My work as a designer and consultant

I am a multi-disciplinary designer. Whether it's consultancy, design, project management or a combination of these, the service that I provide varies from project to project: my involvement with your project can be long-term, or a fast-paced consultancy or something in between. What doesn't vary, is my desire to create the best user experience that is possible on whatever budget you have and within whatever timeframe you have. If you don't have these constraints... even better!

My clients come from all sectors ranging from large businesses, heritage organisations and universities right down to small charities and even individuals. They all share the same goal: to take a fresh approach at designing and delivering their chosen product or project, and this is where I come in.

UX

The concept of 'design' is no longer limited to how something looks, or how it functions, design encompasses the depths of those elements and much more: designers understand that the whole experience of a user's interaction with a product is vital.

UX is not a buzzword, or its remit to be confined to web or digital design: user experience is real and to stand out from your competition, UX needs to be given its space at the project table whatever you are selling, whether it's product or a service.

Whether you design digital or non-digital interfaces there is a huge privilege and responsibility designing things that people will use and interact with. I have seen thousands of people interact with things that I have designed and that gives me a unique perspective. I never imagine the first idea is the one, or that my idea is best. Who is the user? How do they feel? What are they expecting? Let's imagine the product being used, 'in the wild'.

To get a great solution, you have to know the problem that you're trying to solve - getting the right diagnosis is important.

Multi-disciplinary Design

The ability to solve problems like a designer can lend a person to a number of roles within any project team, not just in the conventional 'design' component. In my case, most of my primary work is in the design of hardware-software interfaces for bespoke products. I'm passionate about design thinking as a methodology and believe this can be applied to a range of strands of business. Being a designer is not about whether you can use Photoshop or not, it's about how you think and how you see the world.

What can I do?

Design is usually misunderstood and it means many things to many people. I don't think I should address that here!

I am a designer, I have run a design company for 15 years, so it's clear what I can do: I can work as a designer, as part of a team of designers, I can manage designers or interface with them in a way that suits you and your organisation. I perform various roles for my clients that might be referred to as designer, design consultant, project manager or product manager. I've worked to build or develop teams and workshops and as mentioned in my other work, I have a big interest in training and education.

Prototyping / Testing / Build Facility

Every designer needs a way to test things. Testing is how we learn whether we're solving the right problem and whether we're solving it correctly.

I have a small production facility which I can use on certain projects. Mainly this gives me the ability to prototype and test in-house - this is a vital part of any design process and the lack of this process is usually where projects falter. How much I do of this depends on the client and project but it's worth noting that testing is a skill: knowing what, when and how to test are super-important and this process usually benefits from experience.

Kenneth Boyd Icon: White on Black (transparent)

Address

CUPAR, Fife
KY15 5PH

Contact me

Email: ken@kennethboyd.com
Phone: 07967 586974