MAT RUTHERFORD
EXPERIENCE DESIGN LEADER
Hi. I'm Mat Rutherford and I'm an Experience Design Leader based in Sydney, Australia.
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I'm delighted you've decided to visit my portfolio. Please check out some of my recent work below and get in touch with me via matimage@gmail.com, send me a tweet or visit my LinkedIn.
A strategic approach
A design-led strategy is vital to the success of any product, service or initiative.
I am heavily involved at a strategic level in the business making sure we keep our users at the front and centre of every decision we make. It is incredibly important to have a deep understanding of our users. Completely understand their hopes and dreams, their problems and pain points.
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If the product already exists, map that experience on a horizontal T-chart. You will start to find overlaps and trends. You will probably also find out a lot of your competitors are making the same mistakes. Figure out your aspirational line (hopefully close to the happy indicator) then look for the gaps between that aspirational line and the actual experience. In those gaps is where innovation lies.
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Working closely with different teams including Product, Technology, Marketing and Sales, I understand the problem we're trying to solve and head up my direct team and my design tribe to guide everything that has a touch-point with our end users. I initiate workshops, create flows, decision trees, define epics and tasks, create wireframes and assets, build interactions and micro-interactions, and guide visual UI design. Essentially, everything from concept to hand-off and delivery.
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A large part of my role is upskilling and mentoring my team which is something I very much enjoy. There is nothing more satisfying than watching your team grow and become more and more autonomous.
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Projects & Roles
About
I’m an Experience Design Leader with over 20 years of working across digital solutions based in Sydney, Australia.
I have a wide-ranging skillset with the ability to retain a 30k feet holistic view of the problem we’re solving, whom we’re solving it for, why we’re doing it and how we’re going to deliver while still being able to get into the detail without losing that vision. I’m a huge advocate of deep understanding where I discover the sweet spot between what the customer or user needs and what the business requires.
I’m well versed in agile delivery and I believe in just enough to get to the next step. Sometimes wireframes need to be no more than a drawing on a whiteboard. I write my own epics and user stories and guide projects through discovery, wireframing & prototyping, build, testing and delivery. I set-up and conduct testing workshops every two weeks to make sure we are constantly discovering and validating what we are doing, whether it’s a user flow, wireframes, prototypes or production build. I make sure to engage our customer services regularly to make sure we’re aware of what our users have issues with, how they are being solved currently and what is coming down the pipe.
I have been leading my design team for a while now and I’m keen to expand that. I enjoy working with passionate, creative and smart individuals that challenge (in a good way) and present new and innovative thinking. One of my key strengths is mentoring and developing my teammates. I engage relevant stakeholders where appropriate and bring them on the journey.
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I believe in good quality UX outcomes for every project or initiative and building experience visions that the whole business can get behind. I understand the importance of the correct copy and micro-copy and can write my own or collaborate with others. I have a thorough understanding of all the standard tools with a particular passion for Sketch, Miro and Invision. Although the best tool is my brain and a whiteboard.
I’m an outgoing, clearly spoken, passionate practitioner of UX. My communication is excellent with great writing skills and storytelling techniques. I get involved in all levels of the company and am happy to help where I can because every touchpoint with the user needs to be considered within the experience.
I’ve been working in the Fintech and the finance industry for a few years now with my most recent role in Data & Insights. I am open to exploring new areas. I enjoy working in the innovative space. Understanding our users, figuring out the aspirational model and looking for the gaps between the current experience and the experience you’re aiming for. That’s where innovation lies.
I believe that disruption leads to innovation. But we need to disrupt ourselves before someone disrupts us. I want to be in a place that respects and appreciates the importance of design and I want to be involved at a strategic level to ensure we’re solving the right problems the right way.
Witterings
A few of my recent published articles and blogs I've written.