Where To Begin?
To get to the point where I am right now, working in Product Design has taken quite a few years in college, incorrect decisions that diverted my path and some good old fashioned luck. I am, and always will be an entrepreneur at heart and it is from that I believe my interest grew in how we interact with everyday things.

I used to come up with a lot of ideas and concepts to improve the way we do this, not realising that I was actually doing an element of user experience design. This was the main reason for me choosing to earn a masters in this field and in 2015 I got my MSc in Interaction Design, which was a very intensive but rewarding year of research and design.

I also studied for a degree in Journalism and Communications, this was a tremendous learning experience and even though I did not know it at the time, I believe that this has also proven to be highly beneficial in the UX field. Communication skills, for a variety of reasons can add to a UX designer due to the nature of the role, liaising with clients, liaising with development teams in different parts of the work, content creation.

Entrepreneurship has also taught me many things that I am applying to my career. I have been involved in some projects from the ground up that have resulted in me going to the US and UK, pitching and becoming involved in the start up ecosystem. This is an experience that is so challenging and varied that you could not teach it in a classroom. Engaging with high level people about projects is truly informative and has added undoubtedly to my potential both as a UX designer and entrepreneur.

Gary in New York
Makeup of a Designer

I believe that product designers can bring a wide range of different backgrounds and experience to the table, in a package that can make them all different and unique, but still equally valuable.

For example, my background consists of an early obsession with Da Vinci, which resulted in my honing a skill for sketching product ideas and inventions. This added to a very natural entrepreneurial mindset, which resulted in a mind that is rich with ideas and a positive mindset on how to create and build them.

Add in a qualification and time spent in my early twenties as an electrical technician, which really did build a problem solving skillset for me, my days were just filled with studying electrical diagrams to fix and solve issues in large manufacturing environments .

Followed by a degree in journalism, where I learned the importance of copy writing, research, team communication and brainstorming for ideas and interviews. In addition to sharpening my design skills by designing magazines and newspapers

And onto a masters degree in interaction design that brought all of the above together to endure a long year of study, research and learning a designers mindset. A year that resulted in my creating a thesis project that would go on to become a startup company. Again bridging the worlds of UX and entrepreneurship

The almost 8 years now I have spent working professionally in product design has benefitted so much from all of the above experiences I have had, giving me my own unique perspective on the day to day of our job.

What Excites Me
Gary in VR

Me designing on Sketch, while inside a VR coffee shop

The future of my career and more widely, our industry is something that really does excite me. I have always had a passion for VR and AR, but that has increased significantly over the past couple of years.

I am currently studying virtual reality development and 3D design in my evenings as I truly believe this is where our industry will transition into very soon. That has already begun in 2020/2021 due to the pandemic the world is going through. I have already implemented VR productivity tools into my team, those of us lucky enough to have headsets, there are some great products out there currently for team productivity.

I have used some of these tools for meetings, whiteboarding, design discussions and more and it does feel amazing to be connected to your colleagues even while remotely working.

Not only Have I used VR for work related communication, but I have also started designing in VR which can be so different to traditional 2D design, both from the actual design perspective of 3D elements but also, from an experience level. It is extremely motivating to be at the beginning of what will be a huge surge of mixed reality opportunities in the future.

2015 - 2016

MSc (Hons) in Interaction Design

This masters program focuses on interaction and user experience design. It is an intense 12 month program culminating in creating a research thesis in this field. My research work will look at user experience in retail and I will create a product which I believe will improve that.

User experience designers are responsible for improving user engagement with websites, mobile apps and software. They study the behavior of users and then use methods like A/B testing to see how changes in the design influence user behavior.

2010 - 2014

BA (Hons) in Journalism and Communications

This degree program provided a great base for me to build my UX career from. Providing me skills such as digital media training, design and human interaction.