Vinnie Ward/Selected Design Works 15-20UX/UI Designer working in Digital Products & Education Programmesv-ward.com vinniejward@gmail.com

Cover Letter

Hi, I’m VinnieOne of my favourite parts of relocating to the UK from Australia two years ago has been waking up to Charlie Bones. In Australia, his slot would air at 8pm - and although I’d tune in most nights - his voice is much better suited to waking you up, than lulling you to sleep.

Both music and design hold special places in my heart. In my career I’ve worn a multitude of different design hats - UI/UX designer, design lead, community manager and more. Through this, I’ve been fortunate to lend my design skillset to a number of projects related to music, one in particular, Stir, is detailed in this portfolio.

My driving force has always been that one day I would be able to combine my love for music with my trade - graphic design. Now, perhaps more than ever, design is seen as a major driving force behind business decisions. It offers an ability to really listen to new and current users, empathise with their problems and needs and address them through a considered and iterative process providing an essential advantage in today’s evolving, and more socially conscious environment.

Considered design, and strong visuals that encapsulates the NTS narrative and resonates with it’s users, will result in a memorable and impactful experience that lasts with them long after they’ve left the website or locked their phone screen.

I’ve worked across new product development and refining existing products, managing a team of designers but working just as well when receiving direction - in fact, in my current role I’m the only designer and have really missed working with other designers with differing points of view to my own.

Given the opportunity to work with the NTS team I’d love to explore the direction of an online radio platform without limits - I’m excited by new ideas, and new ways of engaging users with the platform. A large percentage of my professional experience has had a focus on education and I’d love to see what that could bring to NTS, particularly with programmess like WIP. NTS has always been an inspiration to me and having an input on shaping it’s future would be an absolute honour!

1 of 2 Curriculum Vitae

Vinnie WardUX/UI Designer working in Digital Products & Education Programmes

Education

Bachelor of Graphic Design& Bachelor of Communications in Marketing and Advertising (181JA)

University of Canberra2012 - 2017

References

Provided on request

Mobile: Email: vinniejward@gmail.comLinked In: /in/vincent-ward-7395b4b8/

Selected Roles & Initiatives

Ren A blockchain company specialising in interoperability and privacy; ensuring that previously siloed blockchains talk to each other and that transactions remain private.

+ Development and implementation of the Ren brand and related products; + User research, UI and UX design of multiple digital products and platforms; + Design of social media content, including detailed financial reports and data visualisations. + Supervising and managing contractors, including illustrators, video producers and content creators. + Contributing to a collaborative and inclusive environment within a distributed team, across 4 time zones.

Ninpo Design An experienced and agile design agency specialising in innovation and entrepreneurship education, branding and building digital products for startups.

+ Planning, designing and working with development teams on digital products and interactive websites through consultation and collaboration with clients, users and customers.

+ Producing branding collateral, from initial identity to advertising material for a range of small businesses operating across industries;

+ Providing direction and project management for content creators, graphic designers and web developers; + Influencing the strategic direction of the company; + Sourcing, interviewing and recruiting specialist contractor skills; + Managing business administration, including financials and pay roll;

June 2018 – Present

February 2016 – June 2018

2 of 2 Curriculum Vitae

Stir An educational program providing assistance for young (predominantly 15-30 year olds) entrepreneurs from the cre-ative industries (visual arts, humanities, crafts & design), including mentoring, exposure and grants.

+ Conducting a three month co-design process in consultation with stakeholders to design and develop a digital crowd-voted grants platform, maintained and incrementally improved by Ninpo Design for 3 years.

+ Developing and managing relationships with sponsors and a broad range of stakeholders from across the private, public and academic sectors.

+ Influencing and navigating the direction of the brand in collaboration with the team and community. + Creation and production of advertising collateral (print and digital), including fortnightly Mailchimp newsletters. + Assisting in the development and visual design of booklets, worksheets and other forms of interactive material

for educational workshops. + Management and strategic direction of the social media and blog teams. + Financial management and budgeting, including coordinating the payment of suppliers and contractors.

