Experience Director, Common Agency
Huddersfield, United Kingdom
- Current
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- Managing Director at Common Agency
- Past
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- Head of Multimedia Design at Multimedia Operations, Orange PCS
- Senior Product Designer at Ananova Ltd.
- Wireless Design Manager at Crown Greetings, Hallmark UK
- Freelance designer (Self-employed)
- Education
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- University of Huddersfield
- Connections
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69
connections
- Industry
- Online Media
- Websites
Ben Childs’s Summary
I am widely regarded as an expert at creating excellence in customer experience. User centred design is central to my design ethos and ensures my consistent delivery of effective solutions at the highest level. The understanding and application of a traditional product design process combined with exceptional innovation and problem solving ability allows me to create solutions that meet or often exceed both client and end-user expectations.
I have a broad experience of working with corporate brands across multi-national markets, and a proven record of establishing and managing design functions and teams that deliver against the highest-level business requirements, remaining user and market focussed whilst also delivering projects on time and within budget.
I am fortunate to say that I have always enjoyed my work and am as excited and creative now about any new design challenge as I have ever been. Since moving away from the corporate environment and starting a small but busy digital interactive agency, I am as engaged and excited as ever about the challenges and opportunities available through modern technologies.
Ben Childs’s Experience
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Managing Director
Common Agency
(Online Media industry)
July 2005 — Present (4 years 1 month)
Common Agency is a digital interactive agency, providing the specialist design and development skills to deliver successful products and satisfied customers. Our user-centred design process encompasses understanding of user behaviour and product usage, specific interface or interaction design issues through to the end-to-end design and delivery of products and services. We specialise in the design and, if needed, development of complex user-interaction scenarios, often multi-platform.
My individual role combines those of Managing Director and Experience Director...
>> As Managing Director I define the strategy of our company, manage the day-to-day running of the business and ensure that our clients get the high-quality service they expect.
>> As Experience Director I work across our major projects and ensure that our design work is innovative, compelling and provides a complete solution, delivering against both business and user goals. -
Head of Multimedia Design
Multimedia Operations, Orange PCS
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Wireless industry)
July 2002 — May 2005 (2 years 11 months)
Orange Multimedia Operations, part of Orange UK, are responsible for all multimedia [non-voice] related Consumer and Small Business products and services. The multimedia design team are responsible for the end-to-end user experience of all multimedia products & services. The primary focus was in developing Orange World, the Orange mobile portal, into a major customer touch-point.
Key functions whilst heading up the design team are:
>> Product design of all multimedia products & services, from concept to specification
>> Product development to support Orange Multimedia Operations in identifying, assessing and developing products & services that deliver against defined user and business goals
>> User experience strategy and direction regarding multimedia products & services, considering online/offline relationship, device/application integration, understanding & validating user and business goals, etc
>> Orange World mobile portal information architecture and navigation design -
Senior Product Designer
Ananova Ltd.
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Online Media industry)
July 2001 — July 2002 (1 year 1 month)
As Ananova developed from a news company into a technology company, new skills and expertise were required with responsibility for understanding and creating opportunities for developing the established Ananova web business into a profitable mobile-focussed offering. Work included making the Ananova avatar available on mobile [using PacketVideo] whilst maximising mobile user benefits around news/sport/weather information [on SMS, MMS, PDA, web and WAP platforms].
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Wireless Design Manager
Crown Greetings, Hallmark UK
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Internet industry)
October 1999 — July 2001 (1 year 10 months)
One of two people, growing to over 100, recruited to meet Hallmark’s requirements to identify and establish digital mobile greeting opportunities. This required the creation and development of a design team, working across multiple territories including the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Hong Kong and Japan. Significant work was undertaken to understand mobile users’ needs – taking learnings from the established Japanese market and translating them to relevant opportunities in Europe. Work included design management, mobile site creation, mobile greeting assets, web support and messaging system integration.
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Freelance designer
Self-employed
(Self-Employed; Myself Only; Design industry)
September 1998 — October 1999 (1 year 2 months)
Migrated from product design to digital design. Working for direct clients including Marks & Spencer and Hallmark, and communication agencies such as Visual Therapy, on briefs and media including 3D visualisation and animation; concept designs for POS, packaging, toys and stationery; digital work for websites, animations and POS plasma screens; print work for cards, stationery, gift wrap and packaging.
Ben Childs’s Education
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University of Huddersfield
2.2 , Bsc. [Hons] Product Design , September 1994 — June 1998
