Nicole Dolan

Hi, I’m Nicole. Welcome to my portfolio.

I have been using my Product and Industrial background to better understand people, and applying it into the UI and UX fields.

I love being able to research into someone’s life, find areas for improvement and design accordingly.

I believe that good design should honor the end user.

I believe that the solution should never be bigger than the problem.

London Design Week 2013

Employment:

UI/UX and Graphic Designer.McHenry Distillery.Jan-Apr 2016 • Tasmania, AURe-designing the website and creating new bottle labels for McHenry’s finest Whisky and Gin.

UI/UX and UC Designer.Elderberry.Nov 2015- Current • Melbourne, AUWorking to design a new onlineservice that will pair participants with inter-generational mentors with experience in a range of sectors.

UI/UX and Graphic Designer.Teaching Me.Nov 2015- Feb 2016 • Melbourne, AUDesigning the service for a new tutoring and skill sharing service.

User Centered Designer.Tank.Dec 2015 • Melbourne, AUCreating and collating a bespoke set of user research tools.

UI/UX Designer. Local Agent Finder.Nov 2015 • Melbourne, AURe-designing the service for the leading Estate Agent service.

Experience & Digital Designer.Isobar. Jun-Aug 2015 • Melbourne, AUWorking on various digital oriented campaigns for Australia Post, Sensis, Save the Children among others.

UCD & Graphic Designer.Huddle. Apr-May 2015 • Melbourne, AUIn-house designer working on print and digital.

Graphic Designer.Peaceful Lion. Nov 2014-Jan 2015 • London, U.K.I adapted the work of Quentin Blake into a booklet. I created puzzles for children, paid adverts and other content and formatting.

Design Researcher. Sugru. Jul-Oct 2014 • London, U.K.I was asked to research Sugru’s user group and see why it tended to be more male.

Product Designer.Matopy. Sep 2013-Jun 2014 • London, U.K.I was chosen by the Royal College of Art to work with a new start up. I conducted user research with the user group of a new app.

Product Designer.The Helen Hamlyn Centre of Design & Royal College of Art. May-Sep 2013 • London, U.K.I was working in partnership with BT and Scope on a product that formed part of the ‘Enabling Technology’ section of the Life Examined show at the Royal College of Art.

Product Design Intern.Alex Hammond Design. Sep 2012-Apr 2013 • London, U.K.I received further trained in CAD packages and worked on a variety of packaging based projects.

Graphic Design Intern.Stuart Wood Music. Jun-Aug 2012 • London, U.K.I was working with a composer creating designs and promoting and managing events.

Graphics & Product Intern.Happy Kitchen. Sep-Oct 2011 • London, U.K.I was helping with graphics jobs and building furniture for the restaurant.

Product Design Intern.Cosmos Europe. Aug-Sep 2011 • Nottingham, U.K.In Nottingham I designed glasses, for clients includingPretty Green- Liam Gallagher’s clothing range.

Packaging Intern.Tulip Foods PLC. Jun-Aug 2010 • London, U.K.I saw first hand the packaging cycle, from screen to product. A designs made it into production.

Awards:

Dyson Design AwardAwarded by Dyson.Second Place and notable mention in the Digital Design section. For my design Giraffe Reader.2015 • London, U.K

Best Toy AwardAwarded by Hasbro and Ravensbourne University.For my design Zomb Bomb. 2012 • London, U.K.

Most Innovative Product AwardAwarded by Bexleyheath School Sixth Form.2009 • London, U.K.

Shows:

Life Examined by the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design Royal College of Art/ The Icon Design Trail/ London Design Festival. 2013

Travel Photography Exhibition Greenwich Studios. 2014

New Designers London Design Week. 2012

Degree show Ravensbourne University. 2012

Skills:

Other Employment:

Emirates Air Line Cable Car& Transport For LondonAug 2012- Mar 2015 • London, U.K.Voice Over Artist.

Carluccio’s Italian RestaurantSep 2009-Sep 2011 • London, U.K.Waitress/ Barista

Ego Sound Record StoreMay-Sep 2008 • Bologna, ITRetail Assistant/ Music Advisor.

Education:

BA Honors Product Design. Ravensbourne University of Design and Communication. Sep 2009-May 2012 Grade: 2:1 / GPA: 3.67The degree ran many live projects with established companies, like a packaging project with Marks and Spencer’s. We regularly collaborated with other design courses, especially film and graphics. Dissertation title: “Does the world need another chair? An exploration into the way we consume and the role I play asa designer.”

Coding Course.Code Cademy.Dec 2014 Online course to build the AirBnb website.

A-Levels. Bexleyheath Sixth Form. 2007-2009High Pass in Product Design, Art and Design, Photography and Business.

