Marc Holgate - UX Designer
Email:
DOB: May 1978
I’m an enthusiastic designer with 10 years experience creating simple, compelling interfaces for mobile devices. I strive to create empathetic experiences by frequently observing real user behaviour.
Experience
UX Designer, Freelance January 2011 – Present
StickyUX Ltd, London.
Operating as a consultant in the London & Cambridge area, using a human-centered design approach. Working with large multinationals & startups.
Recent clients include Intel, Telefonica, Lifecake & O2.
Services include UX Strategy, Planning, Concept generation, Research & Evaluation (including Usability Studies), and Interaction & Visual Design.
Focus on mobile & tablet UX - creating simple, compelling interfaces for mobile devices, including iPad, iPhone iOS, Android, mobile sites.
Head of User Experience / Founder January 2007 – January 2011
Taptu Ltd, Cambridge www.taptu.com
Taptu is an award winning mobile search engine company.
Taptu's flagship app, My Taptu, is a highly visual social news aggregator for iPad, iPhone & Android. My Taptu allows you to get instant access to the latest on everything you are into – your friends, news, sports, music and more – all in one beautiful little app.
Key Tasks & Responsibilities
- Designing mobile applications & mobile websites for a wide-range of devices, including iPad, iPhone, Android, Palm webOS, Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, Samsung, Motorola
- Paper-prototypes, Workflows & Spec creation
- Producing high fidelity prototypes
- Facilitating one-to-one Usability Testing once per month in both London & NYC
- Liaising with management, engineering
- Corporate brand development
Major achievements
- My Taptu iPad, iPhone & Android app
- Taptu iPhone, Android & Palm webOS app
- Wapedia Android app (No 1 in iTunes France)
- Taptu.mobi site accessible by all mobile phones
- Music Cube iPhone game
- Music Wall Facebook app
- S60 Launcher app
- MEX Mobile User Experience Design Award winner 2008 for the Taptu.mobi mobile website
User Experience Designer – Mobile Contractor July 2006 – December 2006
Skype, London www.skype.com
Key Tasks & Responsibilities
- Interaction & Visual Design for Skype’s mobile offering
- Management of external Interaction Design teams
Major achievements
User Experience Designer, Mobile Devices December 2004 – July 2006
Yahoo Inc, London www.yahoo.com
Key Tasks & Responsibilities
- Lead Interaction Designer, Yahoo! Europe
- Paper-prototypes, Work flows & Spec creation
- User Experience representative in Strategic product discussions
- User research, including Field Studies
- User Study attendance
- Advocating a coherent, branded look-and-feel across various devices
- S60 2.x and 3rd edition, Java & Windows Mobile devices
Major achievements
Product Manager / Senior UI Designer November 2000 – December 2004
Qualcomm, Cambridge www.qualcomm.com / Trigenix http://brew.qualcomm.com/brew/en/trigenix
Key Tasks & Responsibilities
- Concept UI’s for forthcoming 2.5G and 3G mobile devices from Hutchinson 3G (now known as ‘3’)
- Interaction Design & Visual Design
- 3D and animation/transition specialist
Major achievements
Freelance Product Designer September 2000 – November 2000
Frazer Designers, West Hampstead,
London www.frazerdesigners.com
Key Tasks & Responsibilities
- Rapid Prototyping
(CAD to CNC output)
- Traditional concept
sketching
Packaging Designer February 1999 – August 1999
Coca-Cola Greater Europe, Hammersmith,
London www.coca-cola.co.uk
Key Tasks & Responsibilities
- Innovative packaging
ideas to drive revenue
- Improving POS visibility
- Seasonal promotions
- Modelled and animated
for email distribution to some of the most senior representatives of
the Coca-Cola Group
Product Designer September 1997 – December 1997
Packaging Innovation (AKA P3
Design), Notting Hill, London
Key Tasks & Responsibilities
- Product packaging
ideation
- Models initially created
digitally in 3D for aesthetic presentation
- Hand-crafted prototypes
for proof-of-concept
- CNC prototypes for
ergonomic testing
- Attended Market Research
& Focus Group process to ascertain cultural differences
Education / Qualifications
1st Class BSc. Honours Degree in Product Design Oct 1996 – June 2000
Brunel University, Surrey www.brunel.ac.uk/about
Including a 1 year work placement
at Coca-Cola Europe, and Packaging Innovation design consultancy in
London
Computer Skills
- Axure, OmniGraffle, Photoshop, Illustrator,
InDesign, Flash, 3ds Max
- HTML5, CSS, jQuery, Titanium Appcelerator,
Actionscript
- OmniPlan, Keynote
Recommendations
“Marc is a rare talent in mobile experience design. He can work well in teams as well as alone. He masters both interaction and graphics which gives him a total user experience perspective. Marc is good at listening to input, but does provide his own views. He works quickly without much fuss. I would hire him again, should I have the chance. With right jobs, nurturing and hard work he has potential to be a real star.”
Christian Lindholm (VP
of Global Mobile Products), November 2006 www.linkedin.com/in/holgate
Christian
Lindholm is well known for inventing the Navi-key user interface and
significant contributor on the creation of the S60 UI at Nokia, November
2006
“I worked with
and managed Marc during an 18 month period at Yahoo! where we both worked
on Yahoo! Go Mobile – a suite of services for smart- and feature-phones
– with myself as Product Manager, and Marc as Lead Designer. We then
worked together at Skype Mobile, developing applications for mobile
phones.
Marc is a true
inspiration. He is by far the best designer I have ever worked with:
quick yet meticulous, passionate about his ideas but flexible and humble,
self-motivated yet always a team player.
In the feedback I gathered for his performance reviews, Marc always received
glowing recommendations from peers, superiors and external agencies.
Marc is without
a doubt an enormous asset for any organisation, and I would hire him
again in a second.”
Nicholas Babaian (Product Manager,
Mobile), January 2007
References available on request.