys
with UX researcher

Reviewing marketing

promos

Leading
writers
team

For the last two years at Yandex, I led the team of 10 writers on top of my regular product work. I hired writers, created guides, and built bridges between PR, marketing, support, and legal teams.

Speaking human

I stick to words people actually use in real life, avoiding abstract terms so users can easily picture what I mean.

CHALLENGE

The team wanted to use a term loyalty program. But it sounded too corporate. Users don't care about being loyal — they care about getting money back.

ACTION

I convinced stakeholders to just call it cashback. I showed drafts of banners, navigation, and help articles — leaving no doubt that the new term increased clarity.

RESULT

It worked. Navigation got simpler, copy got shorter, and users didn't have to guess what we were actually offering.

Loyalty program
Join loyalty program

Cashback
Turn on cashback

Speaking human

I stick to words people actually use in real life, avoiding abstract terms so users can easily picture what I mean.

CHALLENGE

The team wanted to use a term loyalty program. But it sounded too corporate. Users don't care about being loyal — they care about getting money back.

ACTION

I convinced stakeholders to just call it cashback. I showed drafts of banners, navigation, and help articles — leaving no doubt that the new term increased clarity.

RESULT

It worked. Navigation got simpler, copy got shorter, and users didn't have to guess what we were actually offering.

Loyalty program
Join loyalty program

Cashback
Turn on cashback

Speaking human

I kept the language consistent across the product, chose words people actually use, and avoided abstract terms so users could easily picture exactly what I meant.

CHALLENGE

The team wanted to use a term loyalty program. But it sounded too corporate. Users don't care about being loyal — they care about getting money back.

ACTION

I convinced stakeholders to just call it cashback. I showed drafts of banners, navigation, and help articles — leaving no doubt that the new term increased clarity.

RESULT

It worked. Navigation got simpler, copy got shorter, and users didn't have to guess what we were actually offering.

Loyalty program
Join loyalty program

Cashback
Turn on cashback

Speaking human

I stick to words people actually use in real life, avoiding abstract terms so users can easily picture what I mean.

CHALLENGE

The team wanted to use a term loyalty program. But it sounded too corporate. Users don't care about being loyal — they care about getting money back.

ACTION

I convinced stakeholders to just call it cashback. I showed drafts of banners, navigation, and help articles — leaving no doubt that the new term increased clarity.

RESULT

It worked. Navigation got simpler, copy got shorter, and users didn't have to guess what we were actually offering.

Loyalty program
Join loyalty program

Cashback
Turn on cashback

Taming financial jargon

I worked in B2B too as the only UX writer at a neobank for small businesses.

CHALLENGE

The app had to work for both beginners and experts. I had to explain terms clearly, but every extra explanation made the interface feel heavier.

ACTION

I used a test account to run transfers, sat with our team accountant to break down the logic, and monitored support tickets to catch any confusion.

RESULT

It made an interface visually more appealing, making daily user action simplier and explaining edge cases better.

Taming financial jargon

I worked in B2B too as the only UX writer at a neobank for small businesses.

CHALLENGE

The app had to work for both beginners and experts. I had to explain terms clearly, but every extra explanation made the interface feel heavier.

ACTION

I used a test account to run transfers, sat with our team accountant to break down the logic, and monitored support tickets to catch any confusion.

RESULT

It made an interface visually more appealing, making daily user action simplier and explaining edge cases better.

Taming financial jargon

I worked in B2B too as the only UX writer at a neobank for small businesses.

CHALLENGE

The app had to work for both beginners and experts. I had to explain terms clearly, but every extra explanation made the interface feel heavier.

ACTION

I used a test account to run transfers, sat with our team accountant to break down the logic, and monitored support tickets to catch any confusion.

RESULT

It made an interface visually more appealing, making daily user action simplier and explaining edge cases better.

Taming financial jargon

I worked in B2B too as the only UX writer at a neobank for small businesses.

CHALLENGE

The app had to work for both beginners and experts. I had to explain terms clearly, but every extra explanation made the interface feel heavier.

ACTION

I used a test account to run transfers, sat with our team accountant to break down the logic, and monitored support tickets to catch any confusion.

RESULT

It made an interface visually more appealing, making daily user action simplier and explaining edge cases better.

Killing awkward splits

I made sure every piece of interface — whatever screen size — reads naturally and breaks at the right spot, with no orphaned words.

PLAIN TEXT

Look for the 'Bonus points'
icon when you're checking out.

You can use points to cover up to 50% of your total bill. 1 point = 1 ₽.

TEXT WITH NONBREAKING SPACES

Look for the ‘Bonus points’ icon
when you’re checking out.

You can use points to cover up to 50%
of your total bill. 1 point = 1 ₽.

Killing awkward splits

I made sure every piece of interface — whatever screen size — reads naturally and breaks at the right spot, with no orphaned words.

PLAIN TEXT

Look for the 'Bonus points'
icon when you're checking out.

You can use points to cover up to 50% of your total bill. 1 point = 1 ₽.

TEXT WITH NONBREAKING SPACES

Look for the ‘Bonus points’ icon
when you’re checking out.

You can use points to cover up to 50%
of your total bill. 1 point = 1 ₽.

Making info easy to scan

I make sure the titles and images tell the whole story. You can just scan the page and still know what to do.

EXAMPLE

We had a help article that nobody read. I restructured it so users can find the answer in seconds.

Product page. Made together with product designer Konstantin Nikiforov

EXAMPLE

We created an interface that shows cashback categories for the current month.

Product page. Made together with product designer Konstantin Nikiforov

Making info easy to scan

I make sure the titles and images tell the whole story. You can just scan the page and still know what to do.

EXAMPLE

We had a help article that nobody read. I restructured it so users can find the answer in seconds.

Product page. Made together with product designer Konstantin Nikiforov

EXAMPLE

We created an interface that shows cashback categories for the current month.

Product page. Made together with product designer Konstantin Nikiforov

Making info easy to scan

People don't read, they scan. I make sure the title and visuals tell the story together, so you can skip the fine print and still know exactly what’s happening.