1995, Undergraduate

Have you ever spent time just learning how to think? I believe every strategist should. I was lucky enough to do that when I studied a Bachelor of Arts Degree at the University of KwaZulu Natal, Pietermaritzburg. I discovered that everything is human-centered and I started on the path to critical thinking, but learning scenic design and studying the empathetic techniques of Stanislavskian theories has proven to be a foundation of my experience design career.

For 3 years I studied subjects that demonstrated how creativity stems from human will and the ability to understand the will of a society; a major in Theatre Studies and History of Art and years of undergraduate subjects like Fine Art, Philosophy and Literature. Even though many of the creative geniuses I studied were insular and self-focussed, they communicated thoughts that shaped our environments and the way in which we process the world around us. In particular, my hero in empathetic theory, Constantin Stanislavsky, who I have since written about in relation to UX.

But the most important thing I learned came from J.M Coetzee, who spoke at our graduation. After being constantly teased about a B.A. standing for ‘bugger all’ and not providing us with marketable skills, he set the world to rights by saying ’It takes an afternoon to learn business skills. It takes at least 3 years to learn how to think.’ It was then that I started to believe in my ability to strategise.

1996, Postgraduate

Can you focus on the details while understanding the bigger ideas? During this year I split my time between the University of Cape Town and the Mac School at Concept, during which I learned granular skills such as how to use design software and broader skills such as advertising thinking and how to mentor.

I started a postgraduate theatre degree at the University of Cape Town. During that time I also started an HDE (Higher Diploma in Education) and learned how to plan a lesson and teach first year undergraduates. But I hit the wall that many 21 year olds do when they have studied for too long and have yet to apply their thinking in a broader society: restlessness kicked in and I abandoned it after 4 months.

Then I discovered a desktop publishing course and found my way back to visual design. I studied in an advertising agency, easily impressed by the fact that they served all their clients coca-cola in traditional glass bottles while they waited in the air-conditioned modernist oasis on Long Street. I learned to use a Mac, manipulate photographs, illustrate on a computer and how to experiment with layout. Mostly I realised that I already knew how to to think like a designer and all I was learning was a method of execution, one which would get me a job.

1997, first design job

Are you a graphic designer or a product designer? After I got my first graphic design job I discovered that I found making a product far more satisfying than producing artwork. As I improved my illustration skills I also learned production management and basic clothing design, being able to track the entire process of creating a product.

My first design job was working for a small corporate clothing agency called Creative Ideas. I designed prints and T-shirts for TV Channels, insurance companies, Pepsi-cola and many more. But I also had to oversee the entire production process from buying the fabric to monitoring the manufacturing process, to presenting the product to the client. This I found hard as a 21 year old having to instruct people twice my age on how to do their jobs to meet my growing standards. I knew enough to know I knew nothing, so I learned and my skills grew.

1998 – 2001, web design

Do you know how to code or how programmers think? I moved to London and discovered that that digital designers were expected to develop and make a usable product, which suited me far more than being an artworker. So I became a web designer and added HTML, Flash, JavaScript and Dreamweaver to my skillset.

Soon after arriving in London I studied HTML coding after hours in a little night school on Oxford Street. It was at the beginnings of the boom, and we were in high demand. I got a job as a web designer at a gaming company called Empire Interactive, designing the websites for all of their Playstation and PC games. It turns out I had little interest in computer games, but a high interest in digital design.

2001 – 2007, Creative Director

Can you balance the operational restrictions of an organisation with the needs of a consumer? Creative and UX Direction at Advocacy Online made me realise that digital strategy meant having the broadest possible knowledge of digital and business processes as well as an understanding of user experience. I had to learn creative problem solving, client management, user engagement, information architecture and how to lead a team.

Advocacy Online was a start-up new media agency. There were very few of us, but we built an award winning online software called E-activist that allowed charities to create letter writing campaigns, targeting MPs, PCTs and other local decision-makers. The client list was vast, with 60+ charities and pharmas across the UK and Canada, including WWF, Oxfam and Schering-Plough. I learned client management on my feet. My digital product design skills improved – I designed the interface, built the front-end and trained clients in how to create the most effective campaigns. It was a tough market, so my understanding of how to engage an audience through digital campaigns grew dramatically over the 6 years I worked as a creative director. UX was also my domain. By writing training manuals for the experience I had designed I had a double-whammy in user engagement education.

It was during this phase of my career that I was introduced to designing for healthcare, through pharmaceutical clients such as Schering-Plough and Allergan and patient groups such as Breast Cancer Care. We developed a platform to help doctors get funding for the drugs they needed for their patients as well as working with patient groups who wanted better funding for their chronic illness areas and to raise awareness about the issues sufferers were facing. This is my passion; improving healthcare through service and product design.

2008 – 2010, interaction design

Do you know the difference between online campaign artwork and digital design? After 6 years I decided to take a break and go back to interaction design as a freelancer. It became clear that advertising agencies were struggling to accommodate digital design thinking and focused on DM artwork instead. Although the work was too granular and campaign driven, I benefited greatly from working with creative directors of the highest caliber.

After I left AO, I was burnt out. I wanted to freelance, work 9 – 5, rediscover my love for design. But in the time that I had been off the market, designers had become artworkers, no longer developing or designing in the browser, churning out every page of a design with IAs (not experience designers) instructing them on how to put a digital flow and layout together. To make matters worse, advertising agencies were asking their concepting teams to do all of the digital thinking.

It was a brand new digital world and designers were not the beneficiaries, so I lasted 2 years creating digital campaigns before I turned my back on visual design and got back to designing experiences again. However, the time I spent working with world class creative directors sharpened my standards and disciplined my creative thinking.

2010 – 2012, getting into UX

It was in an advertising agency that I got my change to push into UX properly and design the American Express member portal. I realised that everything I had done in my career had made me a natural; I understood research, design and systems. From there, I moved to The National Lottery to work on the biggest ecommerce platform in the world. I learned fast and with the best facilities available to me.

2012 – 2019, CX, innovation and EX

It became apparent that I was a strategist by nature, one that understood and appreciated design but wanted to look at systems and bigger picture ideas about the future of each business and their customers. I have worked for some of the biggest brands in the world and observed how technology and human expectation change their worlds and the worlds of many.

Some of the most satisfying work I did in this period was working for DigitasLBi in their healthcare innovation lab. I created service design ideas and innovations for the Chinese healthcare system, working with ethnographers in China to validate research and developing an initial proof of concept and idea on how to redress the balance. It made me realise how much you can achieve with a human centred design approach while understanding the need of industries that need to differentiate.

In 2014 I moved to Australia, looking for a change and a new market in which to apply my skills. I joined DT, which became AKQA, where I built and mentored teams and worked with the biggest brands in Australia on their experience strategies. A lot of the work I did is confidential, but many of my external talks and thought pieces have been included in my blog. The most significant achievement has been working with teams in Australia, New Zealand and Shanghai to build their capability in this discipline, developing effective and understandable frameworks to provoke excellent work for clients and from their own teams.

In addition to CX and EX consulting, I am now focusing on my methodology, The Meritocracy Manifesto, as I prepare for the future of work and how to support the people who need to be active participants in their own careers.