I was born in Brighton, but lived in Wiltshire most of my childhood. I came back to Brighton study for my undergraduate in Philosophy and Cognitive Science at Sussex University. It was here I learnt that Philosophy could provide few practical answers to life's big questions. But my studies in Cogntive Science drove my interest in psychology, in particular what we can learn about design. I went on to study an MSc in Human Computer Interaction, where I gained my passion for User Experience Design. Soon after I taught myself to build websites and together with my HCI skills I began a career in UX where I continue to work to this day.
Like most UX professionals I want to be part of something great. Create digital products that have real impact and deliver epic experiences. In the long term I want to run my own startups and follow my own visions completely. But in the present I am looking for opportunities to create usable and engaging interfaces that meet real business objectives.
I have a pretty multifacited skillset, in particular User Centred Design techniques, Interaction Design, Information Architecture, User Testing, Conversion Optimisation and Web Analytics.
As well as being able to call on my UX tool kit as summarised on my homepage here, I have excellent front end web development skills, a passion and talent for visual design and a good understanding of web technology in general. I also have a pretty good grasp of SEO and social media strategies. I am therefore able to work on many levels and communicate ideas clearly with different stakeholders.
You can view my full formal skillset on my CV here.
I think it is important to scope out objectives and requirements early but remain agile moving forward. Things inevitably change during a project life cycle. I am more interested in delivering a great end user experience than becoming bogged down with documentation.
Everyone is different so universal design is a difficult ideal, but a bit of user testing and contextual inquiry can go a long way. I like to involve users in the process where possible. You can gain alot of insight from simple task based observations, either live or remote. I also think it is important to understand users' goals and motivation, though I'm not one for excessive use of personnas as I think you can gain more insight by focusing on the user's task.
A project is only as successful as can be benchmarked and measured. I like to base decisions on reliable web analytics data. I am happy looking for patterns in such data for hours. Similarly analysing data from surveys and user tests is one of my strong points.
If there is high enough visitor sample (and this is crucial), A/B and multivariate testing is an excellent choice. After all what could be better than proving your design work's success in an experiment independent of the observer effect.
I use wireframes to plan information architecture and user flows to communicate interactions. I like to see working prototypes as quickly as possible. I can pull together html/css/Javascript prototypes pretty quickly, so this is often the route I take. Having a good grasp of these technologies also helps UXers understand the potential for user interface solutions.
Visual design should not just be about adding polish to the interface. Design elements should support the user tasks. Aesthetics is also important to create desire. A website can have excellent usability, but if it doesn't look professional it may be ignored.
I am fascinated by psychology and what it can tell us about good design. I would like to focus on psychological design and gamification more in future projects. I believe humans are more predictable than most of us would have ourselves believe.
Whatever the final solution, it's unlikely to be truly the best outcome. Good UX is iterative and there is always room for improvement. And that's what I, like other UX proffesionals, aim to do. Continuously work to improve the user experience.
Outside my professional life I live an active social life in Brighton. I swim regularly and ski when I get the chance, normally only once a year unfortunately. I have a passion for food and cooking. I think I started when I was about 12. In fact I've noticed food appreciation seems to be a common theme amongst UX people.
You should also follow me on Twitter here for more digital and UX related titbits and links.
