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Philips
Global Experience Director: Jan 2019 – Present
Amsterdam & Eindhoven Area, Netherlands
Global Experience Director comes with the responsibility of the business cluster Precision Diagnosis (1 of the 4 Business clusters which make up Philips as whole). My role is to harmonise all our software solutions and make a more enjoyable, usable experience for our customers. I engage the business leaders inside the cluster to roll out the Philips design language system by helping them adopt it in their individual solution spaces. I work with the individual businesses (verticals) on their roadmaps to combine design and development activities for maximum impact in the shortest time. I work agile design (horizontally) with software architects on platform issues, and report on our software design experience to our upper management. Formally I make the bridge between the design and development world so our solutions make sense and perform at scale. I also work on creating and scaling efficiency measures across whole cluster such as our modular configurable design approach. The day to day includes, strategy, vision, design evaluations, stakeholder management and legacy management. A portion of my time remains with managing my team of Leads, Designers and UX/UI professionals.
Sr Creative & Team Lead: Jul 2016 – Jan 2019
Amsterdam Area, Netherlands
As the Sr Creative Lead in Philips for the sDLS system, (Software Design Language System) which was released at version 1 in July 2018 under my direction. During my time in this role I switched the team from waterfall to agile design, installed a review process, wrote & delivered sDLS training for all UX Leads, started support sessions for projects, worked with toolkit teams, aligned product development to visual designs, gave creative and visual direction to the projects using the design language, had the responsibility for quality and took the sDLS message to our stakeholders. I also managed outside agencies and coached several designers, all while managing the whole design eco-system and setting the vision for what sDLS could be.
Backbase
Lead & Principal of UX: Jan 2013 – Jun 2016
Amsterdam Area, Netherlands
At Backbase I lead and defined the UX strategy for Professional Services. Having grown the creative team from 0-50. I helped mature the UX design, way of working and project methodologies. I defined the UX process, user profiles, created journey maps, created flows and created visual solutions. I scaled design across platforms, created connected device design, prototyped, coached clients on design thinking, traveled and took the lead on the impact new technology had for our solutions. I was UX lead in many high profile Fintech projects for the financial industry. I was also a mentor and managed my team in the ways of UX. I talent managed 20+ UX Consultants, 20+ Front End and 10+ Back End Developers.
Cloud9 IDE
Senior UX/UI: Jul 2011 – Dec 2012
Amsterdam Area, Netherlands
I designed for Cloud9 IDE’s user experience (UX/UI) and brand, helped guide the design and development teams in building features and flows. I was also involved in the business’ future vision and collaborated with the CEO, CTO, Creative Director and Marketing to create company roadmaps. It was a flat structure, I enjoyed driving the design & product direction in a start-up, being only 1 of 2 designers. The company was sold to Amazon.
6Central Ltd
Co-Founder & Creative Operational Director: Nov 2010 – Jul 2011
Glasgow Area, UK
Here I was a Co-Founder responsible for driving the business design as well as all the pitches for VC funding. From a design POV I was responsible for the design, flow, feature implementation and UX/UI of new products. Responsible for translating marketing objectives into creative strategies, designs, and plans. I managed the graphic design, website development, collateral development, copywriting, advertising, and promotions, as well as day to day running of the office, and staff. The company was wound down when we sold it for profit.
Education
Glasgow Caledonian University
BA (hons) Applied Graphics with Multimedia Technology –
I achieved my degree with distinction Mark: 2:1. Main subjects: design studies project, multimedia development technology with interface design, business studies, graphic design, webpage development, animation, desktop publishing and 3D modelling.
City of Glasgow College
HND Digital Art & Design (Diploma) –
Certifications
Team Culture
Issued Jan 2018 by: New Heroes – Amsterdam
On Strategy : What Managers Can Learn from Great Philosophers (online)
Issued Jun 2014 by: Ecole Centrale Paris
Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies (online)
Issued May 2014 by: University of Maryland
Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence (online)
Issued Jun 2013 by: Case Western Reserve University
Gamification (online)
Issued Sep 2012 by: Penn State University
Techy Stuff
Following is a list of programs that I have a thorough and sound professional knowledge of:
Sketch, Flinto, Craft, Adobe Creative Suite 2020 including, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects, Sublime Text Editor (CSS, CSS3 & HTML5), Javascript, Balsamiq, Omni Graffle, Invisionapp, Github, Screenflow, Premier, MS Office Suite, Acrobat, Keynote, Pages, plus a few other niche softwares.
Conference Speaking
Codemotion Online Conference – Master of Ceremonies
21/22/23 October 2020
Innovation Roundtable
9th September 2020
Ladies that UX – Mentorship Program – Closing Events
8th September 2020
The next web – TWN – Couch Sessions
11th June 2020
Codemotion – Program Committee
2-3rd April 2019
DOMCODE – Meetup
26th June 2018
Codemotion Amsterdam 2017 – Conference
16-17th May 2017
Codemotion Milan 2016 – Conference
25th-26th November 2016
Ladies that UX – Meetup
9th March 2016
Topconf Bucharest 2015 – Conference
29th September 2015
Codemotion Milan 2014 (Youtube Interview)– Conference
29th November 2014
Dutch Mobile Conference
28th June 2014
UX Scotland – Conference
20th June 2014
Awards
The Hammerman Award (winner)
Prince Phillip Award (runner up)
Extras
Program Committee: Codemotion Amsterdam
Sep 2018 – Present
I help organise a tech conference every year in Amsterdam. Organising speakers, managing the design track and making sure the conference goes smoothly.
Mentor: Startupbootcamp
Sep 2014 – Present
Mentor at Startupbootcamp. I help new startups create great software products and help then through their design challenges as well as helping with people managements skills. I function as a design sounding board and guide, for entrepreneurs.
Mentor: Designlab (trydesignlab.com)
Aug 2015 – Present
One on One design coach for people learning to become designers.
365 Doodler: chrissywelsh.com
May 2017 – Present
Personal drawing blog and creativity space
Publisher: UX Newspaper
Jun 2017 – Present
All the latest news gathered and published into a newspaper for UX fans
Coder: Github
Feb 2015 – Present
I keep an online repo of all my open source projects in code.