About Me
Designing for the web is a passion of mine. To know that you have complete control over how a website looks, feels and operates is a huge responsibility but it's something that drives me to create great websites. Often a website is the first time a user will touch base with a company and i believe it is vitally important to provide them with a positive first opinion, if you don't you can easily lose that user for life and create a bad reputation for that site.
User experience has become the most important factor when deciding how to design a website. It's my job to make sure that the concept i create gives the user an easy and smooth experience all the way through their journey.
My Working Style
UX & Design
Blah …
Design Tools: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe XD, Sketch.
UX Tools: Adobe XD, Invision, Axure, HotJar.
Development
My experience as a Front-End Developer gives me a unique advantage of being able to build the experience exactly how it was intended. A great user experience isn’t just about how something looks but also how it works. Interaction design is something that can get lost when a project is being built but these can be vital to a user leaving having had a positive experience. Website speed also plays a huge factor in user experience and is something that needs constant attention. Large images and video backgrounds are beautiful to look at but they must be used and monitored carefully to make sure a user isn’t waiting too long for pages to load. Your website could be the most beautiful looking design but, if the page doesn’t load quick enough, the user may never see it.
Development Tools: Javascript, React, HTML, SCSS/SASS, CSS, Node, Mongo, Ruby on Rails, Git, Heroku.
Work Experience
Senior ux developer at Fanatical.
2017 - Present
Some text
Web Design Manager at Intouch Games.
2016 - 2017
Intouch Games is the company behind multiple world leading brands in the mobile casino (eGaming) sector. It was my job to oversee and approve all creative content across the 3 casino brands. During my short time at Intouch I redesigned the Mr Spin casino website as well as the Intouch Games website and Ruskin Properties website. This involved working with the key stakeholders for each site to gather requirements before researching, wire-framing, prototyping and presenting the finished designs. Once signed off I would then work with a Front-End Developer to build the website and sign off the completed work.
Web Designer & Developer at Bundle Stars.
2014 - 2016
Bundle Stars were an eCommerce store that sold Steam game bundles. I started as the companies web designer, later moving on to work in the development team as a MEAN full stack developer. My responsibilities were:
To define, design and implement the visual identity for each game bundle. This would involve creating a logo, marketing material and product page design.
To create a fresh, modern, responsive and user centred design for the new website.
Design wireframes, mood boards and prototypes.
To convert their complex buying processes into an easy to use UI for customers.
To write industry standard, test driven code.
To ensure the website is fully responsive and optimised for conversion.
Website UX and Content Manager at The Midcounties Co-operative.
2013 - 2014
An internal restructure at TMC created an in-house eCommerce team. I was responsible for looking after the design, customer journey and enhancements of the Co-operative Childcare, Co-operative Funeralcare and Co-operative Energy websites. My responsibilities were:
To maintain and develop the front-end of each website.
To design prototypes and wireframes for new projects.
To manage website content and ensure sites meet industry standards for conversion.
To identify customer experience and journey improvements and to implement the changes where appropriate.
To create and maintain brand guidelines.
To write industry standard cross browser compatible HTML and CSS code.
To work in conjunction with the digital marketing department to ensure websites are maximised for SEO.
To fully understand the customer journey and to maximise user engagement.
Web Designer & Front-end Developer at The Midcounties Co-operative.
2009 - 2013
I started working at TMC on a placement year from University in 2009/2010 in their New Media team. I was responsible for creating in-store animations and artwork for Co-operative Food and Co-operative Travel. I was also responsible for maintaining some of their current websites whilst designing and building a few simple new websites learning HTML and CSS to do so.
Education
First Class Degree - BA (Hons) Animation with professional placement.
University of Wolverhampton 2007 - 2011
I studied Animation for 3 years at The University of Wolverhampton, taking a placement year out between my second and third year in 2009/2010. My placement was at The Midcounties Co-operative and I continued working there for 2 days a week during my final year. I was hired full time after I graduated.