Karl Smith

Current

Digital Strategy / User Experience Architect at Oxford University Press
Principal Consultant | Digital Architect | CSM at Paradigm Interactions

Past

Project Manager | Digital Architect at Targetbase Claydon Heeley
Principal Digital Architect at Altogether Digital
Principal Digital Architect at Engage PR

User Experience Business Analyst at Engine
Principal Digital Architect at Web Technology Group
Principal Digital Architect at Engage PR
Principal Digital Architect at Chemistry Group
Senior Information Architect at Sapient
Senior Information / Data Architect at live|work
Senior Information Architect at Haymarket Publishing
Senior Information Architect at Collective London
Senior Information Architect at WTG
Senior Information Architect at Altogether Digital
Senior Information Architect | Usability & Accessibility Consultant at Engage Group
Information Architect at Mook
Information Architect at Communique 360
Information Architect, Product Manager at Touch Local
Business Development Director | Usability & Accessibility Consultant at Activity, Interaction and Usability Limited
Business Development Director | Usability & Accessibility Consultant at Bunnyfoot
European Director at Charles Kane Associates
Associate / Senior Associate at Charles Kane Associates
Consultant and Project Manager at Various Companies, Edinburgh and London

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19 more...

Education

Napier University
Middlesex University

Recommended

17 people have recommended Karl

Connections

405 connections

Industry

Information Technology and Services

Websites

Karl Smith’s Summary

Director of Digital who fully understands digital - strategy, business analysis, solutions, architecture and online marketing able to do the job as well as talk about it. I am an expert partner for outsourced digital strategy, end-to-end definition services and project management.

I am based between London and Edinburgh and am of French/Irish heritage making cross cultural thinking a fact of life, I also have strong links with the USA.

I work as a specialist digital consultant and am involved in strategic, web, software and e-commerce projects with clients whose main focus is increasing transaction frequency and accuracy through the provision of context focused and responsive user systems. I strongly believe that 'one size does not fit all' and am able to track change and innovate to assist my clients in extending their current reach and effectiveness.

Karl Smith’s Specialties:

digital architecture, solutions architect, usability, accessibility, information architecture (+non-english), interaction design, certified ScrumMaster, agile XP, agile User Stories, HCI research, research design, eye-tracking, heuristics, web analytics, pathway analytics, client management, vendor management, business analysis, process mapping, project resourcing, product development, product management, SEO, SEM, functional specification, technical specification, research reports

Karl Smith’s Experience

Digital Strategy / User Experience Architect

Oxford University Press

(Non-Profit; Publishing industry)

May 2009 — Present (3 months)

Paradigm Interactions Client
Principal Consultant | Digital Architect | CSM

Paradigm Interactions

(Privately Held; Online Media industry)

July 2007 — Present (2 years 1 month)

Paradigm Interactions develops new models of interaction based upon our client’s audience preferences or specific needs. This will often require the creation of brand new concept derived from either our own research (contextual, business and market) or the capturing of requirements from key stakeholders, system users or target user / market groups. Main service areas are Information architecture, interaction design, usability and accessibility for best practice user experience.
Projects
- Multi-national media company digital strategy.
- Information Architecture, capturing and interpreting requirements, creating concepts, digital tender process documentation, functional specification and content guidelines for a health based information, best practice and community based website.

- The conceptualisation, site structure, wireframes for an online ecology based B2B networking community.
- Minisite for UK national educational organisation for both distance and localised learning
- British Central Government project.
Project Manager | Digital Architect

Targetbase Claydon Heeley

(Public Company; Marketing and Advertising industry)

April 2009 — May 2009 (2 months)

Paradigm Interactions Client
Agile PM / Solutions Architect on software project and IA on website project. Involving business analysis, solutions architecture, user experience, information architect and project management with team of three developers and one UI designer.
Principal Digital Architect

Altogether Digital

(Online Media industry)

January 2009 — March 2009 (3 months)

Paradigm Interactions Client
Information and interaction architecture consultancy services
Principal Digital Architect

Engage PR

(Privately Held; Public Relations and Communications industry)

February 2009 — February 2009 (1 month)

Paradigm Interactions Client
Digital information / interaction architecture services on Transport for London (TFL) project.
User Experience Business Analyst

Engine

(Privately Held; Design industry)

January 2009 — January 2009 (1 month)

Paradigm Interactions Client
Requirements capture, analysis and recommendation for website redesign consultancy services.
Principal Digital Architect

Web Technology Group

(Information Technology and Services industry)

September 2008 — December 2008 (4 months)

Paradigm Interactions Client
Confidential ground breaking British Government high volume transaction internet technology project. Concept development including research and analysis and involving CMS, data systems, endeca, accessibility, usability, interaction design and information architecture.
Principal Digital Architect

Engage PR

(Privately Held; Public Relations and Communications industry)

