Tag Archives: user experience

Appointments, Digital Transformation, News

Made Tech appoints head of digital transformation practice

Made Tech, the public sector technology delivery experts, continues to support its rapid growth and commitment to transformation with the appointment of James Buckley as head of its digital transformation practice.

With over 30 years of experience in the public sector delivering complex digital transformation across central government, local government and health projects, and having spent the last year as digital transformation principal at Made Tech, James is positioned to lead the integrated and expanded transformation practice.

Before joining Made Tech in 2021, James held digital transformation roles in the Crown Commercial Service and Metropolitan Police together with consultancy on front line and major programme delivery and public sector policy development.

At Made Tech, James has helped customers including the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), and the Department for International Trade (DIT) to navigate large and complex transformation projects by overcoming any barriers of existing infrastructure, providing organisational support and integrating improved digital and technology skills in public sector organisations.

James Buckley, head of digital transformation at Made Tech said: “Transformation can be a huge upheaval for organisations, which I’ve experienced first-hand during my years of working in the public sector. Since joining Made Tech I’ve been in the privileged position of using this knowledge to help guide others through the process of digital transformation in the most efficient and least disruptive way possible.

“I am excited to now lead the new and distinct digital transformation practice at Made Tech, building on our robust consultancy and capabilities in modernising legacy applications and work practices to offer an integrated transformation practice giving customers full end-to-end support in their journey of transformation.”

Rory MacDonald, CEO at Made Tech said: “James’s wealth of knowledge and expertise in digital transformation in the public sector aligns with our determination to provide the very best outcomes possible for our customers. By understanding the needs of the organisations we work with, we can deliver both consultancy and services that achieve the best results in a time of organisational change.”

Awards, Marketing, PR and SEO, News

Bristol creative agency, true Digital, scoops international award for Aardman website

-Fun, dynamic website singled out for Umbraco Jury’s Choice Award-

Bristol digital creative agency, true Digital, has gained international recognition for its development of the Aardman website, which was selected as the Jury’s Choice at the annual Umbraco awards.

More than 730,000 websites worldwide are built on Umbraco’s open-source content management system (CMS). Each year creative agencies and web developers from around the world gather at Umbraco’s Codegarden event in Denmark to share ideas, collaborate and celebrate their best work, with a panel of international judges selecting eleven of the best projects for the awards.

“We were blown away by the quality, beauty, and breadth of the entries this year, and we’re thrilled to cast the spotlight on eleven incredible Umbraco solutions that have been built since June 2021,” said Martin Wülser Larsen, CMO, Umbraco. “Digital agencies continue to build highly impressive sites that exemplify what Umbraco stands for: outstanding design and excellent editing experiences with easy third-party integration capabilities that give organisations exactly what they want from their sites.”

BAFTA and Oscar award-winning Bristol animation studio, Aardman, commissioned true Digital to design and build a new corporate website that would enrich the user experience, while retaining the creative and fun personality of the brand, particularly its signature ‘wonk’ style. true Digital created an interactive site using the Umbraco composable digital experience platform (DXP), which allows best-of-breed applications to be combined to create a customised experience. The new site provides a smoother user experience, with a 1,790% increase in users watching videos to the end.

Praising the Aardman site, the Umbraco Awards judges said, “This site is so playful and fun, truly encompassing the Aardman brand. As a user, you almost feel like you are in an interactive reel with the characters coming alive around you. true Digital not only created a perfect digital translation of a beloved brand, but also achieved a higher site engagement with a 200% increase in average session duration.”

Commenting on winning the Umbraco Jury’s Choice Award, Matt Sutherland, Head of Technology, true Digital said, “We’re thrilled to have our work recognised by our professional peers. Using Umbraco’s composable DXP allowed us the freedom to combine the best elements for the site and present our client with a playful, interactive website that perfectly captures the Aardman brand and contains rich interactions, and videos, without compromising on any aspect of the user experience. The Umbraco platform enabled us to create such a flexible solution and exceed Aardman’s ambitions.”

About Umbraco

Umbraco was founded in 2003 with the vision of making the complex simpler. The Danish company offers a flexible, user-friendly content management system at the core of its composable digital experience platform (DXP), which seamlessly integrates with best-of-breed third-party applications to provide unlimited functionality and customisation.

A leader in open-source tools and server applications, its success lies in the open-source model, a unique community of more than 220,000 developers and users, and a well-established partner network of digital agencies. Umbraco has 100+ employees, is headquartered in Odense, Denmark, with a branch office in Charlotte, North Carolina. For more information, visit www.umbraco.com

About true

In 2004 true was founded with the aim of being different: straight-talking, to the point, focussed on delivering long-term growth, not through chat, but through action. Creating work that was true to our clients’ needs, true to their customers’ needs and true to our own expectations. Over the years we’ve helped start-ups to become market leaders, created campaigns that have helped their clients out-perform their sectors and digitally transformed bricks and mortar businesses.

About Aardman

Aardman is an award-winning animation studio based in Bristol, known all over the world for its signature Claymation style, which features beloved characters and IP like Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run, and Shaun the Sheep. They are a proudly British business with a rich, creative history and legacy of storytelling filled with emotion, humour, and integrity.

IT Services, News

Logicalis target digital-first leaders with launch of managed Intelligent Connectivity service

London, United Kingdom – 25th April 2022: Logicalis, a global IT solutions and managed service provider, today announces the launch of Intelligent Connectivity, a solution designed to empower digital-first customers to improve business performance and user experience by operating with connectivity as a managed service.

“Connectivity is critical to success in the digital-first economy. Organisations need to have confidence in their network as the key enabler for their digital transformation efforts,” comments Michael Chanter, COO of Logicalis Group.