InnovationACT Canberra’s largest entrepreneurship program managed by the Australian National University’s (ANU) Technology Transfer Office and open to students from across Canberra’s five tertiary educational institutions.

+ Co-designing and developing a digital eLearning platform and training ANU team members in it’s use. + Ensuring all communications align with the strategic direction of the brand, and the parent organisation. + Production of marketing collateral including posters, business cards, pull-up banners, and social media content. + Assisting in the design and implementation of four 5 hour workshops, aimed at maximising the learning out-

comes of attendees. Including the creation of materials such as printable toolkits and workshop slides. + Workshop facilitation and specialist one-on-one branding workshops with team members.

Freelance Occasional weekend freelance work has provided an avenue to pursue passion projects by working with small business, sole-traders and entrepreneurs within industries such as music and the arts.

+ Analysing business objectives and proposing graphical solutions and/or forms of visual communication. + Assisting in the design of visual identities for creatives, including musicians, artists and small businesses. + Creating and producing print graphics, such as brochures, flyers, posters and publications.

December 2014 - June 2018

August 2014 - November 2017

2014 - present

01 - Stir

Helping young creatives find a meaningful career path.Stir provides young creatives with access to the skills and tools necessary to write proposals for personal projects, with feedback from the general public.

Role

Research & UI/X Design,Management, Raising funds & sponsorship.

Industry

Arts funding & education

Year

2015-2018

Website

causeastir.com.au

Stir Needs analysis & co-creation01

On arrival, participants are matched with 2 strangers and provided with topics to explore through brainstorming on Post Its™.

Exploratory Brainstorming

28 participants from diverse creative backgrounds were invited to contributeto Stir’s ideation & development.

Everyone was invited to hear our insights and a concept proposal:

"What if you could publish a project idea online and once you received x likes you received a small amount of funding from the Government?"

Over the next 2 months, these original participants and others were helped to design the programme’s name, brand identity and user experience. See the following pages for more!

Further workshops& Development

The most interesting insights were shared in a closed Facebook group with all participants who opted in. The discussion continued online.

Online Discussion

Groups share their stories to the rest of the group in an open discussion, with the common themes being written up on the whiteboard.

PreliminaryMessaging

Participants find 2 other members with a different coloured Post Its™ and construct a story that brings the three into one narrative.

NarratingPossibilities

what about micro-grants, could that work?

Can I invite a friend, she is involved in MusicACT?

We have something to share with you all!

Stir

Joint collaboration with Camilo Potocnjak-Oxman and Juan Pablo Contreras-Valdes.

Stir

Participants elected to be in one of four co-creation groups, each aimed at a different component of the platform. This group of 28 people was dubbed "Shift One".These were:

+ User Experience [Ux]+ Education [Ed]+ Events [Ev]+ Branding [Br]

1 Pat Rose and Juliet Dudley in the first Branding workshop.2 The Education team working on translating business lingo.3 The User Experience team mapping how users would discover and participate in the platform.4 Worksheets designed for the Education workshop. Similar worksheets were used throughout all four groups.

Co-created start to finish with end-users & stakeholders.

Development01

1 2

3 4

User Flow01 Stir

Publish a project, get votes and receive funding and exposure.

Platforms such as Kickstarter already existed, however the barrier to entry had become very high - requiring a tested business model, marketing ability and product prototypes.

Our team, in collaboration with the Shift One community, designed a "project upload pro-cess" that coupled current entrepreneurship education and best digital design practices.

Creatives could ideate and explore an idea while publishing it on the Stir platform.

The premise is simple: Publish a project, share it for feedback and votes, improve your idea along the way and get a grant to make it happen.

Stage SystemDecisionKEY:

"Confirm emailto continue"

"Your email isconfirmed"

Email:Clicks

"Confirm Email"

NO

YES

Send reminderemail after

x days

Project NamingStage

Project NamingToolkit

"Log in if this project is yours."

"Great name!"To continue, register

Registration(Name, email, age)

Clicks Start a Projecton Home Page

Enters theproject name

Completephysically

PrintDoes the user’sproject alreadyhave a name?

NO

YES

YES

Is thename free?

