United Kingdom

UX Design

Service Design

Content Design

Keith Symonds

Senior User Experience (UX) Consultant

Interaction Design Foundation profile

Communication

Collaboration

Problem-solving

Critical-thinking

Stakeholder management

Optimal Workshop

Adobe XD

Figma

Tips for transitioning into a new role or company.

Changing roles

How to think about design career paths and what progression looks like for designers?

Design career path

Get actionable feedback on your resume or portfolio.

Resume and portfolio review

Practice HR, technical and behavioural interviews with mentors.

Practice mock interviews

Methods of prototyping and solution validation. When to use which kind of prototype (eg. Webflow, Notion, etc)

Prototyping methods and tips

Learn how to properly present your work and share ideas and opinions.

Presenting your work with impact

How to work with team members with different skill sets but towards a common goal?

Working cross-functionally

Managing being the only designer at your company and working with non-designers.

Being the only designer

Explore different generative and evaluative research techniques. User research synthesis and presentation.

Conducting good user research

We are the digital experience agency for changemakers. We are committed to delivering purposeful and positive  impact for people, planet and society, in restless pursuit of a better world.

We take pride in creating award-winning digital experiences, products and services that are measurably ethical,  inclusive, accessible, sustainable and joyful. Our changemaker clients include UNICEF UK, Breast Cancer Now, The Trussell Trust, Woodgreen, The Royal Academy of Arts, Zoological Society London, The University of Edinburgh  and Historic Environment Scotland.

Part of the TPXimpact group, a Certified B Corporation, we are a team of 130 creatives, technologists and strategists.

In my 2 1/2 years at TPXimpact, I have worked with over 20 clients including Blue Cross, The London Clinic (which received a Silver BIMA Award in the ‘Best User Experience’ category), The University of Edinburgh, and FIND, and contributed to 30+ projects across the web lifecycle, from Discovery to Continuous Improvement.

I contribute to pitches and proposals, and scope and plan project activities, through writing works orders and statements of work.

My work has spanned leading, for example guiding and mentoring The University of Edinburgh’s internal Web Publishing Platform UX team, and doing, such as fulfilling quick, best-practice feature requests for clients, using their existing pattern libraries as a starting point.

I have regularly contributed to our company-wide Accessibility Community Of Practice, conducted site audits and design reviews to identify accessibility issues, and promoted accessibility best practice across my division.

The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges.

Learn more about the RSA at: https://www.thersa.org/

In this interim role, I managed a studio of 7 permanent team members, including 4 direct line reports.

Additionally, I:

• directly delivered and oversaw client work across multiple projects, contexts and timelines

• coached and mentored colleagues in the studio and in the wider division on best practice methodologies for User Centred Design, particularly Accessibility

• supported and advised our researchers in participant recruitment

• managed multiple contractors, including managing underperforming contractors off projects

• was a hiring manager and interviewer for permanent and contractor roles

• sourced talent through my network to fill open roles

• collaborated with resource and delivery managers to resource project teams

• introduced a new tool, Maze, for running unmoderated testing at scale and pace

• built new relationships with higher education and training providers to grow and strengthen our new talent pipeline

Associate Instructor on a 12 week, twice-weekly User Experience design evening course.

Please see the recommendations section of my profile for testimonials from students that I supported.

In this role, I:

• was lead instructor for classes on Visual Design and Design Patterns and Systems

• ran one to one mentoring sessions with students

• facilitated workshop activities and breakout rooms

• co-facilitated classes, managing student questions and sharing course materials

• reviewed student homework submissions, providing constructive, actionable feedback

In my first year at Manifesto (now TPXimpact), I worked with a number of clients, including:

Blue Cross for Pets - website re-platform

• lead UX Consultant from discovery to live

• conducted user interviews

• facilitated user journey mapping workshops with the client’s internal team

• conducted usability testing of the client’s existing website

• developed a new Information Architecture and taxonomy, informed by card sorting and tree testing

• created a new site map utilising the new Information Architecture


The London Clinic - new website design and build

• lead UX Consultant from definition phase to live

• developed a new Information Architecture, informed by card sorting and tree testing

• created a new site map utilising the new Information Architecture

• produced wireframes of key pages and content types

Placed for the duration of my employment at the Valuation Office Agency at HMRC. In my time with Capgemini, my role covered Service Design and User Research.

In this role, I:

• conducted multiple stakeholder interviews with internal subject matter experts

• co-facilitated workshops with multiple highly invested stakeholders

• operated in a complex problem space, significantly impacted by legacy technology

• collaborated with multiple third part suppliers

• co-facilitated a stakeholder mapping exercise

Placed for the duration of my employment at the Department for Education (DfE). In my time at Methods, my role covered UX and Interaction Design, Content Design and User Research.

In this role, I:

• worked in a multi-disciplinary team to rapidly prototype a service in a highly ambiguous, complex and politically sensitive problem space

• designed to Government Digital Service (GDS) standards across Discovery, Alpha, Beta and Live phases

• created service prototypes in code, using the GDS Prototyping Kit, utilising HTML, CSS and JavaScript

• presented work to assessors at Service Assessments

• collaborated with Product Owners, Front-End developers, and Back-End developers in the continuous improvement of an internal, business-facing service

• conducted lean usability testing with internal sponsor users

Initially the sole User Experience Design consultant to OneWeb, a multi-year transformation of the University of Southampton’s digital estate, I worked in cross-functional teams with a strong content focus.

Please see the recommendations section of my profile for testimonials from Ayala Gordon and Andrew Lamb covering this contract.

In this role, I:

• delivered design across 7 parallel work streams, working to 2 week Agile sprints

• participated in a focussed, 5 day sprint using the Google Ventures Design Sprint methodology

• used Adobe XD to rapidly prototype and iterate several versions of key web pages for prospective undergraduate and postgraduate students, including degree programme and course search pages

• worked alongside User Researchers to define testing goals and methodologies

• analysed, synthesised and presented research findings

• mentored junior members of the client’s team, including Content Designers, UX Designers and Front-End Developers

• collaborated in blended (client team and contractor), multi-disciplinary teams with User Researchers, Service Designers, Developers (Front- and Back-End), Project and Delivery Managers, and Product Owners

The User Experience Professionals' Association (UXPA) is a not-for-profit dedicated to promoting user centred design and supporting UX practitioners.

Learn more about the UXPA at: https://uxpa-uk.org

Keith Symonds🇬🇧

About Keith Symonds

Expertise

What mentees say