June 2008 — July 2008 (2 months)

Digital architecture and interaction research for local authority intranet. Huristic evaluation of digital publication for best practice redesign.
Principal Digital Architect

Chemistry Group

(Privately Held; Marketing and Advertising industry)

July 2008 — July 2008 (1 month)

Paradigm Interactions Client
Research involving heuristic review, best practice evaluation, competitor analysis, interviews and workshops with key stakeholders and users from membership based organisation. Production of mind map, site map, personas in report with recommendations for new website applications, services, targeted sections, logged in area tool and new product insights.
Senior Information Architect

Sapient

(Public Company; SAPE; Information Technology and Services industry)

May 2008 — June 2008 (2 months)

Paradigm Interactions Client
Information architecture, usability, client liaison and workshops to define best practice user experience, user journeys and task/transactions completion in an e-commerce environment with a major mobile products and services company.
Senior Information / Data Architect

live|work

(Privately Held; Design industry)

May 2008 — May 2008 (1 month)

Paradigm Interactions Client
Definition of data architecture for multi-level B2B information purchase, information architecture for structured purchase path and definition of user experience task and activates for software usability testing.
Senior Information Architect

Haymarket Publishing

(Privately Held; Publishing industry)

April 2008 — April 2008 (1 month)

Paradigm Interactions Client
Heuristic evaluations on existing architectures, personas, user experiences, tasks and usability for major brand project initiation and blue sky environment. Development of project structures including defining audiences through online demographic data sources, user activities and journeys through web analytics and monetisation valuations through a CTR, ROI investigation into advertising. Creating stakeholder buy in through meetings and objectives investigation.
Senior Information Architect

Collective London

(Online Media industry)

April 2008 — April 2008 (1 month)

Paradigm Interactions Client
Research of client competitive advantage, products and services to produce mind map for no e-learning mini-site linked to persona driven TV advertising. Pathway design, site map and story boards produced along task based flows.
Senior Information Architect

WTG

(Privately Held; Information Technology and Services industry)

February 2008 — March 2008 (2 months)

Paradigm Interactions Client
Interpreting huge client produced requirements into interaction and software maps, information hierarchies, defining key interactions and their secondary subsets, functional high fidelity prototype wireframes for six individual user personas with different application tools and tasks in .NET software project. Designing information/interaction architecture, capturing and interpreting requirements, creating concepts, documentation and information hierarchies to define new subsets of content for cross relational, global, local, and contextual navigation systems, contextual information structures and application parameters. Creating logical page progressions, activity rules and user pathways with meta search, data entry wizards and edit / delete functionality.
Senior Information Architect

Altogether Digital

(Online Media industry)

October 2007 — December 2007 (3 months)

Paradigm Interactions Client
Information Architecture, interpreting requirements documentation and content to create cross relational information structures and application parameters. Deliverables includes audience research, economic factors research and wireframes working with UI developers for software and internet developments.
Projects
Both CMS and non CMS based Banking, Trading, IFA, Film, Broadcast websites and platform software with product prioritorisation, product architecture, search and plug-in media services. Design of killer application for mobile users.
Senior Information Architect | Usability & Accessibility Consultant

Engage Group

(Online Media industry)

August 2007 — September 2007 (2 months)

Paradigm Interactions Client
Information architecture, interaction design, usability and accessibility for best practice user experience. Researching and interpreting requirements documentation and content to create navigation structures, information relationships and application parameters. Deliverables include sitemaps, wireframes, case scenarios, client documentation and functional specifications.
Projects
CMS based University, Sheltered Housing (with community) and Disability organisation websites / intranet with search, payment and plug-in media services.
Information Architect

Mook

(Privately Held; Online Media industry)

August 2007 — August 2007 (1 month)

Paradigm Interactions Client
Information Architecture, interpreting requirements documentation and content to create navigation structures, information relationships and application parameters. Deliverables include sitemaps, wireframes, case scenarios, client documentation and functional specifications.
Projects
Brand community site with Facebook and YouTube integrations and CMS based media site with plug-in media feeds and flash interface.
Information Architect

Communique 360

(Privately Held; Design industry)

July 2007 — August 2007 (2 months)

Paradigm Interactions Client
Multi-disciplinary role interpreting high-level requirements in order to design the overall user experience of interactive media. Analyses of existing portals intended purpose, objectives, audiences and content in order to devise an appropriate redesign. This includes organising content, specifying navigation and functionality, and designing the layout of user interfaces. And authoring scoping documentation, full functional specifications devising metadata schemas, intuitive user interfaces, end-user features, designing systems of user interaction to form site maps, wire-frame diagrams.
Projects
Government websites, for tourism and business development using Moss07, Travel based aggregated search option site and mini-site, for planning, search and signup interaction.
Information Architect, Product Manager

