TTP plc

TTP is a fun place to work. It's fun because the people are all ace; all top-of-their-game, but humble enough to not think that their domain knowledge means your domain isn't important. It's a pretty flat hierarchy.

It's also a place where hard, high-tech stuff gets made; ideas get built, and mostly in-house. This includes microfabrication - building chips and micro structures for mind-bending applications; I have no idea how it works. It might as well be magic. If you want to know, I'll put you in touch with Fred Hussain who runs the micro fab here.

The point is, that as one of the folks who does 'front end innovation' here at TTP, I help a project go right from the 'back-of-a-napkin' idea, through to design, development, and on to the summative test. It's my job to help clients work out who their users are, what they do, what they want (the unknown unknowns).

Deeply understanding the people who you wish to serve means better, tighter development and less risk.

User Experience Consultant

Coloplast

There's a quote that often gets attributed to Henry Ford:

"If I'd have asked people what they wanted, they'd have said - 'a faster horse'."
The implication being, they wouldn't have said 'car'. 

User research is looking for the 'cars' when people tell you about their desire for 'faster horses'. 

In this role I have met people all over the world who live with intimate healthcare needs. I have worked across Ostomy, Intermittent Catheterisation, and Bowel Management. This work requires the most stringent data control; our users must be protected from data breaches, and they trust us to conduct our research diligently, respectfully, and ethically. It is not trivial to include the people who use our products in the research we do. Sometimes it means working with people at their lowest point.

I have worked on fast moving projects, working within the constraints outlined above to deliver timely and actionable insights for teams of various sizes; liaising with colleagues across the globe. I have crafted insights and communicated them for various stakeholders, including specialists (of various types and ranks) and senior management.

Senior User Experience Researcher

ANATOMY

My work at ANATOMY involves design ethnography with healthcare professionals, patients and client representatives (overseas and in the UK), along with service design, product conceptualisation, workshop planning & execution, video editing, literature searches, assessing evidence and producing insights, report writing, creating print outputs with InDesign, and a whole host of other designerly activities that come from being part of a nimble consultancy firm - (client relations, etc.).

I also took a lead with studio IT (Mac technical support, encryption protocols, etc.) - Way back during my B.A. I worked for 3 years at Apple Retail, which was excellent preparation for studio life in this regard!

Working at ANATOMY meant that I was able to use the skills that I have been honing over the past few years on lots of varied and complex work. I am moving on from being at ANATOMY every day to being an Associate, as I have other opportunities I wish to pursue.

Design Strategist

OpenUp Design

OpenUp Design is a studio committed to creating products and services that include the lived experience of the people who have to use them. We push boundaries, and we try new things.

We use Open Design to create medical products - and Participatory Design for creating health services. 

We also use design as a strategic tool for business development, bringing the benefits of design research into innovative business methods.

Director

Sheffield Hallam University

Tutor and occasional lecturer for undergraduate product design students, with a particular interest in the evolution of the role of a product designer to include the intangible- be it services, experience, and even Open Innovation / Open Design; as well as the importance of encryption and information security for designers as professionals.

Associate Lecturer, Product Design

Good Care Days

Good Care Days is a health startup with a central mission... to radically change the approach to patient experience in hospitals and primary care spaces.

My role has been to help in shaping the direction of this startup, which has been spun out of ANATOMY as a separate company. We used Lean Startup methodology to build our decisions on real data and insight, as well as making extensive use of Business Model Canvass to help us design the *business*, as well as the *product*.

As design lead I have responsibility for the product direction, as well as helping to ensure the business development follows design thinking principles.

Design Lead

CLAHRC YH

This role involves a lot of acronyms. The description isn't 'sexy'​, but the work is important, and tough.

The role allowed for ample design practice, and the use of visual methods for ideation and communication were frequent. The production of artefacts as research tools, and other practical applications of design happened often.

This position was split between two themes in the Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care for Yorkshire & Humber (CLAHRC YH) research program. These were the 'Telehealth and Care Technologies'​ (TaCT - 70% of the time) and 'Evidence Based Transformation' (EBT - 30% of the time) themes.

