Hey, Im Mark 👋
Let me tell you a little bit about me.
I’m a UX Designer in London, I pride myself in being able to create experiences and products that balance people, businesses and technology. I’ve been designing UI since my early years, making websites and logos, and drawing & creating music/mixes for as long as I can remember.
At university I was given the perfect balance of freedom and constraint in project work that taught me how to be agile and adaptive. This is where I was taught the value of balance in the four critical experience forces (design, content, tech, and business).
Even though University life is over, a big part of my life is continuous learning. I read design and design-ops books daily (DM me if you have some suggestions). I’m now UX certified through NNg , and I’m a UXPA London member so naturally, I love a good meet-up and learning from others in the community.
Why UX 🤔
I discovered UX & HCI back in 2015 when I was designing a website for a client. I couldn’t shake the feeling that what I was creating was superfluous, questions like “how do we know that this is going to be useful?” and “why does this client even need a website, do they know that their customers need it?” kept springing to mind. So I did some research and discover a little term called UX… Now, I can’t imagine working another way.
UX & HCI practices give us the knowledge we need to go out into the world and forge experiences that have real value and life-changing possibilities. I can’t wait to see what we could do with this knowledge.
What You Can Find Here 👀
If you’re confused why you’re reading a portfolio on Medium, you can read a little more about the pro’s and con’s of this approach and my experiment here.
As for what you will find in this publication, I’ve split it into two sections
Case Studies
Showcases of previous work and projects that I’ve been involved in. Some team-work some individual ventures. In here you will get the gist of the processes and the outcomes from each project but of course, these projects go so much deeper than a 5 min read, so if you have any questions about them feel free to reach out.
Thoughts & Articles
The other half of the publication is a bunch of articles where I share my knowledge from my experiences. Some of this is aimed at helping people who are looking for information, and the rest of it is a collection of thoughts and experiences that I’ve had, like book reviews and experiments.
Everything else about me ☕️ 🎶 🏃♂️🚴♂️
Of course, a person isn’t just a career choice. Here are some other things that I do when I’m not writing on post-it notes and interviewing people.
Coffee ☕️
What 21st-century designer isn’t complete with a coffee obsession? While studying at university I worked in numerous coffee shops and really begun to appreciate the artistic and precision qualities required to make a quality product. Know somewhere with next-level coffee in London? Send me a message!
Music 🎶
A big part of my life has been about music. I took a long time in my late teens really exploring the music technology space. I created music, recorded bands, managed live music setups and mixed music in clubs. Although this is now a less prominent part of my life I still DJ and make music occasionally. You can catch some live streams that I did on my YouTube channel.
Running & Cycling 🏃🚴♂️
During lockdown I took up running around a very local park and discovered that running is more than cardio exercise, it can be a mindfulness exercise too. I also began to understand how technology plays a part in so many athletes lives, my takeaway so far is that a lot of the tools we use are still very immature and there’s a lot of work to do in this space.
While working in the cycling industry I jumped in the deep end of the culture and became a little obsessed with cycling. I did the Cancer Research UK 300 mile challenge in 2020 (adding an extra 100 miles and a trip to Brighton) raising £1000 total. I still cycle regularly and get competitive with myself on Strava segments.
If you‘re interested, you can catch me on Strava.
