Fresh pot of tea edition
Last issue: Oct 2021
Paul Smith is an experienced interaction designer from Manchester, UK.
He is currently a Senior Interaction Designer at the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
Understanding people, their needs and context is critical to my work as a designer. We can have more confidence in our work when it is informed by user research, especially reseach we have taken part in.
The sooner you share, the sooner mistakes are spotted, ideas are refined and people are included.
Better ideas and solutions to problems are found by working with (not only for) users and colleagues.
It should be important to all designers that their work does not exclude people with different physical, mental health, social, cultural or learning needs.
A breif rundown of my recent career history. Full details can be found on my LinkedIn profile.
Senior Interaction Designer with the 'Digital Land' team working to make land and housing data easier to find, use and trust.
Paul spent two years as lead designer at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, where he helped to build their new in-house digital service design team.
The first designer hired for a newly established digital department within the UK's largest independant pharmacy business.
Working with senior leadership, Paul helped to hire the team, shaped their approach to design and to quickly build and test their riskiest ideas and assumptions with users.
Front-end Development for DWP Digital (formerly Business Transformation Group) within the Department for Work & Pensions.
Paul worked within a large multidisciplinary design team. Following 'User Centred Design' principles to design end-to-end services that benefit both citizens and government.
Working closely with the Government Digital Service (GDS) and other lead Front-end developers within the department to champion progressively enhanced, accessible and efficient digital services.