Helping teams understand their users, driving customer behaviour through research and design.

I worked with Shippit through a challenging time for both the software and logistics industries. Despite the disruption of global supply chains due to COVID-19, snap lockdowns and closed stores saw a significant increase in online shopping. Logistics providers struggled to meet demand, with record volumes and staff shortages resulting in significant network congestion. Soon after, international instability, high inflation, and fears of a recession lead to retail sales falling sharply. As a multi-carrier shipping solution, Shippit played a critical role in supporting ecommerce companies and carriers in addressing these challenges.

Working across Shippit’s Customer Experience and Product functions, key responsibilities / achievements include:

• Conducted research studies to understand user needs, behaviours, and motivations, socialising insights amongst product squads and the broader organisation.
• Collaborated with stakeholders to prioritise, form hypotheses, and validate opportunities impacting the customer experience.
• Contributed to the development of design ways of working and played an active role mentoring and guiding product designers in regular team and one on one sessions.
• Established a research repository (Dovetail) as a central source of customer insight, and initiated a 'field visits’ program providing Shippit staff the opportunity to visit customers in the field (ultimately adopted as BAU as part of Shippit’s employee onboarding program).
• Founding member of sustainability working group, tasked with forming Shippit's sustainability strategy, leading to the company being shortlisted for several awards, including AFR Sustainability Leaders 2023 and VIP Sustainability Awards 2023.

After joining We Discover on a short-term engagement, I went on to lead a number of client projects and contribute to key team and business development activities.

• Lead research engagements across a variety of clients, including TAFE NSW (an evaluative research study of a selection of virtual reality (VR) learning materials developed by the TAFE NSW Digital Learning Lab, resulting in a video case study earning TAFE NSW a Platinum Medal for Gaming, Simulation, and Immersive Learning at the internationally recognised Learning Impact Awards), Zip Money, and Isentia.
• Contributed to business development activities, including RFP responses, presentations, and client engagement (for example, led RFP response resulting in We Discover’s appointment as innovation and digital product partner to the Infrastructure and Sustainability Council of Australia).
• Provided as-needed support and guidance across a range of client projects, contributed to the ongoing development of We Discover’s ways of working and employee professional development.
• Guest presenter: “User Research 101” Global Goals Jam 2020 (a two-day worldwide event where creative teams work together on local challenges related to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals)

Oppo Studio was a user experience research and design studio founded in pursuit of a particular type of client relationship - the word Oppo means 'friend' or 'colleague'. We had the opportunity to develop our ways of working in line with this goal, collaborating with friends and colleagues who shared our values.

• Lead user research and design engagements with clients like UNICEF, RedBalloon, and Rent a Space.
• Built and managed a small team of product designers including recruitment, performance management, and professional development.
• Business development activities including networking and industry engagements, content development, strategic partnerships, client engagement and targeted outreach.
• Worked on meaningful projects with good people, paid our bills, closed early (most) Fridays to enjoy life.

Umano - one of our longstanding clients at Oppo Studio - is a digital coach for software development teams. Presenting daily insights from the teams existing tools, Umano helps teams by playing to their strengths, spotting hidden weaknesses, and promoting potential.

In late 2018, we made the decision to stop taking on new projects, join the Umano team and focus on bringing their vision to life. As Umano's User Experience Lead, I am responsible for supporting product strategy with context and insight into user needs and objectives, generating and validating solutions through iterative prototyping and user feedback, and supporting the development team.

As Velvet Onion's Director of User Experience, I was responsible for establishing the user experience strategy with clients including IAG (NRMA, CGU, SGI), Disney Parks & Travel (AU/NZ), the Department of Education, ING Direct, and Isentia, and leading a small team of designers to delivery.

In addition to project work, my role involved business development, defining and evolving Velvet Onion's design methodology and individual components such as kickoff workshops and design sprints, and working with individual team members on their professional development.

At VO Academy (now Academy Xi), I had the opportunity develop and lead a 12 week (part-time) user experience course. The course was presented as an introduction to user experience design, providing students with an opportunity to learn fundamental user experience principles and concepts, through to hands-on skills.

This involved development of course content and supporting materials, presenting course content, and mentoring students through their own projects.

As a Senior User Experience Designer with CBA, I was part of a small team exploring the future of self-service in financial services. The project - which ultimately resulted in the redesign of the self-service experience available through the Groups ATM fleet (750,000 transactions per day at it’s peak during 2014, including withdrawals, deposits etc.) - began with a broad research piece exploring the role of the branch network in the lives of the Groups customers.

Working closely with product managers, business analysts, UI designers, and developers, I was responsible for research and design across a number of projects aimed at moving MYOB's legacy accounting software to the cloud. This involved exploratory research (interviews, contextual enquiry) with accountants and other subject matter experts, prototyping and concept validation, and supporting the project through to delivery.

Inclusive UX specialises in the research and design of accessible user experiences. As a member of the Inclusive UX team, I worked on a range of projects, including the creation of an accessibility compliance framework with the one of Australia's Big 4 banks based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), and an accessibility review and testing of a leading Australian supermarkets online shopping experience.

As Booodl’s User Experience Designer & Business Analyst, I was responsible for the design, documentation, testing and continuous improvement of Booodl’s User Interfaces across multiple devices. The role spanned the development of the platform from concept to a live product.

As a member of CBA’s User Experience team, I was responsible for the detailed UX design for major projects/initiatives covering commbank.com.au, netbank.com.au, as well as a suite of apps for iPad, iPhone, Android and Windows 7. This included overseeing research, detailed design and implementation through the build to launch.

After joining CBA as part of the Graduate Program, my role as a Business Analysts involved gathering and researching business requirements, and providing analytical support for the development and maintenance of IT systems, such as netbank.com.au