GCSE’s. Bexleyheath Secondary School.2005-20078 High passes. Subjects including Math, English, Science, Art and Design, Product Design, I.T. and Graphic Design.

Solidworks / CADSince 2009. Skill level: HighAdobe InDesign Since 2009. Skill level: HighAdobe Illustrator Since 2009. Skill level: HighAdobe PhotoshopSince 2010. Skill level: HighArduino & ProcessingSince 2011. Skill level: MidVideo EditingSince 2012. Skill level: HighProduct SketchingSince 2002. Skill level: HighModel makingSince 2001. Skill level: High

TARGETING THEBEST CUSTOMERS

1

Customers data used in-store for better customer service.

The Good Guys wished to improve their in-store engagement and update their brand for a younger audience.

By linking up both the users online profile with them physiclally being in store, the sales staff could understand what the user has been considering buying, what they had purchased and other bits of key information. By having this knowledge at their fingertips, they could ask the right kind of questions to the customers and delivered a more personable shopping experience.

In creating the easy to use application for the staff iPads, I focused on three main areas:1. The Customer. Profiling based on how much they purchase.

2. Past Purchases. 3. Future Purchases andConsiderations.

The project was very well received by The Good Guys, and this is now part of a much wider service re-design.

AGE

NAME

SEX

LOCATION

Highlighting the three main areas

CREATING IDENTITIES

2

Choose a face you like.

Go

HelloOf all the gin joints, in all of the towns,

in all the world, you walked into mine.

Let’s begin

YOHK

A new kind of dating app.

YOHK is a new kind of dating app not based on looks, but rather blind matching couples based on interests and hobbies.

I designed this app after hearing stories of people being harassed or just generally feeling out of place on services like Tinder.

The user started by inputting their own information.

To get a date, the user would:

1. Have to pick one place, event or interest, out of four, that they would like best in a partner. They have to do this two times.

2. They are then met with four photos, one of which is the person they just liked in the last stage.

3. If they match the interests with the face, they get a date. If not, they start over again.

Simon

Joe

Frank

Peter

Juan

Ant

“Let’s grab a coffee sometime“

“I had a great time on our date,...”

“Have you ever been to Italy? I...”

“I love to take photos too!“

“You’re a Jazz fan huh?“

“You seem really cool, let’s meet...“Once the user picks the right face for the interests, they can either message each other, or organise a date (location, time & date) through the app itself. The user gets to choose to keep their phone number private.

The app is currently in testing.

iPad

Messages

Sarah . 25

Melbourne . Barista

Interested in Men

Pick one you’d like

your partner to like.

rock

jazzsoul

folk

+

Go Go

Add Photo

Name

Location

Interested in...

DOB Job Gender

art museum

beer garden

park picnic

see a gig

Favourite activity on your free days.

Match me!

LET’S GET YOU

A DATE

UX KNOWLEDGEFOR BETTER UI

3

R E A D I N G T H E W E B T O YO U

The Chorus app: A Digital Start up.

Chorus can intelligently live read the web. Making written text accessible to anyone, anywhere.

I was part of a team, of mainly engineers, who were building, testing and delivering a new app.

The app, read the web aloud. Meaning any bit of text, on any site, could be spoken right into the users ear. It works on either android or iphone.

Once the app was open, the user selects a website via the inbuilt search engine. They find a body of text they’d like to have read to them, double tap the text and the app would start to read.

I was in charge of the design research and the app’s design and functionality.

I targeted not only visually impaired users, but busy commuters, cyclists, people learning a new language and those with Dyslexia.

The app was very well received in testing and has been launched in the Google Play store, for Android only.

LOGIN

HELLO

TYPE WEBPAGE

GOOGLESEARCH

FAVEPAGES

FIND TEXT

TURN ONSPEECH

MODE

TEXTREAD

ALOUD

User Flow

R E A D I N G T H E W E B T O YO U

SPEECH SPEED

Slow Fast

25 APR

ASOS

TRACKED MAIL

18 MAY

AMAZON

ONE DAY

27 MAY

THE GOOD GUYSSTANDARD

03 JUN

THE ICONIC

3-4 BUSINESS DAYS

17 JUL

NET-A- PORTER

31 AUG

WINE CO.

4

DELIVERINGIDEAS

Part of a new proposed Parcel Delivery service .

Australia Post was loosing out on business to other market leading logistic services.

I designed a parcel box, that solved the problem of missing the delivery of a parcel, if the user was not home.

I was the Industrial and UX, in the service team, where we werere-designing Australia Post’s service to better suit customers, through in-store and online channels.

The box sat outside the house, and was rented from Australia Post. It had RFID reader built in, which both the post man and home owner had a corresponding RFID key fob.

