Factory Pattern

With 16+ years of experience leading digital and e-commerce projects, I’ve worked with leading brands like Sky, Dune, HBO, Majestic Athletic, Sport England, and Loqate (GBG), delivering innovative solutions that drive growth and enhance user experiences.

At Factory Pattern, I’ve partnered with national and international clients on challenging digital projects, helping businesses transform their online presence and achieve measurable results.

My strengths lie in creative problem-solving, active listening, and connecting the dots to deliver impactful strategies that align with both user needs and business goals. Whether refining user journeys, optimising conversions, or delivering scalable e-commerce solutions, I bring big-picture thinking with meticulous attention to detail.

UX Consultant & Digital Strategist

Cheltenham Design Festival

Co-Director at The Cheltenham Design Festival. The festival is the flagship event of the Cheltenham Design Foundation, a registered charity that promotes the benefits of design and creativity. 
We aim to inspire young minds through our free Saturday school, the Cheltenham Design Academy, and the festival is our way of inspiring others by showing how good design can transform the way we live.

Co Director

CHELTENHAM DESIGN FOUNDATION

Chair

Part of the the Cheltenham Design Foundation - committed to promoting the benefits of design and creativity to people from all backgrounds, from design professionals to the general public and the designers of the future.

Chair of the Cheltenham Design Foundation

Jealous Design

Wave goodbye to techno babble – it’s not in our dictionary of digital design and marketing.

We prefer to chat to our clients over a good cup of coffee using everyday language, rather than trying to bamboozle you with our knowledge of technical terms.

Creative Director

Do you need help improving the UX (User eXperience) on your website to generate more sales or leads? A great UX is essential to convert your users (potential customers) into loyal customers and make the most of your Digital Marketing spend/efforts. 

Not sure where to start? Confused as to where people are getting stuck on your ecommerce site? I'm here to help! 

Let's work together to optimise your website and digital strategy and achieve your goals! Email me now andy@factorypattern.co.uk 

𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗺 𝗜?
Born and live in UK 🇬🇧, in a relationship and business partnership with Georgina (co-founder) + Baxter 🐶  and 2 sons.

Addicted to hats, skateboarding (falling over), more hats, loving Country Music (guilty pleasure).

𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗲
I help businesses of all sizes understand why traffic to their website isn't doing what they want them to do (buy things or become leads). I untangle digital messes and help drive better website traffic and convert that traffic into loyal customers. But how? 🤔

Since 2008, I've worked with over 250 businesses to help them:
🔎 Discover where users are dropping off their website
✔️ Bring clarity by doing user research to understand why their users aren't taking action
💪 Optimise and test their websites to make them more engaging to users

In order to:
👉 Improve their digital experience
📈 Increase revenue from users on their websites
🤝 Develop a digital strategy that drives engaged traffic, leading to long-term growth

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗧𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿

✅ UX Audit & Consultation
If you need to understand where your website users are getting stuck and want to know what actions to take to unstick them and drive more conversions, then this is for you. It starts with a free UX audit, then we can take that further with a UX consultation.

✅ Website Design & Development
Need a new ecommerce site or want to optimise the one you already have? I've run Factory Pattern for over 15 years, so we know a thing or 2 about designing and developing great online experiences. We're partners with Google, Shopify, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, WordPress/WooCommerce and more platforms than you can shake a stick at.

✅ Digital Strategy & Marketing
Want to increase traffic or improve online engagement to boost your brand? We can help with that through SEO, PPC, email marketing and Community Engagement (on social) to increase your reach and brand awareness.

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱? 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗠𝗲!
 
📞 Call me +44 (0)7894 089 828 
✉ Send me a message andy@factorypattern.co.uk

Andy Thorne

Aston University

•	Senior Professional Services lead for research funding for the College of Business and Social Science ensuring high quality support for research funding applications
•	Oversight of the work of two Grants and Contracts officers and close working with a broad range of professional services colleagues across the University, including Research Finance, Business and Regional Engagement and College-based Research Office 
•	Lead for research budget forecasting and monitoring for research applications and awards
•	Design and implementation of training to improve quality of research applications
•	Management of large and complex research funding applications to high-profile funders (including UK Research and Innovation); successful applications to UKRI including several which were £1m+
•	Implemented external selection processes for early career Fellowships (e.g. UKRI Future Leader Fellowships)
•	Creating and developing collaborations across the University (e.g setting up thematic research networks) and working with interdisciplinary research groups to develop proposals for external funding. 
•	Lead on strategy consultations for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in research

Strategic Funding Manager

University of Birmingham

I lead the research planning support for two colleges covering Medical, Dental, Life and Environmental Sciences. My responsibilities include research impact (for REF and more broadly); research engagement; research management information and research strategy. 

