About me
I’ve been designing and delivering product interfaces, applications and digital services for companies and organisations of all sizes since 2002.
I began my career in Italy at Electrolux’s design office where I worked with an international team on prototypes and UI designs for the company’s range of products. This experience allowed me to move to London in 2005 and start a job at Nokia’s UK office. There I worked on a range of projects from gallery designs for the Nseries range of devices, through to concepts for Nokia’s first touchscreen handset.
After four years at Nokia I continued to work in the area of mobile devices at the startup-sized INQ Mobile, followed by a period at Orange. In 2011 I decided to begin contracting and worked at several design agencies, including BERG and AKQA. I worked on a wide variety of projects, from game design to interactive museum exhibits.
In 2013 I began working at the Ministry of Justice as the Head of Design for the newly-formed Digital team. As well as managing a team of designers I was also able to carry on as a practising designer on a number of services.
I moved back to Yorkshire in 2015 and started working at the Department of Work and Pensions in Leeds where I was involved in a number of public-facing services. In April 2017 I began contracting for the Canadian company Syscon Justice Systems and began working in the HMPPS (His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service) involved in prison-related projects. I have been working on a modern replacement for the aging NOMIS (National Offender Management Information System). The services, collectively known as Digital Prison Services (DPS), are being designed and built to modern standards using GDS patterns and are made fully accessible.
In 2022 I transitioned to working directly for HMPPS as a contractor and began helping with a redesign of the main prisoner profile in DPS as well as a newer version of the service home page. At the same time I took the opportunity to work part-time so I could experience working on other government services. In 2022 I helped Farsight Consulting on a project for the Department of Education and later I started working on a service at GDS (Government Digital Service) that was focused on the exchange of personal information between departments.
I’ve worked as a UI designer, Interaction designer and most recently Service Designer. I’m comfortable being involved from the early conceptual role of a project all the way through to its final implementation alongside developers. I have been working with agile delivery teams since 2008. I’ve also developed my visual design skills over the years.
Experience
Senior Service and Interaction designer (contract)
Government Digital Service (GDS)
November 2022 to present
I have been working part-time (alongside my contract at HMPPS, below) on a team creating designs related to digital identity. I previously worked on a service that was aiming to exchange data between government departments.
Senior Interaction Designer (contract)
HMPPS Digital – Ministry of Justice
June 2022 to May 2024
In 2022 I transitioned to working directly for HMPPS His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service) as a contractor and began helping with a redesign of the main prisoner profile in DPS (Digital Prison Services) as well as a newer version of the service home page. At the same time I took the opportunity to work part-time so I could experience working on other government services.
Lead Interaction Designer (contract)
Farsight Consulting – Department for Education
April 2022 to October 2022
I helped to design various services for prison staff, including a new replacement for NOMIS, the main system they use to manage prisoners day to day. I worked with frontline staff, prisoner governors, headquarters and policy staff to ensure the new services meet all needs. I made over 120 visits to prisons to research and demonstrate our work.
Lead Interaction Designer (contract)
Syscon Justice Systems
April 2017 to June 2022
I helped to design various services for prison staff, including a new replacement for NOMIS, the main system they use to manage prisoners day to day. The new service, DPS (Digital Prison Services), is modern, responsive and accessible. I worked with frontline staff, prisoner governors, headquarters and policy staff to ensure the new services meet all needs. I made over 120 visits to prisons to research and demonstrate our work.
Lead Interaction designer (contract)
Department of Work and Pensions – Digital Team
November 2015 to March 2017
In October 2015 I left London after a decade and moved back to York with my family. I wanted to stay working on government projects and was lucky to be able to join the digital team in the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) based in Leeds. I worked as a lead designer across several projects. One of the projects was helping to improve the way benefits are given to those that need them the most and the other was a large-scale internal project to help staff who are dealing with benefit claimants.
Head of Design (contract)
UK Ministry of Justice – Digital team
April 2013 to October 2015
I led a team formed to design digital services for a department with the largest digital team in government working with agile methods. The wider team featured a range of specialists including developers, user researchers, product service managers and content designers. We work closely with the Government Digital Service to ensure consistency and high standards.
