A Design/Engineering leader with over 15 years experience in delivering first class digital experiences for some of the world’s best known brands. I am a firm believer that to produce the best experiences you need to have one foot in the design world and the other making things work... with a third thinking how users think.
Whether it be creating a brand, designing for print or crafting an interface, my design expertise can be relied on to have the maximum impact for the given application, with a clear focus on delivering exceptional UI & UX. Fully conversant in all industry standard tools, I pride myself in my adaptability to changing situations and new processes, picking up new tools with ease.
UX Unicorn | u•ni•corn - yõonə,korn |
- Mythical user experience designer with an advanced and adaptive skill range. Outstanding skills in graphic design, rapid prototyping, front end development, user testing, technical specifications, marketing and branding. It does not have an opinion, it has a process, and will harmonise with any environment.
The constantly changing digital landscpe means there is no ‘standard’ device size or capability for digital content, therefore a flexible and repsonsive methodology has to come first in any digital proposition. All my designs are flexible enough to have equally as much impact regardless of form factor.
A good designer knows how to design, but a truly great digital designer can push the boundaries from knowing how the design can be brought to life. I am able to produce production ready code in many languages including HTML (4/5), CSS (2 & 3), SASS, Javascipt, Actionscript (2 & 3), XML, PHP and more. I have been involved in development teams both large and small, waterfall and agile, in Java, Ruby, .NET and PHP environments.
In all my work, the user comes first. They are the sole reason for an interface to exist and useability must come before technical gimmikery or superflouous design. I have been part of and led UX processes on major technical projects including the National Careers Service and the Driving Theory Test Booking Service.
The following is just a mere sample of some of the work I have been involved in, either in employment or as a freelancer. This work encompasses work across many disciplines and is not exhaustive, as certain work cannot be displayed for varying reasons.
Ffrees, the unbank, is an innovative challenger current account provider, changing the way you interact with your banking.
As part of my role as Design Manager, I lead the creation of a polished experience-based interface to their website and mobile apps.
My personal involvement in this project included everything from initial conception, User Experience design, branding and front-end development.
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGIES
Photoshop, Illustrator, HTML, SASS, Javascript, Bourbon, Grunt
Chase Medical is a specialist nursing recruitment agency that I've been working with for a number of years.
Their existing online presence didn't provide the experience that their clients required, so a complete reimagining of the way their website worked was undertaken, to make finding roles an effortless process.
My involvement spanned from refining their existing branding to the design and build of the site, including integrating a CMS system to allow easy updating by the client.
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGIES
Photoshop, Illustrator, HTML, SASS, Javascript, Foundation, CouchCMS, MapBox
Boutique1428 is a newly opened bridal boutique specialising in bridalwear for curvy ladies.
The challenge was to create branding and an online presence that didn't belittle their size, and addressed the concerns larger brides have with finding bridalwear that fits as well as looks good.
My involvement with this project involved the creation of all branding, responsive breakpoint designs, the build of the site including content managed galleries
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGIES
Photoshop, Illustrator, HTML, SASS, Javascript, Foundation, GalleryCMS
Granny Marmalade is a relatively new brand which I’ve been involved with from the very start.
From initial conception it was the vision to create a brand which was completely different from the bland, gingham dominated preserves market, to create a product that would appeal to a younger (even if just young at heart) audience.
All the brand collateral and digital presence has been created by me, and this is just the start.
Established in 1975, Andy Thornton is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of commerical interior design materials and furniture, supplying the international hospitality market with cutting edge retail environments.
The challenge was to redesign their e-commerce site incorporating a rich but vintage design led style, in keeping with the company’s popular warehouse showroom, while not compromising on function or usability.
My involvement with this project involved the creation of all responsive breakpoint designs and working with a team at Whitespace to develop the front end of the site.
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGIES
Photoshop, Illustrator, HTML, SASS, Javascript, Bourbon, Middleman
Autoglym, the worlds household name in car cleaning, have numerous sales toolkit applications, and in this project, the task was to update their existing iPad app which sales representatives use to demonstrate their range and provide pricing & usage data.
The update needed to make the app more intuitive to use, while also providing a more visual experience for the potential customer that was being demonstrated to.
My involvement included all of the design and UX process, and also working within the development team at Whitespace to build the application.
To run alongside Nickelodeon’s Screentest show, where stars of Nick shows are filmed answering questions about themselves, Nickelodeon wanted their viewers to be able to film their own.
Working with PixelDNA we decided on a Flash/Media Streaming Server based approach to create the app where website visitors with a webcam are recorded answering questions over their live webcam feed which is saved to Nickelodeon’s gallery!
This was a challenging project which involved learning FMS from scratch & how to facilitate the ‘pressing’ screen using movement translation of the webcam feed. My involvement was purely build.
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGIES
Flash, Actionscript 3, Flash Media Sreaming Server
Working with Manchester based Mobedia, I was tasked to co-design and build a flash based rich media websitefor the well known Manchester restaurant Rosso, popular with the Manchester United/City and Coronation Street stars and co-owned by Rio Ferdinand.
The client wanted viewers to get a true replication of the Rosso experience, so the approach included full-screen video of a typical night at the restaurant, along with other features such as their infamous ‘wall of fame’.
U-Explore is an education technology company who which I worked for over 5 years (as Creative Director for the latter part) whose main business is a market leading careers education product for secondary Schools, where it is embedded in half of all secondary schools in England.
The app helps students with their career choices by providing context, though rich media and real life environments, to enable them to have a true picture of what a chosen career would involve.
Over my time there I ran many revisons of the product, which most recently was a switch from being Flash based to a responsive HTML build.
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGIES
Photoshop, Illustrator, HTML, CSS, Javascript
An educational game created for South Yorkshire Fire & Police Services, the Lifewise game was created to support the lifewise centre, a lifesize home safety experience centre, which teaches young people the importance of safety in a fun way.
The game works by settings safety related challenges, they must firstly learn about the safety elements then discover the dangers in the house against the clock, it became a hit in schools with students trying to outdo each other in the high score table.
This project was undertaken whilst Creative Director at U-Explore and my involvement included all design elements as well as all the front end Flash development.