The Logicalis Intelligent Connectivity solution is a modern managed service, architected for user experience and provides a consumption-based, insights-driven approach to networking. The solution is built on Cisco SDWAN and SASE technology and delivers:

  • Agility and scalability – scale the network up or down based on business demand and react quickly to changing requirements.
  • Security by design – take advantage of opportunities in real time, as security is woven into the fabric of the network by design.
  • Predictable user insights – access to real-time insights into connectivity and app performance which allows for proactive management and reliable user experience.
  • Sustainability by design – digitalise and dematerialise core IT solutions, measurably reducing carbon footprint.

Chanter continues: “In a digital-first world geared towards responsible business, customers require connectivity that combines a measurable user experience with the scale and flexibility to allow them to pivot to new opportunities as they arise. Our solution allows customers to proactively optimise user experience and also obtain actionable insights to reduce their carbon impact.”

To learn more about how the Logicalis Intelligent Connectivity can support your business click here: www.logicalis.com/solutions-services/intelligent-connectivity/

News

South West consultancy Mace & Menter expands team having landed a series of user centred design projects for the NHS

Service design and UX specialist adds former Defra and Portuguese Government Service Designers to its growing team.

Bristol-based service design and UX specialist Mace & Menter has made four key appointments to its team, as it expands its innovative work with government and NHS to help improve the way people experience services.

Andrew Grimes joins Mace & Menter as Experience Design Director, from Nationwide Design Studio. He has extensive experience in user research, design leadership, content strategy and has led creative, service and experience teams for over 20 years. He’s previously led projects for National Trust, and the NSPCC as well as looking at ways to make finance more accessible.

At Mace & Menter, he’s leading work with the NHS around ways digital can be used to better support diagnosis pathways.

Cécile Maïa Pujol joins as a research and design consultant who previously worked in service design at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

She has a background in design and social research, and experience working with start-ups, global businesses, social enterprises and government agencies in both France and the UK. In previous roles she has worked on projects for Airbus and URSSAF – the French revenue and customs agency.

Filipa Costa joins as a research and design consultant who formerly worked as a Service Designer for the Portuguese Government. At LabX – Experimentation Lab for Public Administration – she worked as part of a multidisciplinary team tasked with redesigning public services.

She has also worked on projects within the Portuguese health service, designing a new user-centred process to create the Ministry of Health Strategic Plan (2020-2022), and has significant experience designing and delivering service design training.

Kyle Magee joins as a consultant specialising in user research. His focus will be on uncovering pain points and opportunities within a service to build better, more intuitive experiences.

With a background in Psychology, Kyle has previously helped organisations such as Samaritans, Sue Ryder, and the Football Foundation to increase engagement with their services.

Mace & Menter’s Managing Director, Sam Menter said: “Our goal here is to build a team of brilliant consultants with shared values who want to make a difference and work on problems worth solving.

“Our new team members are a great fit. They have the experience, passion and drive to uncover exactly what people need when they use government and NHS services, and to help our clients determine the best way to meet these needs.”

Mace & Menter’s team of user researchers, service design and UX specialists have extensive experience running public sector and health service design projects, upskilling internal teams and embedding a people-centred mindset. The company has worked with organisations including NHS, NHS Digital, Cabinet Office, DCMS, Policy Lab and Scope to help improve the way people experience their services.

Mace & Menter are currently recruiting further service designers, researchers, interaction designers and content designers on a permanent and contract basis: https://www.macementer.com/careers

Creative News, News

LAB Group’s VERJ appoints Sabrina Duda as Head of User Experience as it builds team of best-in-class experts

VERJ, LAB Group’s behavioural science specialist agency, has appointed Sabrina Duda to the newly created role of Head of User Experience following its launch last month.

Duda joins from global digital agency Valtech, where she was Senior User Experience Consultant working on client’s projects including the NHS.

In her new role at VERJ, Duda will lead the agency’s user experience offering, overseeing design, delivery and innovation and creating a bridge between research and creative implementation of insights. She will also facilitate knowledge sharing throughout LAB Group, delivering behavioural research findings to its creatives and content creators.

Duda has more than 20 years’ experience in UX roles, with particular expertise in user-centred product development and user research. She has previously held positions at the Very Group, the UK Ministry of Justice and Experian. She is also a qualified psychologist, specialising in engineering psychology and cognitive ergonomics, and a regular speaker at industry events including the World Usability Congress, HCI International and UX Crunch.

In her new position, Duda will report to Jonny Tooze, CEO, LAB Group.

LAB Group announced the launch of two specialist agency brands, Riverr and VERJ, in September of this year. The move saw it elevate its existing LAB agency brand to group-level in order to offer a single point of entry for clients.

Jonny Tooze, CEO, LAB Group, said: “LAB Group walked a narrow path six years ago by focusing our agency on joining the dots between the world of behavioural sciences and digital. We did this to unlock bigger opportunities for our clients and answer the tough questions that traditional approaches struggled with. It was a decision that paid off, and now many agencies and organisations are following this path.

“Sabrina’s hire signals the next stage of evolution for LAB Group, and we’re very excited about her joining the team at VERJ. Sabrina has incredible credentials and expertise, which will lead the next generation of digital experiences, underpinned by her brilliant background in psychology, digital, and user experience.”

Sabrina Duda, Head of User Experience, LAB Group, added: “I am very excited to be joining VERJ and LAB Group. The group’s unique human approach and its combination of creativity, behavioural science and technology make this role the perfect match for me and my background.

“As a psychologist with over 20 years of experience in UX, I bring the user perspective to everything I do. Uncovering users’ hidden psychological motives, and observing and analysing their behaviour and pain points, creates successful products that fulfil users’ needs. When user needs drive product development, you can achieve the best possible outcome for customers and businesses alike.”