MARK LEEKS

UBS - London Office
User Experience Design Lead - On site for NTT Data at UBS Investment Bank. Making Neo to be a multiple award winning platform within UBS for client facing technologies. 

Wealth Management Americas
I created a product for Online Banking Services that improved usage from 950k users to 2.2 million wealth clients UHNW and HNW, that provided more reward for Advisors and UBS.

Global Banking - Corporate Lending
I designed a product that is 2 years forward thinking ahead of the Tier 1 banks in the USA for Loans & Mortgages.

Design Leadership
• Built and managed a design team here in the UK and the US
• Worked with Developers across the USA, Canada and Poland
• Mentored designers of all levels and implemented new processes
• Managed UX direction across all design outputs
• Account handled the relationship with WMA and Corporate Lending to ensure business growth 
• Worked with the Stakeholders to develop WMA and Loans Strategy
• Created Wealth ideas and an innovation map to improve awareness in the future of WMA

User Experience Design
• Created a Research Report into the future of Wealth Management across the globe
• Created Personas and User Journeys 
• Created a Wealth Management innovation map for strategic use and roadmap
• Story mapping and task flow analysis
• Ran workshops and design sprints with Project Stakeholders and Users 
• Created Sketches, wrote and designed Wireframe Specs and created Prototypes

Project Management
• Sprint planning and reporting for agile UX projects 
• Epic and story definition, feature prioritisation
• Scoping projects, Writing proposals, Creating Snapshot progress
• Wrote Design briefs, Epic and story definition, feature prioritisation
• Project estimation and budgeting for each product
• Managed third-party relationships with design partners and fin-tech products

Clients included: UBS Neo, UBS Wealth Management Americas, UBS Global Banking Corporate Lending & Mortgages

NTT Data - Epworth House, London Office
User Experience Design Lead - Deliver overall leadership for design team, user experience production, and project management for multiple international clients of the Group, serve as Lead On Site designer for UBS Neo. Demonstrate strong management skills in building multi-national teams, overseeing and coordinating all UX design output across USA, Canada, and Poland. Manage relationships with internal and external stakeholders including vendors, design partners, and fin-tech products. 

• Helping develop new business for NTT Data Group across Finance, Oil and the Technology industries. Making NTT Econsultancy's 16th Placed Top 100 Agency and 4th Placed in the Technical Category with the UBS Neo Platform.

• Expanded user engagement from 950K to 2.2M wealth clients by creating online banking system providing more informed and quality engagement whilst delivering financial rewards for advisors and bank. 
• Oversaw full project lifecycle from sprint planning, estimation, and budgeting through story mapping and task flow analysis to execution, testing, and delivery, monitoring progress and generating reports. 
• Enhanced overall effectiveness of team through implementing improved processes, conducting strategic planning, and coaching and mentoring individual designers at all levels. 

Clients include: UBS, Sky, News International.

SapientNitro - London Office and On-site for Barclays and Tesco Direct.
Barclays
Managed project to integrate government services into Barclays, proving viability of private/government partnerships. Contributed to team defining digital design language, leading team of five and collaborating with offsite build team in India to build responsive and adaptive tool using Agile methodologies. 

• I managed a UX and design team of 5 that would help small businesses start ups.
• Working with an offsite build team based in India with a 3rd party supplier.
• Managing a proposition where the Govt. services would be integrated into Barclays. 
• This was a responsive and adaptive tool, I adopted a responsive agile methodology.
• I was also part of the in-house team that helped to define Barclays digital design language.
• Pioneering success that established a partnership between Barclays and the Government.
• Proved that a Govt. product could be partnered and made commercially viable.

Tesco Direct
Achieved holiday revenue increase of ~70M pounds in 2015 implementing unique process for responsive and adaptive tool from strict roadmap on time and under budget. Incorporated agile methods tailored to project, working with offshore build team in designing tool to deliver higher conversion rates of filter-using online browsers, ultimately adopted by worldwide Tesco Groceries site.

• I did this by establishing a unique process for a responsive and adaptive tool.
• We used a agile methodology tailored to the project, working with off shore build teams.
• After analysing the analytics the immediate results are looking good from Xmas trading.
• Pointing towards people who used filters while browsing, converted higher than the people who used filters before. 
• This equates to an increase of around 70 million pounds for Tesco Direct in 2015.
• This was eventually embraced by the wider Tesco Groceries site.

Clients included: Barclays and Tesco Direct.

Wednesday Group - London Office
While the company transitioned with its UX services and brought on a permanent Head of UX.

I successfully guided Wednesday through a UX services transition process, leading multiple projects of varying scope and size whilst consistently delivering beyond expectations.
Scoped and researched concepting, interaction design, and business requirements, building for multiple integrated platforms including web based, mobile, and tablets. 

• Inspired customer experience team in delivering forward looking output, incorporating input from creative team, consulted on brand marketing efforts for all projects. 
• Collaborated closely with clients to ensure strength and viability of projects delivered after launch, enabling future evolution and development of product. 

