Independent User Experience Designer, Agile Project Manager and Digital Production Consultant
Bristol, United Kingdom
- Current
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- User Experience and Digital Production Consultant at Pixie Labs Ltd (Self-employed)
- Founder/Organiser at Bristol SkillSwap
- Past
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- Digital Project Manager at Future Publishing
- Head of User Experience at Semantico
- Production Consultant at Sift
- Web Developer at Sift
- Marketing Officer at University of the West of England
- Managing Director/ Marketing Director at ShowBiz Media
- Marketing Consultant at Becta (British Education Communications and Technology Agency)
- Marketing Manager at Tyrolit
- Marketing Manager at Promac Window Machinery Sales
- Education
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- University of Derby
- Recommended
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13 people have recommended Laura - Connections
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202
connections
- Industry
- Internet
- Websites
Laura Francis’s Summary
I have over 10 years experience designing and delivering digital projects. Most recently I have focussed on User Centred Design, Information Architecture, Interface Design, Usability and Accessibility on the web. I am also experienced in implementing agile project management in a production environment, and integrating user centred design into an agile development environment.
I am a natural born organiser, which lends my talents towards project management and production. I am also really excited about the web, web design and development and what the future of the industry holds.
My background in marketing I think gives a rounded view of projects as holistic not just discrete pieces. Marketing is also in its purest form really user focussed so a transition to user led design process for digital felt like a natural transition.
Laura Francis’s Specialties:
Usability, User Experience Design, User Interface Design, User Centred Design, persona creation, workshop facilitation, Information Architecture, project management, production management, agile, SCRUM, XP, XHTML, CSS, Accessibility, Web Standards, Marketing strategy and planning, advertising buying, print production.
Laura Francis’s Experience
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User Experience and Digital Production Consultant
Pixie Labs Ltd (Self-employed)
(Self-Employed; Myself Only; Media Production industry)
March 2008 — Present (8 months)
I've just started my own business offering my services as a consultant on User Experience Design, particularly User Centred Design in conjunction with iterative (Agile) development processes, and Digital Production, project management and production using iterative (agile) methods.
I can work in house producing and designing projects or act as a consultant and help you with how to implement iterative methods in your organisation.
Clients include: Future Publishing in Bath and Semantico in Brighton. -
Founder/Organiser
Bristol SkillSwap
(Non-Profit; Internet industry)
November 2005 — Present (3 years)
Started Bristol SkillSwap in Bristol based on the model created by Andy Budd. So far its been really successful in providing training opportunities for those in the internet business in the Bristol area.
"For the community, by the community" -
Digital Project Manager
Future Publishing
(Internet industry)
2008 — 2008 (less than a year)
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Head of User Experience
Semantico
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Online Media industry)
December 2007 — March 2008 (4 months)
Moved to Brighton to try it out, didn't really work out. Semantico was great. I designed a User Centred Design process for these guys and developed 2 projects using it.
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Production Consultant
Sift
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Media Production industry)
March 2007 — December 2007 (10 months)
Managing the delivery of websites on Sift Unity CMS platform, inlcuding updates and amends to existing sites and new site builds. Consultation for clients on Information Architecture and Design of their sites and the configuration of the Sift Unity CMS to deliver the best solution for them.
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Web Developer
Sift
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Online Media industry)
May 2006 — March 2007 (11 months)
CSS, XHTML development on the Sift CMS platform. Standards, Usability and Accessibility are my main interests, as well as producing nice code!
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Marketing Officer
University of the West of England
(Educational Institution; 1001-5000 employees; Higher Education industry)
January 2005 — April 2006 (1 year 4 months)
Marketing Officer in the Centre for Research, Innovation and Graduate Studies. Responsible for the dissemination and promotion of research at the University and liaison with business. I mainly work on new technolgies and the internet for the Centre.
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Managing Director/ Marketing Director
ShowBiz Media
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Online Media industry)
April 2002 — April 2006 (4 years 1 month)
Started this business with my brother Georgi Griffiths and Xavier Keeling when I got made redundant in 2002. We did mainly flash development for micro-sites for a wide range of large corporate clients including Camelot, Muller and others. Since then the 3 original partners have gone our seperate ways, Xavier now has Fixel, Georgi Smygo and I am on my own path!
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Marketing Consultant
Becta (British Education Communications and Technology Agency)
(Government Agency; 201-500 employees; Research industry)
May 2002 — May 2003 (1 year 1 month)
Brought in as a Marketing Consultant to launch 3 new Government initatives in the Education sector. Marketing budget of £750k plus on each project. Responsible for strategy, planning, project management and buying. Really enjoyed this position which also allowed me to delve further into my main area of interest which is digital media and online marketing etc. Created some really nice materials like interactive DVD's, obviously having a massive budget really helped!
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Marketing Manager
Tyrolit
(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; Mechanical or Industrial Engineering industry)
September 2001 — April 2002 (8 months)
Marketing Manager for UK & Ireland for Tyrolit Ltd.
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Marketing Manager
Promac Window Machinery Sales
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Construction industry)
January 2000 — August 2001 (1 year 8 months)
Marketing Manager for this SME selling capital machinery to PVCu window manufacturers.
Laura Francis’s Education
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University of Derby
BA Hons, Business Studies, September 1995 — June 1999
- Activities and Societies:
- President of the Snowboard Club
Additional Information
Laura Francis’s Websites:
Laura Francis’s Interests:
Digital Media, new technology, promoting Bristol, politics, snowboarding.
Laura Francis’s Groups:
Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Underscore, Connecting Bristol, SkillSwap
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Usability Professionals' Association International (UPA-I) -
Interaction Design Association -
Bristol Media
Laura Francis’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