Touch Local

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

February 2007 — July 2007 (6 months)

Information architecture and research for the design, management, development and deployment of full life cycle application projects in an AGILE (XP) environment. Online integration projects including portal websites, CRM, billing, salesforce, communicator and e-commerce purchase paths. Other recent projects involve community concepts, research, architecture and UI design.
Projects
Directory and community design B2B / B2C / C2C, defining user policies, backend integration, payment pathways, user sign-up, marketing landing / mini-sites and 53 other documented projects.
Business Development Director | Usability & Accessibility Consultant

Activity, Interaction and Usability Limited

(Research industry)

April 2006 — January 2007 (10 months)

Contextual usability, interaction design, information systems, brand recognition, market research and business intelligence consultancy and testing company based in UK and USA.
Business Development Director | Usability & Accessibility Consultant

Bunnyfoot

(Privately Held; Information Technology and Services industry)

February 2006 — March 2006 (2 months)

Initial startup documentation, market sector planning and new business development. Client presentations for usability & accessibility consultancy services.
European Director

Charles Kane Associates

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Online Media industry)

November 2003 — June 2004 (8 months)

Director / Manager client liaison utilising analytics, ethnography, and user testing (market research & usability) together to evolve wireframes, site maps, flow diagrams and screen-level design for enhancing user experience and process effectiveness. Developing strategic internet/application requirements with third party application vendors.
Associate / Senior Associate

Charles Kane Associates

(Online Media industry)

February 1999 — October 2003 (4 years 9 months)

New media concept development from requirements capture through developing scenarios based upon analytics, user testing, environmental testing, task analysis, cognitive processing, heuristics, human computer interaction and user centred design. information architecture, interaction design, usability and accessibility for best practice user experience. To produce, flow control, content design, associative structures. Other areas include; e-commerce, web development, CMS, SEO, affiliate marketing, link based marketing, contextual advertising and website content author.
Consultant and Project Manager

Various Companies, Edinburgh and London

(Construction industry)

August 1989 — February 1999 (9 years 7 months)

Sample of Projects

• ASDA 90’s, new store format UK rollout
• Boarders NHS Trust - all building refurbishment inc. BGH
• Boots the Chemist, new store format UK rollout
• British High Commission - Dakar, building refurbishment
• British High Commission - Saint Petersburg, building refurbishment
• Broadgate VI, commercial development project
• Gibraltar Airport, refurbishment
• High Court - Edinburgh, new build project
• Huntarian Kelvin Gallery, building refurbishment
• Jewel House at the Tower of London
• Museum of Scotland, new build project
• NATO - Europe, time of war fleet integration project
• Natural History Museum - Taiwan, building refurbishment
• Ninewells Hospital, building refurbishment
• RAF - Germany, security systems
• RAF - Leuchars
• RBS - Project Columbus, new banking format UK rollout
• Royal Marine - Condor, accommodation refurbishment
• USAF - Edzel, security systems
• Verdent Works, building refurbishment

Karl Smith’s Education

Napier University

MSc , Interactive Technologies for e-Commerce , 2004 — 2006

My MSc was rated as the MBA of technology and covered;

Information Management, organisation and management theory & approaches to knowledge management.

Web Design and Development, user-centred approach, site management, marketing and security issues.

Database Systems, DB architecture, analysis and implementation.

Interactive Systems Design, user-centred design, usability paradigms and principles, design envisioning techniques, prototyping techniques and reporting of contexts in interactivity on HCI.

Business Transformation technology and business transformation, socio-technical systems, process mapping and activity theory.

E-Commerce, E Business strategy, ERP, CRM, Ethical/legal and regulatory frameworks, effective e-business systems development and deployment.

Very Large Databases, data warehouses, Data Mining, online analytical Processing (OLAP), web browsers and search engines, optimisation, recover and backup, database connectivity technologies.
Middlesex University

BA , Three Dimensional Design , 1985 — 1988

Interdisciplinary course producing a sound knowledge of 2D and 3D practice and workshop skills, including;
• Construction in wood, metal, plastics, ceramics and glass.
• Graphic techniques in computing with Mac2, Quantel Paintbox and CAD.
• Hands-on, creative and innovative design development in both a collaborative and individual approach.
• Responding to a real social situations or client requirement through structured projects.

Additional Information

Karl Smith’s Websites:

Karl Smith’s Interests:

Writting a book on Digital Architecture practice.

Karl Smith’s Groups:

Member of IOD (Institute Of Directors)
Professional Member Information Architecture Institute.
Professional Member International Association of Software Architects.
Professional Member Usability Professionals Association.
Professional Member Web Analytics Association.
Professional Member British Computer Society.
Professional Member Association for Computing Machinery.
Member of Foxgrove Road Club - Beckenham
Member of Boisdale Club - Belgravia