I first met Claire after her fun and outspoken talk “Personas suck” at UXCamp Brighton 2018. I’m grateful that since then we’ve had the chance to work together in three different projects while at LearnJam and Methodical.

At LearnJam, we worked on two projects that involved building digital products for international learning organisations, and that consisted of an ideation and wire framing phase, followed by UI design and usability testing. At Methodical, we worked in a project for a global animal pharmaceutical company where I collaborated with a team of CX designers, led by Claire. The project involved extensive user research and analysis – specially complex due to the vast amount of information.

Amongst colleagues and clients, Claire is known to have superpowers. She’s bright, swift and always one step ahead – asking the questions that you wish someone had asked, whether it would be in a client call navigating a scope conversation, in a focus group trying to understand what users are really saying or in a planning meeting assigning tasks to the team. What I love about Claire is that she gets to the bottom of things, and makes sure that everything is crystal clear to everyone.

Claire helped me grow as a designer by providing structure and constructive feedback, and suggesting approaches on how to tackle designs and overcoming any blockers. It was a huge booster for me to be mentored by Claire, as she supported me in enhancing my methods and design practices, as well as my creative confidence. Claire is the design lead that you want to have in every project. When I work with her, I feel that she has everything under control, and that the project will not only succeed but deliver results beyond expectations. I hope Claire and I have the chance to work together again in the future 🙌

Berta Rojals Pons, UX Designer & Researcher

Claire worked as UX lead designer on three of our internal web applications and it was a real pleasure to collaborate with her. She is self-taught in UX and, unlike many self-proclaimed UX gurus I’ve worked with in the past, always ready to challenge her own assumptions based on user research. As a side project, she also documented the UX process in a simple yet exhaustive way which helped non-UX people understand why this is important and how to take advantage of various techniques.

Claire is a great communicator, a fun, passionate and resourceful designer and she is also able to quickly adapt to the context whatever the domain is. Her personal interests (from theater to martial arts among many others), passion for travel and community engagements are a great complement to her professional skills.

Thank you for all the good work and positive energy!

Fred Hugand, Digital Projects Manager at Schlumberger

Claire is a rare beast indeed — an incredible communicator, a fantastic designer, and with organisational chops to boot. She’s a hoot to work with, but if you need her to she can take thorny jobs off your hands and return with polished work and a host of new fans for you and your work with her. If you have even the hint of a chance to work with her, take it.

Ben Smith, Co-founder & Chief Operating Officer at Methodical

Claire possesses in abundance many traits that make her a real asset on any project – natural intelligence, a creative spirit, confidence tempered by a willingness to learn and a keen eye for detail amongst them. It is no surprise that Claire is a high achiever at whatever endeavours she puts her mind to: hard working, ambitious and constantly trying to get better at things, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was hiring me in a few years, not the other way around. Perhaps most importantly, her personality and sense of humour made her a joy to work with, which can make all the difference in a stressful project environment. Having had the pleasure of working with her at two different clients now I’d hire her back in a heartbeat because I know that what she lacks on paper, she more than compensates for in reality. If given the opportunity to demonstrate her abilities she won’t disappoint.

Matt Watkinson, Co-founder at Methodical, award-winning author of The Ten Principles Behind Great Customer Experiences & The Grid

In my role as a Senior Change Manager at Bupa I worked closely with Claire while leading a project to design, develop and launch a new iPhone application for Bupa members: The Bupa Health Finder App. Claire championed the idea and concept for a Bupa member iPhone application within Bupa and as such was instrumental in moving it from a nice idea to a tangible product. Claire played a significant part in the design, development and testing of the application and was great in this role because she has a strong sense of what good looks like, how to make complicated functionality intuitive and easy to use and how to create a wow factor that makes a great mobile application. Claire’s efforts were key in creating an application that was recognised by Apple in the What’s Hot section of the iTunes store and by medical insurance industry publications. I would highly recommend Claire to future employers.

John Enright, Senior Change Manager at Bupa

Claire is a star performer who consistently and without exception brought experience and talent that added value to the team’s delivery. She is an excellent communicator and team player who easily manages her own work, adapts and optimises process to benefit the project. As a senior UX practitioner she consistently seeks to become an expert in whatever challenge or task that lies between her and the optimal solution, breaking down complexity and managing significant detail all the while. Claire both met and exceeded expectations and we’d have her charming self back at the drop of a hat.

Gautama Payment, Lead User Experience Architect at Head London / Zone Digital

Claire is an incredibly talented individual who excels at whatever she does. She is hardworking, very organised and excellent at presenting detail in a clear manner and managing projects to completion. She’s also very nice to work with and was a fantastic addition to the team. Anyone who employs her is very lucky indeed.

Stephanie Kemp, Mobile Channels Manager at Bupa

I would have no hesitation in recommending Claire to a future employer. I found Claire to be very easy to work with, clever, adaptable and able to work to very tight deadlines.

