I have been working as a designer and design manager, in various roles and for a number of organisations, for the last twenty years.
I trained as a product designer on Northumbria University's Design for Industry Honours Programme. When I was there it was called Newcastle Polytechnic and had (and indeed still has) a fanstastic reputation. It attracted the very best new blood. Three years above me was a reasonably talented young designer called Jonathan. He went on to become Senior VP of Industrial Design at Apple on the West Coast of The States. I went on to design bottle banks and litter bins for a French multinational in the West Midlands of the UK. Even if it wasn't quite the dream job I'd imagined when first arriving in Newcastle to study, it was incredibly valuable experience on how design adds value to a business. It's also pleasing to note that some of my work is still in production, adding value, twenty years later. Since then, it's been high volume plastic packaging, mobile telecoms, educational programmes, service innovation consultancy and a bunch of other stuff besides. If interested, you can see the rest of my experience here on LinkedIn. I hold a Masters with Distinction in Strategic Design Management from Brunel University. I have the first external examiner to the University of the Arts / Cranfield Univeristy MDes in Service Design & Innovation and have close links to the excellent work done by the good design folks at Dundee University. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, and matured in various parts of the UK, I am married with three children and live in North Staffordshire, England - a fantastically well located place for working across the UK and beyond. |