I’m a UX and service designer based in London. For over 20 years, I’ve turned complex problems into websites, apps and services that are easy to use, for companies from startups to McDonald’s, Disney and BT.
Where I work
I’m Service Design Lead at Peabody. Before that, I was a Senior Product Designer at Tails.com and Republic of Cats, and spent 15 years as a freelance UX research and design consultant through my company, Chopstix Media.
Work I’m proud of
- McDonald’s Monopoly: designed the online experience of the UK’s biggest and longest-running promotion, which delivered the company’s best trading figures since it entered the UK market in 1974.
- Virgin Media: researched and designed a call centre app for thousands of retention staff, reducing customer churn to 1.2% against market expectations and boosting the share price.
- BT: redesigned the UK’s largest SME websites and devised BT’s first blog and social media platform. Usage doubled and sales revenue quadrupled, and the work won three internal awards.
- Department for Work & Pensions: led discovery research, coached six staff in user research, and ran a live trial with 12 staff and 120 citizens that produced over 400 observations.
- Republic of Cats: redesigned the sign-up, checkout and support journeys. The business operated 25% above forecast, and some user tasks fell from 8 minutes to under a minute.
- Snupps: helped the startup secure £3 million in seed capital.
Other clients include Burberry, Intel, Vodafone, BP, Honda, HSBC, Sainsbury’s, Singapore Airlines, Aviva, the BBC, ITV, Age UK, JustGiving, London 2012 and Network Rail.
The research behind the book
Much of the published advice about UX portfolios is personal opinion. I wanted evidence. Since 2010, I’ve interviewed more than 300 hiring managers, recruiters and designers, and reviewed thousands of UX portfolios. That research became my book, UX Portfolio Design. Two of its chapters are free to read here.
I still coach people on their portfolios, focusing mainly on UXers from marginalised communities.
Speaking
I’ve spoken at international conferences including SXSW, IxDA Interactions, UX Australia, Big Design (three times), Midwest UX (twice), UX Lx, UX Poland, CanUX and UX Web Summit, as well as at local UX events around the world. See my talks.
Training
- MA in Radio (Broadcasting), Goldsmiths College, University of London
- Certified Usability Analyst, Human Factors International
- More than 65 design courses from Cooper, Adaptive Path, Nielsen Norman Group, UIE, Steve Krug, Edward Tufte, Stephen Few and others
Away from work
I trained as a professional Chinese chef, and I love planning menus that introduce people to authentic Chinese cuisine. I use positive reinforcement to train my cat Toshi. And I’m an Associate of The Inner Magic Circle.