In these roles I applied design methodologies in health research - that is to say I worked in multidisciplinary teams as the sole designer, in facilitating participatory design, collaborative research, and the application of design research in a health context.

For instance, in the TaCT theme the specific focus was in researching the use of Telehealth technologies with people who have English as a second language- or for whom communication through traditional means is challenging.

It was during this role that I gained certification as a LEGO Serious Play facilitator - using the method to help reimagine an NHS service; embed user insights in research from pople living with Peripheral Neuropathy, and Paediatric Physiotherapy NHS services.

I also co-authored a major national publication on the state of the art of design in health, as well as organising and co-facilitating a 24hr design challenge at the 2015 Design 4 Health conference. This design challenge was very well attended, with designers coming to participate from all over the Globe (Italy, Netherlands, India, and Australia as examples).

Designer / Researcher

User centred Healthcare Design

Traditional Participatory Design activities require that the people involved be physically present during the workshops. For some people with chronic medical conditions, this is not possible due to restrictions from their condition. For example, people might be immunocompromised and unable to meet one another for fear of cross-infection; perhaps they live with a taboo condition, and don't wish to discuss the nitty-gritty of self management; or perhaps their condition is so rare, that there are large distances between others sharing the condition, making the logistics of meeting up impractical / impossible.

This research focussed on how Open Design techniques could be included in current medical device development, by working with people who live with Cystic Fibrosis, who cannot meet to participate in collaborative design due to being segregated from one another.

Currently, there are numerous projects being collaboratively developed in the bespoke social network created for this research. As an example, these include hacked Ikea furniture for Vest Therapy equipment, and a convenient Enzyme dispenser.

This project has moved from the original social network to Wevolver.

This work was presented at the 10th European Academy of Design conference in Gothenburg- see the Publications section for more information.

The thesis was examined on the 5th of August 2014 by Prof. Mike Press of the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design at the University of Dundee. The thesis was passed with minor corrections.

Participatory Designer / Researcher (PhD)

User-centred Healthcare Design

My primary duty was working as a designer in the team, by participating in design workshops, healthcare service visualisations, administration work, paper writing, visualisation, prototyping, and interdisciplinary working, using designedly skills such as sketching, paper-prototyping, 2D rendering of concepts and prototypes (by hand and computer), and presentation skills using Keynote / Powerpoint. 

This presentation often required the dissemination of information to a variety of different audiences. I honed my skills as a storyteller; as well as distilling out insights for the team to plan strategy / services.

Designer

Design Futures

Responsibilities included support work for ongoing projects for big multinational firms across the tech/food/retail/chemical sectors with workshop facilitation, creative design work, prototyping, CAD work (Rhino 3D). Towards the end of my job I was given more client-facing work helping to lead small projects for local firms / individuals.

This role included extensive use of the Adobe Creative Suite, Rhino 3D, Microsoft Office, across both Mac and Windows platforms. It also involved lots of designerly approaches - sketching, low and high-fi prototyping across a range of resistant materials and client/time management.

From this role I went on to do my M.A. in design (see education section).

Junior Designer

First, I love connecting with new people; if you would like to connect, then add a short note... tak!

I'm a Human-centred designer of products, services, and strategy - with experience in the public and private sector. I love what I do - collaborating with the right folk to produce the best possible outcome… on budget and to time; always through design.

In my training as a design researcher I have learnt how to be a good storyteller- truly listening to people as they tell you about their lives and experiences; distilling insights & retelling this story in a meaningful way to help design the best possible outcomes.

Making, and other practical activities are central to how I plan my collaborative work - wherever possible I like to foster play in workshops… serious play. This is why I became a certified LEGO Serious Play facilitator; play is super productive.

I have used many different design methods and methodologies. I am comfortable in a 'traditional' Double Diamond- as well as an agile Design Sprint. If it wasn't clear from the beginning, I also thrive on working with others - I'm definitely not a lone wolf.

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