🎨 About Me

Hello there!

I am a design leader. I have helped startups, co-founded a startup games company, and worked in multiple successful Video game companies, Betting and Casino companies, social games, and employee engagement platforms.

I have managed large teams of User Experience (UX), Service Design (SD), Information Architecture (IA) User Research and User Interface (UI) Design across multiple platforms and various technologies.

I primarily work in the banking and finance sector, which can be complex and challenging but exciting and rewarding.

In my career, I have worked in many industries, including:

🎮 Video Games

💰 Banking & Finance

🛍 E-commerce

♠️ Betting & Casino Gaming

😻 Employee Engagement

🔬 Design Research

For more information on my experience and skills and visit My Portfolio page.

Resume

Download a copy of my CV/Resume detailing my capabilities and job-related experiences.

588KB PDF

"I apply a methodology to how I approach design, this is underpinned by my mission statement, vision and values."

🚀
Mission

Create design quality digital customer experiences with customers at heart to ensure trusting and long-lasting relationships.

👁
Vision

Challenge and change experience for the better, ensuring we set best-in-class trends within the industry coupled with seamless experiences driving consistency across the digital landscape.

😇
Values

Push highly competent team in a professional environment to perform across business units exceeding expectations, ensuring the team is calm, knowledgable, humble, and respectful.

🏁 Professional Summary

"I co-founded a successful games company and worked in multiple successful startups from Video Game companies, Betting and Casino games, and employee engagement platforms."

Design Thinking Workshop in Miro

👨‍🦳 Experience

Vice President Group Head of Design

January 2019 to Present

I am the Group Head of Design for Emirates NBD leading a team of designers, researchers, analysts, creatives, strategists and UX copywriters to work with product owners/managers in order to produce compelling digital finance products online and in the mobile experience space.

I am responsible for Retail digital banking channels from a design perspective and online experiences for Emirates NBD, Emirates Islamic, E20: Digital Business Bank, and BusinessOnline.

Experience Design Lead

September 2016 to September 2018

I was responsible for leading the design of Atoms mobile banking app. My remit was to deliver a groundbreaking user experience for customers.

I led the Design team and was responsible for ongoing coaching and professional development. I maintained relationships across the business to ensure deliverables were completed effectively and proactively managed to a high standard.

I ensured Atom’s Iterative Design process was well organised, with the right level of input and sign-off from across the business.

Principle UX Design

December 2013 to May 2015

I led a team of 8 experienced designers for mobile development. The main focus of my team was to develop compelling native applications for consumer banking products. These products were developed for Android and iOS. My daily routine included assisting with the Banks Digital Strategy.

I set tasks for my team to plan stories, user journeys, and application flows, as well as the overall UX design and UI development. I identified designs for edge cases and provided detailed solutions. I ensured standards and conventions were met for best-HID practices and maintained a unique experience on Android and iOS but ensured consistency was applied.

Co-Founder & Creative Director

January 2012 to May 2013

I co-founded a games company that produced casual games for Smartphones and Tablet devices. As creative director, I set the scene and art house style for video games, creating mood boards and style guides, drawing characters and setting the narrative. I played a fundamental role in the game design of the company's first title, "Firefly the Adventures of Switch". Some work-for-hire titles included God of War remastered and "Call of Duty strike team".

The company consisted of 3 artists and two programmers. I liaised with the artists and utilised a task-managing system, ensuring daily tasks were complete and milestones met. The games were released on Windows Phone, iOS, Android and Kindle Fire.

🎓 Qualifications

Northumbria University Newcastle

BA (Hons) 1st Class Multimedia Design 2000 - 2003

I obtained a 1st class Honours Degree in a 3-year course covering modules that encompassed Graphic Design, Animation, Motion Graphics, Informational Design, Prototyping, Wireframing, and User and Cognitive Behavioural Patterns.

Newcastle College Newcastle

Higher National Diploma in Graphic Design 1998 - 2000

I obtained a foundation degree to distinction level in this 2-year course. Studying newspaper design, magazine information graphics, and Illustration design in this course. The course included live briefs set by the Guardian Newspaper, The Observer, Independent, and New York Traveller magazine.

🎯 Skills

User Experience
Design

User Interface
Design

Information
Architecture

Design
Interaction

Product Service
Design

User Experience
Research

Accessibility
W3C & DDA

Thought
Leadership

Design
Collaboration

🤗 Leadership

I am presently the Vice President for Design in a Large bank in the UAE.

I manage a large team of designers which includes User Experience design, Visual design, Service design, Research, and Service design.

My skills include leading design thinking and applying strategy to design, bringing opportunities and solving complex problems.

🦄 Design Expertise

Design Thinking Workshop in person and virtually

Banking & Finance

For more than ten years I have worked in banking and finance, solving complex user experiences problems on many channels, such as Mobile, Online, and Tablet.

I worked in the games industry for nine years where I applied many positive patterns and paradigms for gamification and positive reinforcement in experience design and highly polished UI and transition storytelling.