My approach to UX

Listening

At the start of a project, I always run a kick-off session with the stakeholders to understand the brief, listen to their needs and define the project goals.

Understanding the needs, pain points and goals of the user is also key. I respond to the brief with a UX proposal that combines both business and user requirements.

Leading & Collaborating

The most successful experiences are created when the team has shared values and understanding of what that success looks like.

I encourage all disciplines to attend the kick-off sessions and any UX activities throughout the project making sure to get the expertise and point of view of others and continue to learn from each other.

I design and run research workshops and sprints through a range of lean and agile design-thinking methodologies, working closely with UX designers, product teams when scoping out research projects and up-skilling them to be able to conduct studies. This ensures that everyone has an awareness of the needs of various audiences and incorporates this into their work.

I am a trained manager and have experience of recruiting, mentoring, training, and developing product and design staff internally and externally. I have taught and helped develop bachelor’s degrees for students at local universities, gave career talks and portfolio advice sessions.

designing for real people

I specialise in user research and focus on creating simple, inclusive, and accessible solutions for real people and needs.

I uncover user needs through interviews, surveys, diary studies, ethnography, field studies, market validation, vision and proposition research, card sorting, data insights and usability testing.

An experienced facilitator and moderator, I have worked with a wide range of people in many locations across the UK. This includes, children, young adults, the elderly, charities, a11y users, senior members of organisations, academics, and large corporations.

This is something I am particularly passionate about, getting to meet our audience and hear their story- the most important part of any UX project.

Ethics & Inclusivity

I champion accessibility and user ethics and build best practices into all my design and research projects.

I have produced ethical design and research guidelines to ensure the safety and support of our participants and our UX colleagues.

I have developed research proposals and guidance materials that delves into the ethics of digital experiences, the uses of technology in services and the potential implications this could have on the trust audiences have in us.

CORPORATE VISION & EFFICIENCY

I regularly develop and confidently pitch strategic and commercial design initiatives to executive teams that inform business needs and product direction with a focus on user needs.

I can be flexible and deliver at pace, with experience of designing, managing and strategising multiple products and projects in tandem.

dIGITAL TRANSFORMATION & innovation

Innovation tools and digital technology are now readily accessible to everyone, technology itself affords no distinct advantage. It is the human-centred element behind that technology and innovation management–ideas, strategies, and ways of working–that business success depends on.

I have effectively embedded design thinking and smart risk-taking to help uncover what digital transformation means for the organisation and how to stay ahead. I adopt tools and techniques that organisations can use to spot trends and explore provocative futures, with actionable outcomes.

Established an innovation culture and ways of working by creating central insight hub platforms to promote, share and store UX design, research, and data projects cross-departmentally.

Strategy & Decision Making

I build close relationships with experimentation teams and analytics to create CX metrics to measure commercial and UX impact.

I interpret both qualitative and quantitative data from research and then lead the implementation of a data-driven strategy and iterative experimentation. This has resulted in a higher confidence in our design work and provides a way to measure and action our success and failures, to iterate more efficiently.

I introduce and implement short and long-term UX strategy roadmaps that align with product priorities across multiple teams. I lead priority mapping workshops to define goals and objectives to determine product direction.

Storytelling & Communication

I am an excellent communicator (both verbal and written) and have extensive experience of sharing research insights internally with other design researchers, product teams and stakeholders and have presented outcomes to internal and external clients.

I am a creative storyteller and thrive on the challenge of analysing multiple sources to inform outcomes. Introducing immersive analysis sessions and inviting all stakeholders to attend to analyse research findings has helped to get a first-hand understanding of our audience needs. The organisation of regular audience outreach days for product teams, and inviting all stakeholders to research, I believe, is massively important. It improves the buy-in from stakeholders and helps them understand the positive impact of UX.

mentoring & knowledge sharing

I am an active member of the UX community and attend regular tech meet-ups and conferences.

As a STEM ambassador, I have mentored and taught design thinking to students in various disciplines by running UX Research & Design classes and workshops at universities and schools.

I particularly enjoy sharing knowledge and supporting others in a team environment, as well as learning from others to continue my own professional development and ensure best practice.