Since 2018 I have been building digital products and services for various business across South Wales. I spent 20 months at Hodge Bank, building prototypes as well as frontend development work on their Agile teams to create a brand new mortgage broker platform.
During this time I've been working under my own company called Atomic Monkey. Providing businesses large and small with UI/UX services, as well as product design and frontend development to various Agile teams.
With the recent Covid 19 interruptions and the shakeup with IR35, I'm now looking for new opportunities, either as a contractor or as a permanent team member.
Hoping for a bright 2021. after all the challenges that 2020 has brought us. If your team requires a UI/UX team player, feel free to get in touch, I'd love to hear from you.
I spent over a year working as a UI/UX Interface designer and Frontend developer, for OneTeamLogic and Logic Software, these companies have merging recently. Logic is a well established Software Development company, One TeamLogic are creators of MyConcern, a safeguarding software product for Education. Advising on the power of data and how to funnel and test different user behaviour, using redirects and AB testing to create tests or workflows to build on conversion rates for ecommerce stores. A varied role in Advanced software development often binding modern JS frameworks to complex .NET backends. This is a very competent team who build major systems for the NHS, even scanner apps that British ports use to scan all the cars arriving. I also created mobile apps in Xamarin Forms or NativeScript, plus some Video Creation, Animation, and Brochure design.
Upon returning from Australia I worked as a freelancer for several companies in South Wales, contracts have included work for web.com, clinithink and delio wealth, where I built out UI interfaces, built website frontends and developing prototypes in webflow, Angular, Jquery, CSS and HTML, for ASP.NET MVC Razor, Python and PHP backends within Agile Teams. Along with creating wireframes, graphics and motion graphics and photography services.
Both roles were with relatively new development teams, solving often seriously complex problems in new areas. Often I work to simplify the core messaging and try to get the team to embrace the importance of data in terms of user design.
New startups are rewarding UX opportunities as they usually are a blank slate. Shaping and advising how to capture and understand user behaviour is always valuable knowledge.
I managed the web team and worked closely with Marketing to create great customer experiences and improve conversion. I was creating media, new wireframes and functionality, video production and motion graphics to simplify the messages of certain products or services as well as A/B testing and weekly html emails. Also production of landing pages, tracking, analytics and ATG setup. A great mix of design, code, UX, UI and user journies, to give customers a enjoyable online shopping experience.
This role involved code releases, creating new media and templates, writing CSS, HTML, and using JQuery, and managing and ensuring delivery of campaigns between various systemsand producing engaging digital content through animation & video shoots.
When I heard the news, we were expecting my oldest son, I decided to take a take a break from my hectic freelancing to take on a permanent role as a Front End Developer for Laithwaites,Wine.
This role involved UX and UI, content creation all to improve conversion. Daily project management, graphic design, website development, design briefing, Video Production, IA/Wireframing, ATG, Akamai, Youtube management, Zmags production, Amazon Storefront generation. Front end design and development for Laithwaites UK websites, tasks included creating graphics, creating landing pages, company branding and maintentance of the live sites via the ATG platform, additional duties include Managing the youtube channel, video production, creation of Zmags, and set up and design for the Laithwaites Amazon Store.
I spent a year working as a freelance graphic/web design for design agencies throughout the
South East and London. There is something thrilling about a life as a busy freelancer. I quickly built up a reliable income and was the man to call to get a job done, quickly, on brief and against the clock. During this time, I worked with some amazing people and great agencies, running a full gambit of requests for website design, development, graphics, html emails, branding, presentations, mobile apps and simply helping out when an agency needed a experienced hand to save the day.
I’d say any designer worth their salt should experience that baptism of fire you only get as a freelancer. You get such a variety of projects and are expected to produce quality on the shortest of deadlines.
Following my time with jumpto, I took a role as senior designer at Wridal, a startup agency specialising in simplifying online journeys for large banks like ABN AMRO, RBS and HSBC, plus work for Inenco, Gomez and more..
I was involved in Website design, 3d animation and graphic design. However the global financial crisis struck both of our two largest clients RBS and ABN AMRO, work dried up and the management team were forced to lay off all staff, An interesting web agency that had alot of potential.
I took a temporary 1 year contract with this Oxford based agency, I was working on packaging, web, graphics and viral games, mostly FMCG and CPG brands. Clients included Wychwood Brewery, Daniels Food Group, Johnsons Juices, New Covent Garden Soup & Folens. I also handled photoshoots & book cover design. It was an interesting role, and was great to see my designs and illustrations on the products lining the supermarket shelves. Plus what could be better than working in a barn conversion in leafy Oxfordshire.
Catch is a small friendly design agency in a small village outside Newbury in rural berkshire, following a hectic year and a half commuting daily from Reading into North London, I needed a break from the long days and crammed trains. My time at catch was truly enjoyable, I was working with local clients, as well as some large firms like Panasonic, Miele Professional and NEC on mostly branding, print and brochure work. The office was closed after flooded in the Berkshire Floods of 2007, so I had to move on at the time!
Umbrella is all about retail, Cosmetic and Luxury brands, specialising in design for highly successful retail environments. The agency was a mix of interior designers and graphic designers handling a great variety of work, including packaging, photography, wayfinding, retail display and shop fit-out, POS, Web and advertising. A very professional agency with a interesting client list ... Dior, Givenchy, Benefit, Diageo, Johnnie Walker Whiskey, Ballantines, World Duty Free, Harley Street Doctors, TAG Heuer and the Body Shop.
Great job, but you can only do 5 hours travel a day for so long!
With the closure of Impact, the design and 3d visualisation manager bought all the equipment and setup Circle Creative, started as an Architectural Visualisation and New Media Agency. I worked here for 2 years creating graphics and websites for clients. However over time, the agency became highly focused on providing Architectural visualisation and 3d modelling for Architects and large construction projects. Check out their site to see the amazing 3d work they produce. They have started to shift some resource back to content creation ... highly skilled and a very hard working team.
Now known as AVMI, Impact was one of the largest AV integrators in Europe, originally setup by Justin Kennington who I worked with at Total Office group, I produced digital content and design for the business. The company, following several mergers, went from 20 staff to over 2000 in 5 years, the largest merger was with MCSi, the world largest AV integrator. AV projects included TV shows like Never Mind the Buzzcocks, AV for the Olympics, Fitout for the Williams F1 Conference Center and Cream Nightclubs. The company folded following collapse of MCSi in the US.
My first true design role was with Oculus, which has been around for 23 years and is one of the leading integrated marketing agencies in the Thames Valley. This is a busy, busy, award winning agency, highly creative, and very well established with an amazing client roster. When I was the main clients included Sgi, Cisco, BT, Barclays, Compaq and Microsoft. I was working across Branding, Web, Advertising, Literature, Direct Mail, POS, Video and Apps. Great experience!
Taking those AutoCad skills, I took a role at a company I had done occasional work for during my college years. This role involved Surveying client offices and producing detailed Space Planning. The group mostly worked with Steelcase furniture and provide complete office fitouts, desking solutions, Architecture to AV integration. Upon the closure of the business the Spaceplanning team created Plus or Minus https://www.plusorminus.co.uk
We all have to start somewhere, you come out of college, have no experience and need a job, I happened to know AutoCad, so took my first job as AutoCad operator creating cutter guides for fitout and furniture for mobile homes, the drawings were then sent to the factory for cutout and assembled into finished vans. Highly technical job that required an eye for detail and extreme accuracy, All good skills for a successful career in design!