Vanessa Donnelly, Group Innovation Manager at Vodafone, Head of User Experience at blinkbox books and author of Designing Easy-to-Use Websites

Claire worked as part of my broader team, at a time when Bupa invested heavily in the development of its people. Claire was and is somebody who brought energy, enthusiasm and ideas to the table and designed and delivered training in an engaging and informative way that led to a change in people and results.

Tony May, Call Centre Operations Controller at Bupa

Claire is a personable and tenacious UX designer who has an eye for the detail as well as the bigger picture. She will take on board any challenge no matter how big or small and will run with it until it is done. She considers all aspects of the brief at hand and always comes up with solutions that are well considered and beautifully executed. She can work on her own but is also a great team player and eagerly participates in workshops and brainstorms.

She is the ‘fountain of knowledge’ on the team when it comes to problem solving and making the most out of any tool, app or practical challenge in the workplace. She is an excellent and eloquent communicator who is not afraid to question a brief or provide intelligent answers when required.

Claire is the ultimate professional, but she is also a real pleasure to work with and will always find time for colleagues and friends. She is full of energy at work and still finds time to do voluntary work in her spare time. Work aside, she is very sociable and great to hang out with outside work. A very talented individual, I would recommend her to work on any team or any project.

Trond Wilhelmsen, Creative Direction, Design Direction, User Experience & Brand Stewardship at blinkbox books

It’s been great working with Claire and I’ve been really impressed with her skills as a User Researcher. As a rookie UR myself I’ve learnt tons. She’s able to get to grips with complicated user journeys with thorough, detailed research and has a real knack of presenting findings to service design teams, having excellent communication skills and an in-depth understanding of a whole range of relevant technologies. She can convert masses of raw data into insightful briefings, getting key messages across with clear, concise and engaging text. She can also quickly create very professional and artistic charts, diagrams and infographics which stakeholders can easily interpret, whether or not they have a detailed understanding of (or interest in) the project. Our walls have never looked so good! She is also a very clear and confident speaker, whether delivering presentations, engaging with customers or running usability lab sessions. She gets deeply involved in her work, delivers things amazingly quickly and – importantly – has a wicked sense of humour!

John Beale, User Researcher at Land Registry

I was paired with Claire to work on the experience and content design of a client’s website. She ensured the design work-stream set off at a relentless pace, filling the backlog with inventive and useful stories. Each story had acceptance criteria so good that our developers remarked they’d never had a clearer picture painted of what was required. She was the glue that effortlessly brought together all the disciplines in our team, keeping us all working as a tight delivery unit. Work would go between design, front-end and back-end seamlessly.
As a content strategist it was also particularly refreshing to work with a UX designer so at home with content’s importance. There was no lorem ipsum in sight! Her attention to detail extended as far as designing and optimising the CMS editor’s experience as well as the front-end user experience. This side of a digital product is unfortunately often overlooked or forgotten.
Most importantly, she was an absolute joy to work with and always had time for anyone in the team. I’m sure I wouldn’t be alone in wishing that her subsequent contract had not come so soon.

Ryan Cordell, Content Strategist at Head London

Claire’s biggest asset is her ability to be able to very quickly grasp a complex scenario and understand how to tackle the problem of turning that scenario into an effective and beautiful customer experience. She is a consummate professional who works just as well on her own as she does within a team. In addition to being a very valuable team member she is also a lot of fun to work with. It has been an absolute pleasure working with Claire on this project and I sincerely hope I get to work with Claire again in the very near future.

Amanda Cano, Senior User Experience Designer at blinkbox books and Keytree

I worked with Claire at Head London on the Electrolux project, which was a challenge for all team members. The project was loyal to the Agile principles of discovery, design and development all happening at the same time. This meant requirements were changing regularly, which required Claire to update and adapt her design. As the Senior EPiServer Consultant, it was my responsibility to architect and implement the designs. I found Claire to be supportive and always ready to provide additional clarity, as well as being open to adapting her designs to work best with EPiServer.

Paul Graham, Senior EPiServer Consultant at Head London

It has been a real pleasure working alongside Claire during my time at blinkbox books. As an interaction/ux designer she has a flare for creating engaging and simple designs, applying her knowledge and creativity to often difficult design problems. Claire is also articulate and tenacious when working to finalise designs, willing and able to fight for the best possible outcome for the users. As a work colleague her sense of humour and infectious laugh have made working with her a pleasure. Claire would be an asset to any interaction design or UX team.

Chandra Harrison, User Researcher at blinkbox books

Claire is by far one of the most talented and creative Interaction Designers I have ever had the pleasure to work with. Her ability to quickly understand the unmet needs and use cases of the customer, and then translate them into an elegant and efficient interface is amazing. I feel lucky to have worked with her and look forward to all future projects.

Sam Rapp, UX and Visual Designer at Keytree

My experience with Claire was fantastic, she is a great professional and also willing to make really easy to work with her.

Apart of her daily work, she voluntarily involved in several aspects of the company to improve the interaction among workmates (such as book reviews, etc).

She is a valuable asset for any company she will work on, as good as the good workmate she is.

Luis Sánchez Castellanos, Lead Frontend Developer at blinkbox books