Ben Hollinsworth
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
London, United Kingdom
Toptal member since April 28, 2020
Ben is a product designer with 14 years of experience who led the redesign of Burberry's £1 million/week eCommerce experience. He has worked for various big brands, including Skype, Jaguar, Farfetch, and The Economist. He specializes in creating apps from scratch for startups and complex back-office applications, employing lean and evidence-based methods to maximize product success.
Portfolio
Knapsac
SmartCare
PwC DnA
Burberry eCommerce
Skype Support Website
Google MapMe
Work Experience
Product and Design Consultant
orangejellyfish
- Acted as the sole UI/UX designer and product manager for Knapsac–a new personal budgeting app launching in 2020.
- Collaborated with the co-founder and designed an iOS app that we’re confident people will actually use and that we can monetize.
- Introduced a “lean startup” approach. Used this to pivot our way toward something we had high confidence in building.
Service Designer and Product Manager
The Economist
- Developed the service map of multi-department user needs for a major re-platforming initiative wherein we migrated to a new content management system to publish The Economist online.
- Spearheaded the user testing and lean release of the new content management system to publish The Economist online.
Product Design Manager (Platform)
Farfetch
- Led a team of 15 talented service and product design thinkers at the forefront of understanding and shaping our platform ecosystem.
Lead UX
TheTin
- Produced a brand new internal iOS app aimed at sharing crucial insight for PwC.
- Created a bespoke content management and extranet system to support the GoThinkBig program at O2.
Lead UX
Rapp UK
- Acted as the lead UX designer working closely with a senior visual designer. We had the support of a project director, senior account team, two senior strategists, and a 15-strong development team.
- Planned and led the design process and advised on the approach to research and validation.
- Determined and designed a minimum viable product ready for a waterfall build process within six months.
- Created a content logic prototype to test the personalized delivery of lots of content.
- Produced elaborate documentation, including a 68-page interaction specification.
Lead UX
Spark44 (Jaguar)
- Took a leading role in producing a responsive, interactive landing page for a global campaign changing the perception of the Jaguar brand.
Senior Interaction Designer
Rehabstudio (Google)
- Delivered a brand new product for Google-a playful interactive experience where you create a customized case for your Android phone.
- Built prototypes that allowed us to refine motion and iterate based on regular user testing.
Senior Interaction Designer
Skype
- Designed the next generation of support sites by mapping requirements and insights onto extensive user flows and ultimately coming up with a new responsive solution.
- Consulted on key accessibility challenges to be legally compliant.
UX Designer
Burberry
- Acted as lead UX for the eCommerce redesign project. The project was global in scope covering key markets such as China, Japan, America, and the UK.
- Coded an exact replica of new checkout and conducted multiple user testing sessions using the prototype to good effect.
Designer and Developer
Self-employed
- Provided a full service offering to small businesses–mostly marketing websites that I designed and built from scratch.
- Designed, built, and and evolved a bespoke recruitment platform.
Designer and Developer
Prolog
- Designed and developed the company intranet used by hundreds within the company, including their many call center agents.
Certifications
Web Applications Development
Open University
Skills
Tools
Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe InDesign, OmniGraffle, Balsamiq, Sketch, Adobe Illustrator
Industry Expertise
Fashion, Pharmaceuticals
Languages
HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript
Platforms
iOS, Google Chrome, Figma
Other
Early-stage Startups, Startup Consulting, User Experience (UX), User Flows, Lean UX, Lean Startups, User-centered Design (UCD), Ideation Workshops, Leadership, Workshop Facilitation, User Interviews, User Interface (UI), Web UX, iOS UX Design, App UX, Service Design, Platform Design, Design Leadership, Design Strategy, Enterprise Design, Team Leadership, UX Direction, UX Strategy, jQuery, Luxury Industry, eCommerce, UX Design, User Testing, Open Banking, Finance, Interaction Design (IxD), Prototyping, Content-first Design & Development, Content Management Systems (CMS), Data Analytics, Responsive, VoIP, Stakeholder Management, Business Strategy
Experience
- User Experience (UX) - 14 years
- Service Design - 5 years
- Lean Startups - 4 years
- Design Leadership - 4 years
- Team Leadership - 4 years
- Platform Design - 3 years
- Design Strategy - 2 years
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