Clients included: Swarovski, ALDO and M&S

Leverage extensive management and design experience to provide quality consulting services to clients primarily in the information technology industry. Incorporate expertise in Product and Service Design, Design Thinking, User-Centred Design, Customer Experience Design, and Agile UX to deliver quality strategic results.

• Guided clients through digital organisational transformation processes, defining and delivering strategies to underpin successful transition. 
• Applied Design Thinking approach across multiple digital product, service, and organisational problem spaces.
• Led global design team, recruiting qualified staff, training and coaching team members in creative problem-solving techniques, and mentoring skill growth. 
• Served clients including Imagination, Wednesday Agency, Swarovski Group, Barclays, Tesco Direct, Sapient, UBS, and NTT Data.

Clients include: Imagination, Wednesday Agency, Swarovski Group, Barclays, Tesco direct, Sapient, UBS and NTT Data.

Creative lead for the London office, directing teams from Visual Design, Interaction Design and copy across all accounts. Responsible for overall creative strategy, concepts and execution. Also focusing on building key client relationships, ensuring close collaboration, business understanding and growth.

As part of a growing office, additional responsibilities included new business and creative staffing strategy.

Specialties
• Team leadership
• Creative concepts
• User experience design
• Digital strategy and vision
• Pitches and presentations to clients at all levels and reporting to client board
• Interaction design and information architecture
• Art direction
• Visual design
• Production
• Build and delivery documentation
• Designing channels on established and emerging technologies across multi platforms
• User interface design and specifications
• Usability strategy and training
• Research, scoping and business consultancy
• Process for creative department and company
• Project management
• Account management
• Implementing creative strategies

Highlights at How Splendid so far include
• Keynote at Mix (Microsoft designers and developers conference), Las Vegas with Aston Martin
• Designing Aston Martin’s ONE77 in-car system allows us to be part of the coolest UK brand
• Redesigning easyJet’s booking engine to generating revenue of over £1billion a year

Clients include: Microsoft, Aston Martin, flydubai, National Express, Tesco Entertainment, Barclaycard, Speedy Hire, Lloyd’s of London, Agent Provocateur, Conde Nast, Allen & Overy, Audi, Mediacom, British Airways, East Coast, First Direct, Douglas & Gordon, Monmouth Dean, BAUER, Betfair, EBAY, Hays, EasyJet, Euromoney, Flow-Interactive, News International, Oxford Instruments, Gamesys, IOKO, ITV, Joslin Rowe, MSN, OAG, Sony BMG, Universal Music, First Direct, Fremantle Media, Daily Mirror Group, Mind Share, Smarta, British Telecommunications and MDM.

Launched interactive media company to win projects from broadcasters, government departments, and advertising agencies currently outsourcing design projects. Leveraged User-Centred Design approach to create successful interactive products combining principles from design, psychology, and software engineering. Established genuinely integrated communications offerings and production capability across all digital and emerging channels to answer both big and small picture issues. 

• Delivered significant business benefits including stronger sales and reduced risk to clients with UCD, using personas and scenarios, interaction design, information architecture, and multidisciplinary team workshops.

Clients included: How Splendid, Y&R, CTN, Digitas, EURO RCSG, Lambie-Nairn, LIDA, Ogilvy, Phunqube, Seren, DCMS, UCA, AMP, Gensler, ITV and Cerebra.

Lead creative and UX on the majority of large scale projects at How Splendid. Responsibilities are scalable, dependant on the size of the project and the team and management that is available to assist to that project. 

Working with the Managing Director and Creative Director to inspire the creative team and oversee creative output per project. 
• These can range from department process development and documentation. 
• Implementing creative strategies, Interviewing members of a new team, including leading and managing a team of designers and programmers.
• Client liason, Reporting to the clients board, Project Management, Scoping and Research, Business Consultancy.
• Interaction design, Concepting, Visual design, Illustration, Animation, Production. 
• Overseeing of build and final delivery, Documentation.
• Designing for various integrated platforms from the Web, Mobile, Touch and Cloud Technologies to Interactive TV. 
• Consulting for initial and ongoing brand marketing efforts for all projects that I'm involved with. 
• With Clients returning for further evolutions of the initial launch the products stays strong and forward thinking after the initial project Start up. 
• I was an integral part of the team that innovated and delivered beyond the expectation of the brief to time and budget.

Highlights so far include:
• Drama for FremantleMedia, ITV's catchup player.
• Displayed international expertise working in multilingual site in Dubai for His Royal Highness Sheikh Mohammed.
• The Mirrors 3am celebrity toxic website
• RiskMap, Lloyd's of London.

Clients included: Microsoft, Aston Martin, Lloyd’s, BAUER, Betfair, EBAY, Hays, EasyJet, Euromoney, Flow-Interactive, News International, Gamesys, IOKO, ITV, Joslin rowe, Microsoft, MSN, OAG, Sony BMG, Universal Music, First Direct, Fremantle Media, Daily Mirror Group, Mind Share, Smarta, British Telecommunications and MDM.

