About

Husband, dad, experience designer, design leader, product strategist, agency founder, drummer, writer, speaker, coach & advisor.

Designer, strategist and team builder

I’m a designer, leader and digital strategist with a deep passion for creating experiences that drive real impact. My career has taken me from industrial design to founding one of Australia’s pioneering UX agencies, to leading large-scale design transformation inside some of Australia's organisations. I believe in the power of storytelling to align teams, shift mindsets, and turn strategic vision into reality.

From Industrial Design to Digital

Born just outside Oxford in the UK, I grew up in a creative household; My dad was an architect and my mother a humanities teacher. Our home was filled with sketches, models and conversations about design. Music was another passion and from the age of 15, I spent much of my free time playing drums in bands. At school, I was drawn to Art and Craft, Design & Technology, but it was a visit with my dad to the Central Saint Martins grad fair that really solidified my interest in design. Seeing the 3D renderings and models created by students sparked something in me — I was fascinated by the ability to communicate and bring ideas to life through design.

That led me to study Industrial Design & Technology at Loughborough University, where I immersed myself in form, function, ergonomics and user-centred thinking. After graduating in 1997, I started my career in automotive interior trim design, working on projects like the new Mini for suppliers to BMW. I spent my evenings playing music, and in 1999, I left my job to travel the world, visiting India, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.

When I returned to London, I pivoted into digital design. It was the early 2000s — the pioneering wild west of the web - and I found myself at Nettec Plc, a digital agency just off Oxford Street, learning from some of the best designers of the time. I worked on projects for brands like Coca-Cola, Reuters and Dyson, experimenting with what digital experiences could be. It was an exciting time, but after two years, the urge to travel hit again and in 2002, I set off for South America, before making my way to Australia, where my career in user experience design truly began.

My first gig in Australia was a hugely enjoyable role designing various web and Flash projects for a number of cinematic releases at Madman Entertainment in Melbourne. While I loved the team at Madman and the work was fun, I needed a bigger challenge. After a couple of years I moved to Ingena, a small digital consulting firm where I managed a small team of designers leading experience design and digital transformation projects (before the term "UX" was officially coined) for the likes of Telstra, National Australia Bank and Australia Post.

Building a UX Agency

By 2008, the benefits of user centered design were starting to be more widely understood, and the field of "UX" was begining to gain traction. My belief and passion for design thinking helped me to see an opportunity in Australia; At the time, most agencies were either web design shops or tech consultancies; very few specialised in user experience. I wanted to build a business that put research, usability and accessibility at the heart of digital design. And so, with our laptops at my kitchen table, an ex-colleague and I co-founded Thirst Studios.

Our first Thirst Studios office in 2010.

From the beginning, I knew that our success depended on more than just good design — it was about results, trust, great partnerships and clear communication. Clients needed to see the impact of great UX, not just be told about it. We positioned Thirst as a strategic partner, not just a design vendor and we quickly developed a reputation for high-quality, thoughtful human-centred solutions. Over ten years, the agency grew to a team of 15 and became known as one of Australia’s most respected UX consultancies, working with some large and prestigious clients in government, healthcare, and education.

Beyond client work, it was important for me to contribute to the growing UX community. I'm very proud that we became a certified B Corp, embedding purpose-driven design into our DNA. We launched UXMAS, an internationally recognised UX advent calendar bringing together thought leaders to share their insights, I spoke at UX Australia, UX New Zealand, and curated meet-ups in Melbourne, connecting designers from across the industry.

Leading Design Transformation at Origin Energy

I loved what we created with Thirst Studios, but by 2018 I was ready for a change. Seeking bigger and more complex creative challenges, I joined Origin Energy as Experience Design Director, tasked with building a team and improving and scaling digital self-service experiences. At the time, much of Origin’s customer service relied on call centres. My role was to help shift that behaviour - making it easier for customers to manage their accounts online, while also removing cost from the business.

Transforming Design at Telstra Digital

In 2020, I joined Telstra to lead UX for the new Telstra Energy initiative. When that project was discontinued, I took up the role of Head of Digital UX Design (Chapter Lead) for digital Sales, leading a team of 30+ designers across a number of missions and focus areas.

What drives me

Throughout my career, I’ve learned that great design leadership isn’t just about craft — it’s about influence, vision, and storytelling. Whether founding a UX agency, driving self-service transformation at Origin, or reshaping design at Telstra, my approach has always been rooted in:

Aligning teams around a shared vision — helping people see the bigger picture.
Using storytelling to shift mindsets — turning complex challenges into compelling narratives.
Driving collaboration at scale — bringing product, design, and engineering together to create meaningful digital experiences.