Send welcomeemail to user

YES

NOSee 0.1

See

"That name is already taken."

3.1

CREATING A PROJECT

USER FLOW

START

MORE USER FLOWS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

Stir

We found that creatives lacked structured and formalised mentorship programmes.

Using a system similar to the comment feature in a Google Doc, the public were able to leave private comments on a specific component of a project.

Once an onlooker decided to vote for a project, it was as easy as voting with your Facebook account - this made it easier to vote, increas-ing the number of votes whilst decreasing the number of people ‘double-voting’

Helping projects grow through crowd-sourced mentoring.

01

Stir

Blog post graphicsEvent posted in collaboration with a bankToolkit used to facilitate 90minute workshops

Totebags

01 Educational Toolkits & Marketing Collateral

11am-3pm Sat May 5th, 2018

Stir

Stir was a massive success and touched the lives of many people. It’s imprint on the Can-berra creative community was felt and many of Canberra’s currently established creatives went through the program.

Due to the crowd-voted mechanism, Stir was very quickly able to reach a lot of people, attracting help and support from a large number of creative communities.

This project taught me about the importance of garnering a community in the real world, not just the digital realm. Also, genuinely lis-tening to users and their needs underpinned the success of the programme and platform.

Stir had 4 voting rounds over 3 years & left it’s mark onCanberra.

Outcome01 Statistics

Registered Users

12,67012,670

Projects

172172Votes cast

15,97115,971

Grants distributed

$43,350AUD$43,350

Page Views

232,166232,166

Unique Visitors

46,85446,854

Stats are an aggregate of the four years we were involved with the Stir program, on behalf of the CBR Innovation Network.

02 - Ren Project

Earn passive incomewith cryptocurrency.A privacy and security focused technology company, based in Singapore, replicating existing financial systems in the decentralised world of cryptocurrency.

Role

Research & UI/X Design,Branding, Comms.

Industry

Blockchain & Finance

Year

2018 - Present

Website

renproject.io

02

The crypto landscape is currently developer led, meaning most projects are difficult to use.

Ren’s network is powered by decentralisedservers called Darknodes. People opt in to operating a Darknode to earn passive income.

To launch a Darknode, user’s require a small amount of a specific cryptocurrency, so we spoke to these users (and others) to better understand their skill-level and expectations.

The three main objectives were defined as:

+ Anyone should be able to do it;+ Interacting with cryptocurrency requires a ‘wallet’. We needed to make this easy to acquire, and;+ Finally, Ren is complex. Some people want all the details, other are happy with less. Make information available to those who want it.

Participating in decentralized networks is inherently complex.

User FlowRen

Acquire100k REN

DarknodeDocumentation

CommunitySupported. See 4.1

DetermineVPS provider

Open commandline tool

EnterCurl

Wait forRegistration

Period

Update

CreateAWS

Account

CreateGroup

MM:Approve

Ren

CentralizedExchanges

Transfer toMetaMask

Digital OceanAmazon

CreateDO

Account

CreatePersonal

Token

NO

NO

IF DONE OUT OF ORDER

IF DONE OUT OF ORDER

YES

Stage SystemDecisionKEY:

Windows isnot supported

"You need to confirm with MetaMask"

REGISTERING A DARKNODE

USER FLOW

START

MORE USER FLOWS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

02

After releasing the Command Center, launching and monitoring a Darknode became a simple task, seeing a massive increase in the number of participants.

The website automatically connects to the user’s crypto wallet and detects whether they have launched a Darknode. If not, they’re sent to the network statistics section. If they have, they’re taken to the Darknode Operator’s section, where they can view information relevant to maintaining their Darknode. This is also where a user can withdraw their earnings.

Users can also check the status of their Darknode on their mobile by navigating to their specific URL, which they can set themselves.

Only see informationrelevant to you and monitor on the fly.

Ren

Users can view network statistics comprehensively through visual graphics and data visualisations

02

Assorted blog graphicsT-shirt awarded in various competitions

StickerRen logo

CollateralRen

03 - InnovationACT

A launchpad for early stage startups.InnovationACT is a ten-week entrepreneurship program for university students providing the skills, tools and networks to build their own innovative business.

