Timeline

I was hired by Jumeirah to provide design workflow expertise and strategic advice to support a complete web re-design. Methodical was subsequently awarded the agency account to take over the UX/UI design of their website and app.

Would the Methodical team and I like to be involved in re-designing a pediatric hospital in Tbilisi? The answer is yes. Georgia is not the easiest place to get to from LA, as I learned the hard way, but it was more than worth it.

I led the Methodical team on a fascinating project to establish a CX strategy for this fast-growing leader in complete genomic profiling for cancer testing.

Working directly with the CEO and the broader Methodical team, I provided advice on brand, product and digital strategy to help bring their revolutionary non-drug treatment for anxiety and depression to market.

I led the Methodical team in reviewing and shaping the strategy for an ambitious new enterprise technology product from a $1bn technology company.

I led the Methodical team on this project working with a newly appointed Head of Customer Experience to define a global CX strategy that would achieve the triple crown: business growth, brand distinctiveness and a greater perception of value for the customer.

My most expensive client to date — their products are too good to resist!

I led the Methodical team tasked with refining the proposition and designing the multi-channel customer experience for an ambitious digital health and nutrition venture, led by a prominent Irish entrepreneur.

Any excuse and I'll be back to Dublin.

Methodical partnered with the innovation team at this multi-billion dollar global pharma brand to refine and design their vision for an innovative digital health product.

I led the Methodical team whose work covered competitive analysis, product strategy, multi-channel experience design, conceptual UX/UI, and user testing.

I also attempted to eat my body weight in raclette cheese, and learned that "Confiture de la circulation" does not mean traffic jam in French.

Working directly with the CEO and marketing director, I helped BrightInsight sharpen their client pitch decks and product messaging in the run-up to their spin-off from their parent company, Flex — a $26bn tech innovation business. BrightInsight have since raised $30m+ to further develop their regulated IoT platform and attract an enviable roster of clients.

Artory is a New York-based startup that uses blockchain technology to capture vetted provenance information about artworks and collectibles. I led the Methodical team to produce detailed business plans and pitch decks for prospective clients and investors.

Artory not only met their ambitious 2018 funding targets, they made headlines around the world after securing a landmark deal with Christie's.

I advised on CX strategy, helping define the goals and roadmap for the program, and how it would integrate with existing business capabilities.

Year one results from the program saw impressive growth in the use of self-service channels and industry-leading satisfaction scores.

I was contracted by the head of product marketing to develop a model for stress-testing new digital proposition ideas for communications products.

The resultant set of principles, processes and tools was used to evaluate new projects, refine the direction of existing propositions and to support decision-making when considering potential acquisitions.

This project laid the intellectual train tracks that led me to write The Grid — my second book — two years later.

I was hired by the co-founder and CTO of this beloved snack food company to advise on how experience design improvements could reduce choice paralysis and improve customer retention. I was also tasked with mentoring designers in their newly formed UX team.

Customers rate Graze as "great" on Trustpilot, which isn't something I can take any credit for, but I can hope for guilt by association.

I was contracted by the head of customer experience of arguably the most lauded luxury watch brand in the world to provide guidance on improving their already exceptional after-sales service experience.

Given the terms of the NDA I signed, I'd better leave it at that.

I provided training on customer experience principles and processes to senior executives within HSBC. The project included developing customized tools, templates and worksheets to support CX initiatives across the retail banking side of the business.

Key takeaway — a bank is a heavily-regulated IT company that moves money around.

I was hired by the managing director to provide additional customer experience design expertise to teams working on a global web redesign for Land Rover, CX and UX initiatives for British Airways, as well as projects to improve dietary health for children for the Department of Health and Social Care.

I was engaged to design the end-to-end user experience for unicorn tech startup Powa Technologies' mobile payment platform, praised by the British Prime Minister as, "A great British success story," before it imploded in spectacular fashion, burning $200m of investor money while achieving nothing.

If only someone had mentioned early on that there was a flaw in their strategy…

I worked as an extension of the Ogilvy team in Paris and New York to provide additional user experience design expertise on IBM's Smarter Cities campaign.

The outdoor advertising component — produced by the creative team at Ogilvy — was awarded the Outdoor Grand Prix at Cannes, as well as Clio Awards for Experiential/Engagement, Innovation and Design.

Bupa is a global healthcare brand, who hired me to bring user-centered design expertise to a new team tasked with developing a series of mobile apps. In addition to providing advice on workflow and process I led the design of a member care app that set a new standard for the industry.

I worked in the call center for Yellow Pages as a teenager, and returned like a boomerang almost a decade later to take on a lead experience design role. The brief was to consolidate 40 separate tools used by sales and customer service teams into one enterprise web app to run on desktop, iPhone and iPad.

This was my first time working in a company in terminal decline and the contrast between my two tours of duty was startling. Since then I've been fascinated with adaptability in business, clinging to Andy Grove's maxim, "Only the paranoid survive."

I was contracted to produce strategic concept work that would define the future of Vodafone's self-service offerings worldwide, and subsequently to design a series of new multi-channel services — including journey mapping and conceptual design — for a global audience of 24 countries.

I also learned that, "We're from Group, and we're here to help," provokes colorful reactions at a country level.

Following a rigorous assessment, portfolio review and interview I was granted membership of the Royal Chartered Society of Designers, earning the right to use the letters MCSD after my name.

I was hired to bring design leadership to Tag's enterprise web application CMD, used by 350,000 users worldwide to manage global advertising campaigns, assets and reporting for brands such as Land Rover, Intel, H&M and Coca-Cola. The project coincided with a period of explosive growth at the company, and I will never forget — or fully remember — their Christmas parties.

Determined only to work in the most glamorous locations in the British Isles, I was chomping at the bit to get to Milton Keynes, where I was the lead interaction design consultant on this site redesign for the UK's equivalent of Walmart. The new site won Retail Week's Online Retailer of the Year Award and generated over £1 billion of revenue in its first year.

I was contracted to define the user-centered workflow, processes, and deliverables necessary to deliver an ambitious 3-year program of 120 e-business projects. Heroically I also commuted to Salisbury every day, a place so inconvenient to get to, you can't even get there from Salisbury.

I was hired to redesign the online travel booking experience for P&O. The new design lifted conversion rates 70%, doubled online turnover and produced an estimated 10:1 ROI. eDigitalResearch rated it the UK's top travel website, primarily for its "easily negotiated booking process." Without the success of this first project who knows where I'd be? Hopefully not in a budget hotel in Dover.