Frank Robledano Espín

Marketing with clarity and character Frank Robledano Espín How I work As a professional, my goal is to ensure clarity, coherence, and purpose in every project in which I participate. Ideation and research I see language as a core element of marketing and design, shaping user experiences, guiding decisions, and connecting strategy with storytelling throughout digital products. Please take a moment to run through three very different project environments as examples: syndicated banking, a linguistic research project, and a fintech startup. Governance and compliance Systems and processes Example 01 Toqio: Building a content ecosystem from scratch Systems and processes Project summary Context I was hired during Toqio’s startup to scaleup transition to unify brand voice, create internal workflows, set up content marketing, and define UX writing processes. Contribution 1. Started with stakeholder interviews to align steerage; produced full content strategy report and recommendations. 2. Created and maintained the company Style Guide and Content Repository, offering approved DIY tools usable by everyone. Challenge 3. Took over technical marketing: A/B-tested messaging, SEO, and website maintenance (post-migration to Hubspot). I encountered fragmented communication among our product, sales, marketing, and design teams. Lack of leadership consensus. Lack of technical marketers. Lack of budget. 4. Helped the Design Team align text in the Nigiri Design System. 5. Audited product UI and ensured consistent, accessible microcopies. 6. Owned all processes related to technical content operations and external comms. Excerpt 01 from the Toqio Style Guide (introduction) Mood, tone, and the rhetorical triangle Style allows writers to create mood and evoke feeling in readers. Mood refers to a writing’s atmosphere and setting, and can be influenced by the writer’s attitude or their tone. Edgar Allan Poe’s stories and poetry often have a somber or eerie mood whereas Jane Austen’s novels display brightness and a sense of wit. As part of the rhetorical triangle, mood and tone work together to help create pathos, the emotions evoked by the work. Pathos is joined by logos (logic) and ethos (values), to generate genuine human connection. Some treatises on classical rhetoric (for example, Longinus’ On The Sublime), argue that pathos is the most important aspect of the three. No matter how one ranks the elements of the triangle, the ability to evoke emotion in a reader is the hallmark of a strong style. Ensure you consider your audience by asking, "Will this writing connect with the reader emotionally? Can the reader be empathetic to what I’m writing?" Excerpt 02 from the Toqio Style Guide (structures) Acronyms and abbreviations Lists (bullets) Acronyms may be used in your writing so long as that acronym is clearly defined in its first textual mention, not including titles. After first mention, you can simply use the acronym rather than spell it out every single time. The format is always the same: spell out the acronym's component words then include the acronym form in parenthesis. Abbreviations that tend to be universally recognized don't require this sort of treatment (such as Inc., Corp., etc.) Lists on documents are an excellent way to summarize key ideas and highlight information. They can break up long and difficult sentences and help people find what they're looking for on the page. Prior to the list, always use a short sentence that is separate from the preceding paragraph and end it with a colon. This is the proper format: First mentions: ● small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) ● non-governmental organization (NGO) ● North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) ● date of birth (DOB) Some acronyms have become so ubiquitous (such as NASDAQ, NASA, UN, etc.) that it is unnecessary to follow the above format. Others have become words unto themselves (such as captcha, radar, daemon, scuba, etc.) and can be identified contextually. If you're unsure as to whether you should offer the full spelling, err on the side of prudence - when in doubt, spell it out! ● This is the first point in my list. ● This is the second point in my list. ● This is the third point in my list. Rules for the punctuation of lists are simple. There are three cases. First, if the words before the colon and the bullets after them form a continuous sentence, each line starts with a lowercase letter and there is no punctuation. Here, we begin a sentence which can be finished by: ● this first item ● this second item ● this third item Content journey for Toqio’s “Champion” persona Example 02 BBVA: Governance in enterprise UX Governance and compliance Project summary Context Hired as a Senior Language Consutant, working within the Enterprise Design Team at BBVA (reporting to Joan Mora). Challenge A large, multilingual UX ecosystem where voice, tone, and style were drifting apart between departments. The enterprise wing of BBVA was less mature than the bank’s consumer division. Note: This was my crash course in governance at scale, helping to ensure one of Europe’s largest banks spoke with a single, consistent voice. Contribution 1. Worked on the BBVA Agent project, to create the best interface possible for leadership in European syndicated lending. 2. Audited and reviewed UI and microcopies within BBVA’s corporate apps (such as Global Net Cash) and sites (in EN and ES). 