Role

UI/X Design,Management,Workshop Facilitation.

Industry

Education & startups

Year

2014 - 2017

Website

innovationact.org

InnovationACT (IACT) is open to students from across the five tertiary educational institu-tions within Canberra, Australia.

Due to the increase in ‘startup awareness’ and a changing employment landscape, InnovationACT catered to a wide range of educational disciplines.

Participants could register as a team or as individuals. However, promotional activities hosted at the participating universities and on neutral ground were designed to form teams and generate startup ideas.

Our team of 3 (an educator, a web developer and myself) were contracted to develop the educational content for the 5 workshops, and a digital learning platform.

Participants were required to complete weekly digital challenges, populating a ‘startup profile page’ which was used by the judging panel and for the public voting of grant recipients.

A changing employment landscape and a desire for self-employment.

03 InnovationACT

NO

Stage SystemDecisionKEY:

Participantscomplete this flow at home

Input unique teamcode to join if before

cut-off date.

Send to team pageanchored to mostrecent challenge

Upload photo

"To unlock thischallenge, upload

photo xx"

"Challengeunlocked!"

Navigates to IACTwebsite and logs in

OFFLINE

ONLINE

Takes photoof toolkits

Has user alreadytaken a photo?

AllowCameraAccess?

Is user part of a

team?

Is user onmobile device?

NO

NO

YES

YES

See 3.2

After every workshop participants were required to upload a photo of a new Business Model Canvas. It

acted as ‘the key’ to unlock the challenge.

Last slide remindsparticipants to

complete challenge.

Attend workshop &complete toolkits

(worksheets)

YES YES

COMPLETING A WEEKLY CHALLENGE

USER FLOW

START

MORE USER FLOWS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

The platform digitised the signup process, improving the number of signups year on year by an average of 42%.

Team formation and event attendance was integrated into the platform - contributing to the points system used in the judging pro-cess and reducing the amount of adminis-tration work undertaken by the management team.

Reporting to sponsors and stakeholders was made much easier with a digital record of how teams had tracked throughout the programme.

Finally, the platform provided the public and broader startup community an insight into the humans behind each team, and what they were up to on a weekly basis.

This resulted in more eyes on the program, the three most attended pitch nights in IACT history and the program receiving more funding from the university year-on-year.

03

A digital companion for participants, the public and IACT team.

InnovationACT

InnovationACT03

Print and digital project collateral included various ways of prompting easy participant engagement

Slide decks accompanying all events and workshops.

Some of the physical toolkitsused throughout workshops.

Participants filling out the IACT toolkitsduring one of the organised workshops.© Mude Photography

The InnovationACT program redesign and and the development of the digital platform was a success. It was successful in attracting a more diverse user base, including design students, artists, anthropoligists and more.

This is in part due to the promotional efforts of our team, by basing events targeting underserved communities, and the translation of previously alienating ‘business lingo’ into something that anyone could partake in.

The digital platform played a massive role too. Participants were able to share the startup profile pages for feedback and this worked in attacting new partipants to the program the following year on year.

Finally, the platform kept a running and detailed record of teams and and their performance, which became invaluable in raising sponsorship for the programme.

Fostering Canberra’s next generation of entrepreneurs.

OutcomeInnovationACT03 Statistics

Entrepreneurs

356356

Pitch Night Attendees

786786

Prize Pool

$150,000AUD$150,000

Page Views

77,05977,059

Teams

123123

Stats are an aggregate of the three years we were involved with InnovationACT.

04 - PaperFluence

Converting leads into paying clients.A tech-focused consultancy with an experienced team of tech-startup founders, project managers, marketing professionals, mathematicians and software developers.

Role

Art Direction, Branding & Design.

Industry

Technology & startups

Year

2019 - 2020

Website

Pre-deploymentrepo on request

PaperFluence needed a website that not onlylisted their core beliefs but reflected them asexperienced individuals in emerging fields.

Additionally, it was important that theidentity instilled trust and confidence in aindustry which is commonly observed with apprehension.

