The Planning Inspectorate

Interaction Designer

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Department for Education

Ministry of Justice UK

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS)

Sage

UX Designer

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

Frontend Developer/Interaction Designer

KIDLY

Financial Times

JUST EAT

UX Prototyper

I’m an interaction designer and a GDS trained design assessor. I have good knowledge of the GOV.UK Service Manual, GOV.UK Design System, GOV.UK Frontend and GOV.UK Style Guide.

Here’s my story:

When I was 16 years old, I wanted to design logos and websites.

I had an eye for design, but lacked the practical skill to do it. So I ended up going into frontend development which was more technical.

But most of the designers I worked with gave me complicated and inaccessible designs to implement.

Sometimes I’d suggest changes to simplify the design and improve accessibility. But no matter how solid my rationale or how simple my solution, I couldn’t convince the designers to make changes.

I felt frustrated having to go back to my desk to implement designs which were harder to build, inaccessible and slow to load.

As a result, I started to believe that designers only cared about aesthetics.

In 2014, my wife and I had our home renovated just in time for the arrival of our first baby. But three weeks into a new six-month contract, I was let go. I’d never had so much responsibility and so little money.

But I got a new contract as a UX prototyper at Just Eat, the UK’s leading takeaway delivery service.

Prior to this role I wasn’t part of the design process. So by the time designs were given to me to implement, it always felt too late to give feedback and suggest changes.

But at Just Eat I was embedded in the design team where I could influence solutions from the start.

To my surprise, the designers there weren’t just focused on aesthetics; they cared about UX. We did user research, ran A/B tests and tracked performance.

I worked closely with Mark Jenkins, the lead designer. But he wasn’t like the other designers I had worked with before. He listened to what I had to say and valued it. He advocated for doing the most basic thing, doing it quickly and learning. He didn’t fuss over pixels.

Most importantly, he showed me that, not only was it possible to be a designer like this but that it was better to be a designer like this.

For example, we redesigned the checkout journey by using the most basic and accessible solution. The result was an increased conversion of 5% – 37,000 orders a week.

Mark also encouraged me to start a blog. And 2 of my early posts went viral on Hacker News (multiple times over).

I realised I wasn’t alone and that others resonated with my design philosophy.

Now I’m trying to be the designer I wish I got to work with when I was a dev.

You can find links to my newsletter and courses below ↓

Adam Silver

Github’s Design System now bans toast messages.

In case you don’t know, toast messages are little messages shown on top of the UI to give feedback about an action that you’ve just taken.

Banning toast messages is an excellent decision because they have bad UX and are terrible for accessibility.

Here’s a few reasons why:

(1) They disappear automatically after a few seconds (at best this is stressful, at worst you’ll miss it)

(2) They obscure the content underneath which is frustrating and slows users down.

(3) They’re hard to spot because they’re small and shown at the edge of the screen.

And there are plenty of other issues which I’ll link to below if you’re keen.

Let’s hope Github bans tooltips next.

Designer with engineering background | I talk about designing products that are ridiculously simple and accessible to use.

Webpage titled "Toasts" explaining that GitHub no longer uses toast notifications due to accessibility and usability concerns, with an overview and recommendation to avoid them.

Government Digital Service

User researcher working in the Service Transformation team on a project looking at managing a long term health condition or disability

User Researcher

SPRYT

SPRYT uses AI, behavioural science and applied linguistics to make it easy for patients to book medical appointments and help reduce no-shows. We're initially focussing on oncology screening and diagnostic care pathways. 

Our AI receptionist Asa lets patients book and reschedule medical appointments using conversational message or voice. Asa applies behavioural science and generative AI to adjust language and messaging to specific population segments, to improve equitable access and optimise attendance at appointments.

At SPRYT, I lead research and UX; set research and UX strategy; understand SPRYT users, their pain points and needs; represent and champion users at all stages of design and development and to all stakeholders.