I was responsible for a team of 11 designers who each work inside project teams. I ensured they were able to focus on their projects, while working to the latest design standards through regular catch-ups, ‘show and tells’ and shared tools.
Crucially I was able to stay hands-on, and was lead designer on several projects including:
- Prison visits booking – a nationwide service to allow people to book in to see relatives or friends in prison.
- People finder – an internal staff directory used by 80,000 people in the Ministry of Justice to find colleagues and learn more about where they work in the organisation.
- I’ve also worked on plenty of smaller visual design projects for the department, including presentation decks for government ministers, mission patches to mark project milestones and much more.
Senior UX / UI designer (contract)
Shannonigans Ltd
September 2011 to present
Various contract roles as detailed on this page.
Senior UX Designer (contract)
Tribal Worldwide
January 2013 – April 2013
Windows tablet retail app and Android tablet retail app. Created IA for retail site and prototyped app in Axure.
Lead designer (contract)
BERG
October 2012 – January 2013
Lead the design during a second phase of work on a sensor-focused mobile game for large technology company.
Lead designer (contract)
AKQA
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Designed a concept for a Nike social media dashboard.
Senior UX Designer (contract)
National Maritime Museum
July 2012 – August 2012
Created a concept for an interactive exhibition located inside the main hall of the museum.
Lead designer (contract)
BERG
May 2012 – July 2013
Created design concepts for a connected product. Started design on the first phase of a sensor-focused mobile game for large technology company.
Interaction Designer (contract)
Orange (now EE)
September 2011 – May 2012
- Worked as part of a team creating UI patterns for mobile, tablet and web. From initial design iteration through to pixel-level specification of final graphics.
- Designed web-based and tablet applications in conjunction with internal and external teams, including email clients for iOS and web.
- Created designs for the Orange home page.
- Reviewed third-party applications, specifying design changes and worked with external agencies to create Orange-specific versions.
Interaction Designer
INQ Mobile
May 2009 – September 2011
- As a member of the UI design team I worked to concept, design and deliver mobile UI solutions in close cooperation with graphic designers, engineering and marketing.
- Focused on the Android platform and working on designs for core UI features as well as stand-alone applications.
- Worked with external teams to help with the delivery of further key applications and UI elements.
- Created in-depth flow documents (using Omnigraffle) as well as developing polished concepts in Illustrator and Photoshop to present to management and external clients.
Senior UI Designer
Nokia – Services and UI Design
January 2008 – May 2009
Worked as a member of a global team on the creation of new services for Nokia users across multiple platforms as well as core product interaction across all business sectors within Nokia.
UX Designer
Nokia – Explore business group
October 2006 – December 2007
- Collaborated with industrial, graphic and material designers on a range of products and their related user experiences and GUIs.
- Created designs for the camera and gallery UIs including final detailed implementation alongside software engineers.
- Continued in-depth development of touch-based interfaces.
- Designed simple, intuitive and context-sensitive menu structures which continue to evolve over several generations of products.
- Used Macromedia Flash and relevant software to make detailed simulations for usability testing.
- Created graphic layouts, storyboards, symbols and icons for use within projects.
UX Designer
Nokia – Insight and Innovation
August 2005 – October 2006
- Worked on blue sky concepts and ideas for next-generation UI, influencing other teams within Nokia Design.
- Co-operated with various design teams to design and develop forward-thinking user experiences across multiple product touch-points.
UI Designer
Electrolux
Pordenone, Italy – February 2003 – July 2005
- Worked as a member of a team of interaction designers in the European design office of a multinational major appliance company.
- Co-operated with engineering and other core business areas to create user-friendly interface solutions across a wide range of consumer products.
- Worked on Connected Home projects.
Skills and expertise
- Interaction design
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Service design
- User-centred design
- UI design
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Product interface design
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Mobile interface design
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App design
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Visual design
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Concept creation
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Agile team working
Typical output
- Concept designs
- Prototypes
- Wireframes (if necessary)
- Screen design and layouts
- Visual assets
- User journeys, process maps, system flows
- Personas
- Sitemaps
- Pattern libraries
Interests
- Film poster design and collecting (see my site filmonpaper.com)
- Game design
- Cycling
All content © copyright Shannonigans Design (Eddie Shannon) and the companies featured in the work examples.