During the collaborative research phase of the project, we were able to highlight three main objectives that if achieved, correlated into a successful outcome for PaperFluence:

+ Convert leads into closed deals;+ Emphasis position of industry leaders. and;+ Communicate high level of professionalismand considered approach to problem solving.

A professional identity with a focus on client capture.

PaperFluence04

Designed and developed incollaboration with Alison Barracluff.

Your messag e

Hey there! A friend of mine put me onto you guys and sugges ted I reach ou t regasome desig n and posi tioning work for a new startup in the fintech space. Let me if this is s omething you’d be interested in.

Cheers ,Walt

Your emai l

demo@email.c om

Your name

Walt Smith

PaperFluence

LOGOTYPE COLOURS

TYPOGRAPHY

Heldane Display Regular

Neue Haas Grotesk Display

AB CDEF GH IJ KLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefgh i j k lmn op qrs t uvwxyz12 3456789 0

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R ST U V W X Y Za b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

ICONOGRAPHY

04 Identity

Lightning Blue

Metal Grey

Branding Tech Development

Strategy Crisis Management

Fundraising Exchange Listing

Call to Action

Soft Grey

Input Fields

#3525d2

#B6BBBD

#FE6262

#F3F6F7

#2B26A6

05 - Luviat

A supportive hub for female travelers.Global family of enthusiastic travellers, building an online community where travellers connect, share, and support one another for enriched and sustainable travel.

Role

User Research & UI/X Design.

Industry

Travel & social

Year

2018

Website

luviat.com(not yet launched)

Luviat aims to create a safe and collaborative environment for female travelers to meet, learn and share with other female travelersfrom around the world.

We were hired to conduct initial user research, develop user flows, produce a flexible UI kit and thorough user testing.

Sharers can advertise goods or services (such as specialist climbing equipment, or a local tour of wine bars) and Borrowers can requestto hire them for a set period of time.

The theory was that if two people with an interest in a specialist field, such as rock climbing were to collide with another traveller, they’d form a deeper relationship.

Trust was constantly highlighted as one of the biggest issues for travelers. For this reason, it was important the platform had a strong screening and rating system, really driven home by social connections.

A global sharing economy platform for female travelers.

05 Luviat Objectives & Flow

BORROWER

SHARER

SingleItem Page

More enquiries?Contact Sharer

directly

Review details +pickup information

Send messageto Sharer

YES

Is itemavailable?

NO

YES

NO

Is user logged in?

Send Shareran email

Log in Register See 1.3

See 3.3

NO

Respond toborrowerrequest?

Approvesrequest?

NO

YES

CONT.

Stage SystemDecisionKEY:

Logged in, sent to sharing request

dashboard.

"Sharer has been sent an email notification."

"Item not available, please review dates"

BorrowDate &

Time

Displayed on calendar widget

Sendemail

reminder.

REQUEST A SHARING OFFER

USER FLOW

START

MORE USER FLOWS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

A flexible platform for sharing experienceswith travellers.

The result is a robust platform, allowing Sharers to advertise a large list of potential goods and services.

Being two-sided, Luviat needed to cater to creating an advertisement if someone’s offer didn’t satisfy your requirements.

It’s been designed with the everyday user in mind, placing usability front-and-centre. For ease while traveling, communication between the platform and user is conducted via email notifications. If the platform gains significant traction, a mobile app will be produced.

It was important the platform had a social feel, connecting the real humans behind the advertisements. To accomplish this, a blog high- lighting local stories is in development.

05 Luviat Outcome

Freelance06

Gig poster (for the later night dance parties)

A monthly excursive at Dalston’s The Jago, through weird and wonderful music.

South African hole-in-the-wall cafe, sharing culture through live street

performances and local cuisine.

Asili perspex sign install

A weekly night showcasing local music talent, pairing resident DJs with one local producer.

Ric Laver’s performing live at Almost Anything

© Buchule Flepisi © Pete Mac

Vinnie Ward/Selected Design Works 15-20UX/UI Designer working in Digital Products & Education Programmesv-ward.com vinniejward@gmail.com