Once the parcel had been safely and securely placed in the box, the home owner would receive a notification in the app. One parcel box was manufactured, out of stainless steel, and to life size, to demonstrate the concept to Australia Post.

My sketch of the Parcel Box

MAKING UI INCLUSIVE

5

Dulux Wash & Wear paint.

Dulux Wash & Wear paint is known for being tough and trust worthy. I decided to delve into what made it so reliable, by highlighting the common questions customers have, and answer them.

I used a lot of imagery of children, families and pets, to show that the paint is tough enough for everyday use.

The page is now live, and has had some nice feedback from both client and customer.

View site here.

USING USER INSIGHTSFOR BETTER DESIGN

6

Part of an investigation into Sugru’s customer base.

Sugru asked me to find out:1. Why their use base skews towards being male.2. Why only a small number of customers buy Sugru again.

Sugru is a mouldable glue, and has been featured in Time Magazines Greatest Inventions of 2010.

I began my investigation by setting up a stall in Greenwich Market. I asked people that walked by to repair an iPhone cable, Sugru’s most publicised fix.

The first day I ran the research, it was myself and a male colleague and the respondents were 80% male. On the second day, I was joined by a female colleague and the results were reversed. I suggested that a higher female presence should be felt from the brand.

I found that the iPhone cable repair was notoriously hard to get right the first time, and that they should promote an easier fix on the front of the pack, so users will not be disheartened with the look and function of their fix, and fail to return and buy again.

After a presentation to the stake holders, my suggestions were taken on board, and now Sugru has nearly 20% more female users. The number of customers return purchasing, and sharing the projects they’ve made has also increased.

Surgu-er’s in action

MARRYING CLIENT AND CUSTOMER VALUES

6

McHenry Whisky bottled 2016

Traditionally hand-crafted Whisky from Tasmania’s cool,rain soaked south, using our own pure Spring water.

W H I S K YS I N G L E M A LT

PRODUCT OF TA S M A N I A500 ML

I have been updating the McHenry Distillery brand, with a website and packaging re-design. With Tasmanian Whisky growing in popularity, the launch of the McHenry Single Malt was widely anticipated.

Mixing the traditions of decades of distilling with the new, the design is a much needed update to welcome the launch of the new Whisky.

The site had to include all of the Australian Government drink wise warnings and check the age of the user. I have also created a booking function, and a section to discover the distilling process.

I designed a bespoke set of icons for the site, for easy navigation.

The Whisky bottle was released in June 2016.

http://www.mchenrydistillery.com.au

DESIGN THAT’S SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE

7

122 tonnes of cigarette litter is dropped every day in the U.K. which is equivalent to 30.5 Elephants.

Users: Mature smokers.

I created this concept packaging on hearing that cigarette waste is the biggest form of litter in the U.K. The second being chewing gum.

In other countries, like Japan, most smokers carry an external pouch with them, to put their cigarette butts into.

Realising that we have different cultural habits from our Japanese counterparts, and from research which led me to understand the smoker, I designed a new box which allows the user to dispose of their cigarette end in a safe and green way.

How it works:To cigarette box enables the user to dispose of their cigarette litter inside the packaging itself. This means that the change to the smokers’ behavior will be easier and lead to a higher rate of adoption.

1. User smokes a cigarette

2. User stubs cigarette butt on wall or floor

3. User pulls foil out of top of pack

4. Cigarette butt is placed in the foil and then wrapped

5. Wrapped cigarette butt is put back inside the box

Conventional Box(20 cigarettes)

FreeSpace

The pack is slightly wider but still fits in the point of sale. By moving one cigarette, the design can fit the internal cardboard wall, which keeps the cigarettes and butts separate.

Icons of the four steps the user has to followare on the outside of the pack

New cigarette Box(20 cigarettes)

The foil is perforated at the edges, and is mint scented

X

X

There is a cardboard

wall that sits inside the pack. Everytime a

cigarette is smoked, the wall pops back, so the butt can be wrapped

and placed back in the box.

DONT DROP IT PUT IT BACK IN THE BOX

122 tonnes of cigarette litter is

dropped every day, equivalent to 674

pianos.

x 674 x 30.5

122 tonnes of cigarette litter is

dropped every day, equivalent to 30.5

elephants.

DONT DROP IT PUT IT BACK IN THE BOX

DONT DROP IT PUT IT BACK IN THE BOX

122 tonnes of cigarette litter is

dropped every day, equivalent to two

M1 tanks.

The informative cards are placed inside the box, and seen as soon as it is opened.

View the product video here.

Nicole Dolan+61 420 378 322

nicoledolandesign@gmail.comTwitter & Instagram: @_itisnick

References: Jude from Sugru: +44 7815 484 321

Ross from Helen Hamlyn:+44 7790 802 370

© Nicole Dolan Design 2016