Our People: Craig Wetherall, Lead Product Designer

Tell us a little bit about yourself

I live on the edge of the Peak District, a national park that isn’t actually full of peaks. It’s named after an ancient tribe called the Peaklanders or Peakrills who inhabited the area in the 6th century.

From an early age, I wanted to direct movies. However, unlike today, there were no tools I had access to to make this a reality. I ended up doing technical drawing at school, art and design, photography and digital multimedia design leading up to my first professional role in 2002, creating interactive CD-ROMs for disadvantaged children. A lot has changed in the world since then…

What do you do at Truepill?

My role at Truepill is to oversee our UK product design work, but also work across the wider global team. This can involve leading a project or just chipping in to help something across the line. I’ll feed in to anything from process and recruitment, to product design, branding and strategy.

Before Truepill, I primarily worked in agencies, across digital and advertising, working with large clients such as Sony and Facebook — but also at smaller, local levels.

Why did you choose to work at Truepill?

I saw a rich potential at Truepill. I joined at a time when the UK team was growing quickly. Now, we are integrating with our US colleagues and spreading the net on what we work on.

Healthcare is a fast-growing, fast-moving industry — the sector’s direction one day can be completely different the next. But what’s certain is that, globally, technology is changing how people engage with it — particularly since COVID-19 hit.

What makes working at Truepill unique?

As we all struggle to come to terms with the changed world around us, Truepill is in a special position to provide not just a public service, but a revolutionary approach; one that could affect how we engage with healthcare in many places around the globe. There are not many places where you are genuinely on the cutting edge.

What inspires you?

Personally, being a good father to my children and watching them grow constantly inspires me. Professionally, contributing to products that people use and hopefully enjoy using, with services that help make people’s lives a bit easier, is richly rewarding.

What most surprised you when you started working in healthcare?

We have a very different healthcare system in the UK and understanding the complexities of US healthcare is like learning a new language. Indeed, some recent usability testing results revealed gaps in local knowledge around the intricacies of the system. By removing some of the complexity, I’m hoping the work we do within our team enables people to have a better experience.

What do you think the future of healthcare holds?

As people become more comfortable with technology being a part of healthcare, I expect it will become as common as purchasing a product from Amazon. Yes, there will be items that still require doctor approval, and rightly so of course, but for many items there is a bureaucracy, cost and delay that simply isn’t needed with modern digital tools.

As our healthcare struggles with COVID-19, it’s not just a “nice-to-have,” it’s now a “must-have,” to alleviate some of the daily pressure our key workers are facing.