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A bit about me

I am a User Experience Design Lead who has worked in design and research across many industries.

I got into UX design studying Industrial Design and psychology, finding the two were a powerful combination. I studied a Masters Degree in Human Factors at Loughborough University in the UK, doing longitudinal research in education for British Telecom’s Research Labs.

Key achievements

• I have led many successful projects delivering business outcomes to acquire new customers for Commonwealth Bank in Australia, Westpac and Lendlease, as well as helping set the strategic vision for ING in Australia.
• I have completed international projects for QBE, LexisNexis and the United Nations – ReliefWeb.
• Recent outcomes include significant uplift in sales conversion of bank accounts, creation of a financial wellbeing strategy + playbook as well as an onboarding experience for the new Westpac app to build capability among customers.

Questions I’m always asking myself

• What do people need?
• Why do they need those things? What are the deeper drivers and social trends?
• How can design help at a personal and societal level?
• What can I learn from projects once they are live? Have there been any unintended consequences?
• What can I learn in UX from related fields? E.g. Behavioural economics or service industries (such as the way a maitre d’ welcomes customers into a restaurant and anticipates their needs in friendly ways).

Reflections on what I’ve learned in UX

• In large scale systems small changes can have compounding and significant benefits or impact for customers and companies.
• The biggest design challenge is the intention action gap. Getting people to start a task and build momentum.
• People trust companies who show genuine intent to care about them. My work shows evidence they want to do more business with those companies.
• In today’s society design can have social impact but also carries far higher responsibility than ever before.
• While people crave engagement with technology there has never been a time when social connection and purpose are more important.
• Great design is turning things that could be seen as boring into something delightful, helpful and caring. Our online application forms at CommBank did just this and exceeded business targets.