This area will host my designs, front-end work and work for JustGiving, Volley.me and stuff I’ve done in my own time.
Most of my work with CMS sites are done using Wordpress… which is awesome (even when they upgrade is and break some of my W3C validation). I build a host of JustGiving blogs in the space of a few weeks too… you can see them the main blog here, the charity blog here… and originally did work for the London Marathon blog.
More coming soon!
My latest project was for a recruitment agency client – Pool Digital, whom required a CMS custom built to their needs with a design that worked ubiquitously around their brand and logo.
The build involved photography, jQuery, PHP, HTML, CSS, Google Analytics on top of a install WordPress in rather short turn over time during the Christmas break. I got the chance to work alongside acclaimed ‘SheSays Golden Stiletto Winner‘ award winning copywriter, Yasmin Quemard of Iris, Dare and AKQA fame.
As well as working as a front-end developer… another passion of mine, is in design through sketching ideas and UI layouts.
Below is a homepage sketch from Oct. 2008.
Alongside sketching ideas, I often carry out guerrilla user testing sessions with family & friends to learn quickly how people interact with websites, data and information when visualised.
I’m fortunate enough that my colleagues ask of my opinions when user testing in labs and got the chance in March of 2008 to work with the team at Creative Good in America to improve the JustGiving user experience. It was an extremely fascinating to learn cultural differences and ways in which different people work. One great example is how users call charities, ‘Non-profit Organisations’ (obviously with a Z rather than an S) rather than the term charity.
Another example of some of my designs were with giving different types of users the perspective of time remaining. An option that JustGiving pulled out of, yet rival organisation Virgin Money Giving have used.
I’ve also been part of the team to improve user experience from more than just a functional level, but on an emotional and compassionate level.
And then there’s much more kept in my moleskin notepads. Often these ideas get pitched internally and externally to different business members. Sometimes being implemented or put on hold for other projects.
Working as the UI Designer/Lead front-end developer for Justgiving and Firstgiving as the glue between the design and development team.
Aiding the design team with UX solutions, graphic designs and UI patterns for the GivingGroup (UK and USA). Moving towards rapid prototyping and learning to develop great user experiences.
Working the the development team on simplifying the site’s front-end using object orientated CSS and working in ASP.NET MVC.
During conferences, I tend to findnotes through sketching is a great way to listen to speakers. I’m not alone believing this method has a place in the work place, as others also find this technique very useful for keeping focus.
One of my hobbies at university was to use my wacom tablet to draw and render 2d illustrations. More of these can be found on my flickr site.
My first role in the web/design industry was working for PartyGaming in their peak, prior to the legislation which ruled online gambling illegal in America in 2006.
I had the chance to work along inspiring designers who guided me along the basics of typography through kerning, letter spacing, layout and grid structure when working on advertising material for various marketing campaigns. Working rapidly with copywriters and comms teams we delivered solutions to many global companies.
More work coming soon.