The role involves working closely with Directors of Research and Knowledge Transfer, Impact Leads and Professional Services colleagues across the University, providing dedicated support for embedding and enhancing research impact; providing advice, support and training to colleagues around impact and research strategy; organisation and delivery of training and events to support impact; supporting and developing systems for management information and data capture.

I am also involved with developing of a team of recently appointed Research Planning Officers and have management and mentoring responsibilities in the team.

I am a member of the University's Impact Strategy Group and also provide secretariat support for University Research Committee.

Research Planning Partner

University of Warwick

My role involves working across the entire faculty of social sciences, supporting academics and enabling research impact through a range of activities, including:

Helping academics to produce high quality case studies for submission to the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF)

Working with Stakeholder Relations to facilitate contact between academics and the wider community through events, networks and public communication of research

Working with the Communications Office to promote the impact that research from the faculty has had on policy, the economy, our culture and society

Providing internal training and information events on maximising research impact, communicating with audiences beyond higher education, and sharing best practice within the faculty

Advising individual academics on impact plans in funding applications and integrating impact activities into research design

Also advising on potential users of social science research and how they can be approached and engaged

Organising events to bring social scientists and parliamentarians together through the Industry and Parliament Trust, and co-ordinating the 2013 Faculty Festival of Social Science.

Research Impact Officer

Identifying and promoting funding sources
Contributing to the development of applications for research funding, including the co-ordination and project management of collaborative proposals
Contributing to research funding strategies through analysis and mapping of funding opportunities to match research strengths
Delivering presentations and workshops around research funding

Research Development Officer

The Open University

My research focuses on creativity and collaborative creative work. I am interested in

Sociocultural approaches to studying and understanding creativity and collaborative work

The development of innovative qualitative methods for studying visual and interactional aspects of collaboration

Understanding creative collaboration within the broader context of the contemporary creative industries

Postgraduate Researcher

The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education

Supporting reviews of teaching and learning of higher education courses delivered through further education colleges
Deputy Method Coordinator with responsibility for the development and implementation of a new programme of reviews in further education colleges in Northern Ireland
Writing and Delivering briefing and training for reviewers and coordinators
Organisation and project management of national conferences
Institutional liaison officer for a portfolio of Higher Education Institutions, to update senior officers and academics on developments in QAA policy

Development Officer

Economic and Social Research Council

Established a team to provide ongoing support for ESRC funded research programmes, centres and fellowships
Scoping the roles of Impact Officers in my team, recruiting new members of staff, providing induction training and ongoing support to new officers in their roles
Maintaining a portfolio of impact evaluations; managing contracts with consultants commissioned to deliver evaluation reports

Deputy Head of Evaluation and Impact

Maintaining a portfolio of evaluations of completed social science research projects; managing tender processes and commissioning academic consultants to deliver evaluation reports
Leading ESRC's work on the development of methods to assess the impact of social science research, including organising an international symposium and workshops, consulting with a broad range of evaluation professionals, introduction of new approaches in 'case studies' and presenting analyses of these to the Council's Research Evaluation Committee

Senior Evaluation Manager

I'm a Higher Education Professional with experience of research development and impact, strategic planning and teaching quality assurance. My current role is Strategic Funding Manager at Aston University. I also established the Research Impact Network: https://researchimpactnetwork.wordpress.com/about/ ; a grass roots network of UK Higher Education administrative and professional staff working in a variety of roles related to research impact.
Prior to my current role I held a number of roles relating to research strategy and planning, impact and research development at the Universities of Birmingham and Warwick.
I have worked as a Development Officer for the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education with responsibility for implementing reviews of Higher Education in Further Education.
I also held a variety of roles with the Economic and Social Research Council, ranging from working on commissioning and evaluating ESRC-funded research to establishing the first of ESRC’s impact case studies and contributing to international benchmarking reviews of social science disciplines. During my time at ESRC I was Deputy Head of Evaluation and Impact, with responsibility for establishing a team of dedicated Impact Officers to work with ESRC funded research investments.

taplio

The Battle

Andy Thorne

Ronni Littlewood

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