3. Collaborated monthly with BBVA’s UX Writing “Guild” (led by Iván Leal Durán) to coordinate changes and improvements to BBVA’s corporate style guide. 4. Reviewed enterprise materials to verify consistency between ES and EN banking terminology. 5. Ensured adherence to linguistic consistency and UX tone through internal reviews, reports, and recommendations. BBVA Agent UI (from project summary) You’re more than welcome to view the project in its entirety: BBVA Agent on Behance. BBVA Net Cash UI (from project summary) Again, please feel free to view this project in its entirety: BBVA Net Cash on Behance. Example 03 BBVA: A study in voice and culture Ideation and research Project summary Context Outcome Special internal research project: collaborated with Álvaro Gómez Gómez to resolve a linguistic dilemma: formal vs. informal address in Spanish corporate communication. Basically, we had to decide whether BBVA was going to use “tú” or “usted” universally. Our final recommendation was to use the more informal form “tú” but to maintain an elevated and polite vocabulary. We suggested the bank strike a balance between familiarity and professionalism, aligning with BBVA’s global tone of warmth and trust. Process ● Interviewed 16 department leads and 22 support staff; created survey given to 350 BBVA customers. ● Collected and reviewed feedback, organizing and categorizing responses to extract actionable insights. ● Delivered an evidence-backed recommendation to leadership. “Tú” ● Informal ● Warm and friendly ● Suggests closeness and approachability “Usted” ● Formal ● Polite and respectful ● Suggests distance and hierarchy Candidacy Who I am, what I do, and how I measure up Employee comparison Standard candidate Frank Robledano Espín UX writing Writes effective copy Designs a communication system of which engaging copy is a part Governance Follows guidelines Builds and evolves the guidelines Cross-functional work Collaborates Integrates into and leads teams Localization Adapts text Balances tone and culture through research and testing Leadership Leads from the front or back Leads from the middle Mindset Focused on tasks Focused on the mission Experience depth From 8 to 10 years 30+ years of multinational and startup experience Strategic perspective Oriented on projects Aligns content with long-term business goals and product vision Mentorship Ad hoc Part of his modus operandi Risk mitigation Reactive Anticipates communication issues, resolves proactively Cost to company Standard salary + benefits Eligible for rebate under Madrid’s “Senior Work” programme Candidacy Strategic leadership & collaboration How I’ve done it: ● I’ve built and maintained strong cross-functional relationships in both corporate and startup settings. ● I’ve marketed jointly with design leads and product teams to ensure consistency throughout all digital touchpoints. ● I’ve led initiatives that established or evolved UX writing practices within organizations, ensuring scalability and long-term adoption. Candidacy Team development & mentorship How I’ve done it: ● I’ve built documentation and style systems that have allowed teams to work autonomously while staying consistent, at Toqio, Webpac, Woodstock, etc. ● I’ve mentored colleagues: formally, by creating mentorship programmes for younger staff and by participating as an in-house trainer; informally, by setting standards, sharing learnings, and defining the discipline. ● I’ve supported onboarding and cross-team integration by creating accessible, centralized content repositories and guidelines. ● I’ve created onboarding experiences for new staff, including personality testing journeys at Capgemini. Candidacy Process & quality ownership How I’ve done it: ● I’ve defined and documented workflows, tools, and standards to unify tone and structure among teams and markets. ● I’ve audited UX and notification deliverables to ensure linguistic precision, consistency, and alignment with user and business goals. ● I’ve diagnosed where communication breakdowns occur and resolved them through clear documentation, shared frameworks, and cross-team reviews. Candidacy Content strategy & execution How I’ve done it: ● I am responsible for having designed and implemented Toqio’s full content strategy from the ground up, aligning it with marketing and product objectives (details available upon request). ● I have established scalable systems for managing content creation, localization, and “remixing” among teams and markets. ● I’ve led consumer-facing content initiatives that were clear and consistent throughout the user journey. ● I have improved translation workflows and documentation to streamline localization and maintain brand coherence globally (in fact, I helped do that at Verisure). Candidacy Advocacy & communication excellence How I’ve done it: ● Wherever I work, I promote the value of UX writing among teams, highlighting how clear, thoughtful language improves user experience. ● I have frequently translated user needs into actionable content recommendations, advocating for communication that is user-centered and goal-driven. ● I only deliver high-quality content, always on time and balancing business priorities with an excellent user experience ● I HATE JARGON. Thanks for reading. I appreciate your time and consideration. Frank Robledano Espín-- robledano.com