Working with several Associate Creative Directors to deliver large campaign ideas across all platforms for global brands to achieve successful creative solutions. Wunderman was broken into large accounts and had an Associate Creative Director heading up each account, assisted by Account handlers. Alongside each account was a team of Producers, Strategists, Programmers and Project managers to work with and report to, gaining individual sign off at each stage of the design process. Presenting concepts, iterations and final delivery of each campaign or site to the client as part of a larger team.

Working with several copywriters to form flexible teams, I was able to be flexible to Wunderman’s creative team, from Conception, Art Direction, Stills and Video shoots, Visuals, Production Build to Delivery with Q&A, This provided vision and experience to share with the Wunderman team and to create award winning websites, banner campaigns, email marketing, mobile and Interactive TV applications.

Key work in this period was Interactive TV adverts for Ford CMAX that went out on the Football Champions league final at half time and Freelander and Landrover Interactive TV adverts that had a 2 month national campaign. Other highlights included Landrover portal and campaigns and Ford microsites and campaigns for Ford KA, Fiesta, C-MAX, Focus, S-MAX, Galaxy and Focus-RS. 

Clients included: Ford, Landrover, Motorolla, Xerox, Samsung, Morgan Lovell, Macmillan Cancer Support, IBM, HSA, Microsoft, Xbox and IBM.

Reporting directly to the Creative Director, I was to support the Creative Director in transforming the creative and financial success of the department. Helping the department to initially establish a team and then managing a core team of eight designers plus additional suppliers. Meeting with commercial sponsors to deliver a more closely integrated/sponsorship proposition. Holding creative team meetings outlining all current output with brainstorming sessions. Implementing new methods of production-improving productivity and profitability by 80%. Creating solutions for increasing traffic, revenues and attracting sponsorship and advertising strategy. Delivering corporate and entertainment interactive services across various platforms to support TV. Using extensive experience to maximise commercial viability of Interactive TV and the Internet. Using previous knowledge of ITV brands enabling interpretation of these for interactivity.

Creative control of over eighty websites for some of ITV’s most popular programmes, highlights included: CiTV, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Coronation Street, Ant and Dec Saturday Takeaway and Popstars The Rivals.

Also providing Creative, Strategic and Development expertise for third party and Joint ventures such as: Boots, Wellbeing, Liverpool Football Club and Arsenal Football Club.

Developing broadcast critical applications for interactive television has proven extremely challenging and rewarding, whilst demonstrating an ability to evolve in a rapidly changing industry: On the DSAT (SKY) platform; I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!, ITV Now – 24/7, Popstars The Rivals. On the DTT platform, SMTV Live, This Morning, and ITV Sport Football WorldCup. On Powerchannel, Internet on the TV. On Telewest Interactive, MUTV.

Clients included: SKY, Carlton, Telewest, ITV, Boots, KFC, Learn direct, Coca-Cola, Manchester United, McDonalds, Siemens, MullerRice, Daz, Cadburys, Travelex and all the TV brands of ITV.

The challenge while freelancing was to work for agencies that outsource work or needed myself to work in-house on various levels of design. Research, concepting, and design for implementation. Responsibilities included branding and identity work, web design and layout, flash animation, digital illustration. Concepting and implementation of promotional materials, email campaigns and television support sites. Pioneering brand activity for numerous companies onto the internet, resulting in establishing them into the digital market place. I was a member of many new business development teams actively participating in sales pitches and client strategy sessions. Working for Advertising and New Media Agencies, Music labels and Broadcasters.

The key work of this period was a screen saver for a film called The Game and websites for Ford, Universal, Royal Sun & Alliance, Flight bookers, Inland revenue, Comet and PPP Healthcare.

Clients included: The Hub, CTN, Redwood New Media, Red Snapper, Noo Media, DNA Consultancy, WCJ, Telstar, Barclays multimedia, Noho digital, ITV and ITN.

The role was to oversee creative production for anywhere ITN provided news on interactive platforms. Enhancing the studio production and assisted in expanding the Internet side of the business working closely with the Internet Chief Editor and Head of Marketing online. Ending up leading a team of 2-3 designers and programmers supporting the TV news and sport, and all the TV support sites for ITV.

The pioneering work during my time included the exclusive live webchats, support websites for the Football WorldCup, F1, Weather and Sport. Breaking news stories of the Gulf War and Starr Report. Initial Interactive TV for ITV teletext and ITN news on the mobile. Expanding the services beyond TV support to offer agency services to other companies in the broadcasting industry such as business television for Shell, BP and British airways.

Clients included: ITN, ITV, CTN, Shell, BP, British Airways, Department of Trade, Works and Pensions.

Beginning as a designer in this niche multimedia agency was to develop visual consistency and a clear creative approach. Developing interactive skills within the emerging technologies and to design CD-ROM’s for the UK and international market.

The highlights of this period were CD-ROM’s Mensa Ultimate Challenge, Mensa Mindbenders, Sophie’s World, Wide World of Animals. The agencies push into the internet allowed Mark to develop and design the website BBC Horizon Life On Mars.

Clients included:
Macmillan Publishing, ABC and the BBC.