Craig Smith

Experience

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  4edge Ltd

  May 2004 - Sept 2012

  My main responsibilities were to implement the prepress operations and supervise the machine minders on a daily basis. I liaised closely with the print and finishing supervisor in the production department. My objectives included planning and scheduling workflow and resources in order to ensure an efficient, cost-effective and professional delivery. Quality control of output was paramount and I always look to maintain and improve standards.At all times I prioritised the job input queue and allocate resources to ensure the overall business requirements were met. I had to be both dynamic and flexible in the role as well as having a level-headed approach as there were many factors which can impact daily production, e.g. unscheduled jobs arriving on the queue, printer availability, and stock issues. Show less My main duties were to operate the front end of the digital printing process by means of file management, the ability to set up artwork correctly as well as clear communication between both colleges and customers. On a day-to-day basis I would apply the following ways of approaching jobs;Scanning digital images, retouching covers to re-create the artwork, laying out artwork to plan how a finished page will appear (imposition), using desktop publishing software packages to set out the artwork, images and text to match the customers brief, proofreading and checking the whole document for accuracy and visual impact, preparing the item for reproduction in a format specified by the printer (reprographics), file naming conventions, file management and sending jobs to the presses. Show less

  • Prepress & Print Supervisor

    Jul 2010 - Sept 2012

  • Prepress Operator

    May 2004 - Jul 2010
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  Urban Design & Print

  Jun 2004 - Jul 2004

  Junior Graphic Designer

  I underwent a three-week Trident work experience course whilst in my final year of Secondary School. The scheme helped me learn and gain real-life experience through interesting and relevant work experience. My placement was at a local Graphic Design & Lithographic Printers where I was placed amongst the design team. I learned how to operate a Macintosh Computer system along with the basics of Adobe Photoshop and Quark Xpress. The highlight of my experience was designing a promotional flyer for one of the company’s paying clients. Show less

• 

  Rather Nifty

  Feb 2011 - Oct 2019

  Freelance

  In my spare time, I work freelance under my Rather Nifty alias. My work includes; logo design, branding, graphic design, website design, front-end development, WordPress development and general design for print work.I haven't pushed Rather Nifty, as I've kept it solely with the aim of doing work for friends and family. It also provides me with the opportunity to work on different mediums that I wouldn't usually get a chance to work on at my full-time job.

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  University Centre at Wakefield College

  Sept 2012 - Aug 2014

  Foundation Degree of Arts (FdA) in Web Design

  I had a complete career change in 2012, where after 8+ years in the print industry I decided I wanted to pursue a career in the web design industry. After 4 months of research, I moved to Yorkshire and enrolled as a full-time higher education student at the University Centre Wakefield, studying the foundation degree of arts in web design.I graduated from the course in November 2014 with a 2:1 (Merit), narrowly missing out on 1st by 3 marks.

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  Statement Agency Ltd

  Aug 2013 - Nov 2014

  Designer & Front-end Developer

  I previously worked full time as a Designer & Front-end Developer at Statement– a full-service digital design agency based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. My day to day activities included producing desktop screen designs for client websites, developing websites to W3C standards, cross-browser compatibility testing, as well as design for print work and branding.I worked closely alongside the studio manager to come up with fresh design ideas and solutions whilst working to a creative brief. This was my first job in the web design industry and gave me a great insight into the industry itself and valuable experience working in an agency environment. Show less

• 

  Cognitran

  Nov 2014 - Oct 2019

  UX/UI Designer

  I previously worked as a UI/UX Designer at Cognitran, a software development company based in Hatfield Peverel, Essex. My role was split between user interface (UI) design, user experience (UX) design and front-end development. I gained experience managing 2 designers, as well as leading the design team in an agile working environment.During my time at Cognitran, I worked on a wide range of projects, all for large multi-national clients. The tasks that I worked on range from single web page re-designs, to designing and developing the company website, to designing entire systems from scratch. Show less

• 

  Taurus Insurance Services Ltd

  Oct 2019 - Oct 2021

  UX/UI Designer

  Worked in-house for a lifestyle insurance provider who specialise in phone, gadget and travel insurance. Responsible for the entire design process end-to-end and design delivery across their three core brands and sister company. Work included website redesigns, responsive design, branding, logo design, icon design, conversational UI, HTML email template design and build, front-end web development, user centred design.