Head of UX

University of Surrey

Collaborative co-supervisor to Paul Fernandez, PhD candidate in Linguistics researching cabin / flight crew communication, code switching, and Crew Resource Management

PhD Supervisor

YST: You Say Tomato

You Say Tomato is a consulting practice that helps organisations focus on the details of language use in order to avoid miscommunication especially where it impacts safety, profitability, cross-cultural understanding, etc. 

Our consultancy offers a number of services, including analysis of written communications (e.g., company reports, web sites, safety reports); workplace studies; analysis of face-to-face interactions (e.g., between employees, employee/manager, employee/customer); and workshops to help you understand the deeper structures and functions of the language you use (and don't use) - all based on applying proven methods to your organisation.

We also provide strategy, especially digital strategy and communication best practices, and Train-The-Trainer courses, all tailored around your organisation's specific issues, needs, and goals.

Founder and consultant

International Black Sea University (IBSU)

Second supervisor to Liza Dalakishvili, PhD thesis title 'The Impact of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Application on the Development of Aviation English Listening Skills for Pilots (A Case of Higher Education in Georgia)'

PhD upervisor

Second supervisor to Inga Tephnadze, PhD thesis title 'Defining the Factors Affecting Validity in Aviation English Assessment through Evaluating Errors of Radiotelephony Communication Against Language Proficiency Requirements (A case of Georgia)'

PhD supervisor

Cabinet Office Digital

–	Leading user research in the Measuring Service Performance discovery 
–	Discovery focussed on answering the questions ‘What does a good government service look like? How can a good government service be measured?’ 
–	Working closely with CDDO, GDS, and senior civil servants across central government to understand pain points and user needs regarding service performance data and the Service Standard mandatory KPIs
–	Close collaboration with service design and product

UK Health Security Agency

- Agile coach, delivery support, and user experience SME on project redeveloping a service with international users screening potential TB sufferers entering the UK
- Providing user centred design and GDS Service Standard mentoring, advice, and guidance on an ad hoc basis
- This is the first service with international users to successfully meet the alpha NHSx Service Standard

This project started in Public Health England (PHE) and is now part of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

Agile coach / UX SME / delivery support

Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA)

Discovery phase project understanding current and potential users, pain points, and needs of an internal knowledge hub. 
- Leading research with participants across the UK civil service, blue light services, and the private sector

Artefacts include 
- discussion guides
- pain points
- user needs
- personas
- recommendations for further research and development phases

Working closely with service designer, content designer, delivery manager, and clients, with weekly and ad hoc show and tells and research playbacks.

Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA)

–	–	Leading user research in discovery phase of a project looking at practical driving route iteration
–	Following GDS Service Standard and Service Manual framework
–	Incorporating service design in the research to improve the end-to-end driving exam experience for internal and external users
–	Conducting contextual research to reveal pain points, user needs, and opportunities for improvement
–	Liaising with civil servants, product consultants, tech leads and SRO 
–	Contributing to product roadmap and leading research strategy

Senior user researcher

Homes England

–	Leading user research in the Find Affordable Homes service beta phase
–	Following GDS Service Standard and Service Manual framework for user research best practice
–	Liaising with civil servants, service design, business analysis and product owner with usability testing insights and recommendations for content and UI iterations
–	Strong focus on research with users with accessibility needs and lower digital skills
–	Contributing to product roadmap and leading research strategy

Lead user researcher

I'm an experienced research professional with a background in anthropology and a PhD in socio-linguistics which used online forums and incident report forms as research data sources. I have extensive experience with the GDS Service Standard, GDS / CDDO internal and external assessments, agile / scrum / Kanban methodologies, and agile ceremonies. I've led research in several projects, and incorporate agile coaching in my user research work. I've provided GDS Service Standard and UX coaching and support to the first service with international users to successfully meet the alpha NHSx Service Standard. 

Through my academic training and consultancy with a variety of public and private sector organisations, including DVSA, Kainos, Transform, HMCTS, MOD, and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), I have a deep understanding of user research techniques and practical experience of their use in high profile projects. I'm guided by and firmly believe in the value of user centred design, and including users in all phases of development and delivery.

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