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  Financial Times

  Nov 2021 - Jan 2022

  Midweight UX/UI Designer

  3-month discovery project exploring how we could enable FT to help more publishers in their journey towards digital growth, especially on matters related to subscriptions, conversion and retention. With the goal of validating whether customers would buy the solution and whether it was a viable service that could fit alongside their other offerings and existing ecosystem.

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  AND Digital

  Nov 2021 - now

  I joined AND Digital and Club Hamilton back in November 2021 as an L3.2 UX/UI Designer. AND Digital is a technology consulting and digital transformation company that helps organizations accelerate their digital capabilities. They focus on delivering software solutions, improving digital skills, and enabling companies to better leverage technology. Their services include software development, product design, data and analytics, and cloud services. They also provide training and coaching to empower teams with the skills needed to innovate and succeed in the digital age. AND Digital works closely with clients to deliver both short-term project outcomes and long-term digital capabilities.My client engagements;• Tesco• Robert Walters• Financial Times Show less

  • Senior UX/UI Designer

    Sept 2023 - now

  • Midweight UX/UI Designer

    Nov 2021 - Sept 2023
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  Robert Walters

  Mar 2022 - Jun 2022

  Midweight UX/UI Designer

  4-month engagement working for a leading recruitment consultancy. Specifically working on the delivery of their new internal recruitment platform where they manage candidates through the pipeline. As well as the redesign and improvement of the company's design system, along with associated UX practices and documentation. Conducted an audit, UX review, and competitor analysis to identify key problems and areas for improvement. The primary focus was on enhancing usability and ensuring the design system is accessible and effective for both designers and developers and that it supports both ongoing and future projects at Robert Walters. Show less

• 

  Tesco

  Jul 2022 - Dec 2022

  Midweight UX/UI Designer

  6-month engagement working for the UK’s largest supermarket. Working in the Supplier Onboarding team, working on their flagship internal product called Supplier setup. Supplier setup is a Tesco internal application used to onboard new suppliers into Tesco. So that they can supply their products through Tesco stores. It has been designed to replace the legacy approach to onboarding new suppliers which relied heavily on manual processes including Excel, email and offline documents. The application aims to create one centralised platform where we can manage suppliers through the system end-to-end and be fully compliant from an audit and due diligence perspective. Show less

• 

  Lloyds Banking Group

  Jan 2023 - Oct 2023

  Senior UX/UI Designer

  10-month engagement working for one of the UK’s largest banks. Initially, working as part of the Digital Products lab, where my primary focus was the launch of a new B2B/B2C product called Document Share. Further extensions gave me exposure to working on conceptual designs for the Tooling Services Portal as well as another in-house product named ID verify.Utilised reusable components and design systems to improve consistency and reduce time to value through delivery of designs. Created detailed Figma ways of working to enable the file to be easily understood and allow the file to scale in size. Provided comprehensive onboarding documentation in Figma and Confluence and shared it with the team. Delivered a presentation on the future vision for the lab. Facilitated a UX workshop with the senior PO and design leads.Drove team/project OKR setting - Created an initial proposal for several OKRs to be discussed. Delivered a presentation on the importance of measuring performance. Facilitated a workshop with the PO and BA to agree on the OKRs. Collaborated with Senior Designers to improve how XD can help teams solve problems. Utilised the double diamond process to encapsulate research, synthesis, ideation and delivery. Used design sprints & rapid prototyping to test concepts with users. Show less

• 

  WTW

  Oct 2023 - Nov 2024

  Senior UX/UI Designer

  13-month engagement working for Willis Towers Watson a large global advisory, broking and solutions company. Their services include risk management, insurance brokerage and employee benefits. Initially working as a Senior UX/UI Designer on the project focused on the design system, I later became the Design Lead for the Policy & RFP team. Responsible for managing a team of 8 designers across multiple work-streams in a fast-paced challenging environment. We were tasked with creating their new internal Health & Benefits platform. To deliver a streamlined and unified experience for WTW H&B colleagues; empowering them to elevate the focus they have on client relationships, spend less time on repetitive, and arduous tasks; and give them confidence in the tools and data they're using. Ultimately improving the lives of WTW people, enabling them to spend more time on things that drive value, to better serve both colleagues and clients.Actions include workshop preparation, planning and facilitation. Early conceptual design exploration. Design system planning, consulting, governance and leadership. Design delivery as part of feature teams, stakeholder management, design thinking, working in design sprints, concept and usability testing; planning, executing and reporting as well as various design playback and business alignment sessions. Show less

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  Avoca Insurance Holdings

  Nov 2024 - now

  Senior UX/UI Designer