Work
I am a user centred design leader working across senior design leadership teams and user centred design operations.
I work across a wide range of digital services within the public, private and not for profit sectors.
I work in partnership with organisations, delivering:
• strategic design and research support
• trusted people and high quality, standards assured work
• accessible, ethical design and research
I deliver value. I work in a modern, lean, agile user-centred way.
Current
Head of Design. Department of Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs. January 2022 – present
Past work
Head of Service and Interaction Design. Department of Health and Social Care/UK Health Security Agency, Customer Experience, NHS Test & Trace. Built, supported and empowered a design team of 30+ service, interaction and visual designers across complex, challenging and constantly changing programmes of work. Worked with Deputy Director of User Centred Design in hiring and implementation of a senior user centred design leadership team. Supported the implementation of user centred design operations. On a day-by-day basis worked closely with heads of profession for user research, content design, delivery and operations. Lead for resourcing and engagement of user centred design suppliers. February 2021 – January 2022
Designer. Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs. Supported various teams across permitting and flood programmes. Coached teams to focus on understanding and solving whole problems, meeting user needs and prioritising work based on analytics and available data, and recognising benefits of standardisation and simplifying services wherever possible. 2019-2020
Head of Design. Ministry of Justice Digital & Technology. Advocate of inclusive design, creating momentum and focus on building more accessible end-to-end services. Built, supported and empowered a design team of 25 interaction and service designers. Led multiple successful permanent recruitment campaigns improving ratio from less than 10% to over 50%. Implemented Design Operations and design leadership across all business areas. Delivered first ever list of public facing services and the MoJ Design System. Responsibility for MoJ products and services meeting accessibility standards. On a day-by-day basis worked closely with heads of profession for user research, content design, delivery management, product ownership and software development. October 2017 – August 2019
Designer/Product Owner. Ministry of Justice Digital Services and National Offender Management Services (NOMS). Prisoner Escort and Custodial Services contract renewal – discovery, alpha, beta delivering transformational digital services that will improve safety, build consistency and reliability, better standards and save both time and money. 2016-2017
Designer. Home Office Digital. Single Intelligence Platform – discovery team for wide ranging digital transformation of the way Home Office departments collate, develop and share intelligence information. Corporate Services and service desk – discovery and continuous improvement of multiple services. 2015
Google: various corporate and event services. 2014-2015
Hugo & Cat: Royal Mail and Ikea. 2014
Designer. Ministry of Justice Digital Services. Discovery and alpha of Government Digital Service Exemplar, Civil Claims, in collaboration with HMCTS and discovery phase of Digital Case File in collaboration with multiple police forces and Home Office plus helped build design team and community. 2013-2014
Intel’s Open Technology Centre: design, prototyping and product leadership for multiple strands of work covering mobile, tablet and netbook applications and OS plus open source community design leadership. 2011-2012
EMC: Barclaycard design thinking and concepts. 2011
The Guardian: reworking of Guardian Jobs. 2011
Case studies
MoJ Design System
Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority
MoJ Register of Public Facing Services
Recommendations
From Andrew Travers
Matthew’s a truly excellent design leader. Great at building teams, hiring thoughtfully and with care and creating a culture where designers can do really good work.
He has that special ability to cut through the noise, to keep teams focussed on the bigger picture and – above all – create the kind of collegiate, trusted, reflective design practise that you instantly feel at home in and improved by.
From Dave Cunningham
In a crisis, you need a calming experienced voice. Matthew brought just that to NHS Test and Trace programme. Expertly building and leading our service, interaction and print design teams through some tough times.
Matthew brings high emotional intelligence to every conversation. People want to work with him and in return, he provides the environment and support in which they can do their best work.
It was a privilege to learn from and work with Matthew. I’d love to work with him again.
From Gavin Elliott
I’ve known Matthew since 2016 and finally got the chance to work together in the same team as him in the latter part of 2021. Prior to that he was a fellow Head of Design. I’ve watched him execute the traits and behaviours of great design leaders.
Empathy is something that’s required to do leadership well and Matthew has it in droves. He makes sure to understand the people in his team on multi-levels so he can support them to achieve and develop.
A confident leader, clear communicator and smiler in the face of adversity – if I ever got the chance to work with Matthew again, I would. Where Matt goes, people follow. A true builder and developer of great design teams.
From Sophie Dennis
Matthew joined in February as Head of Service & Interaction Design. He has made a significant difference to the user-centred design professions in a very short space of time, stabilising our recruitment, including dealing with serious quality issues with a supplier. He has attracted a range of talented individuals into the team. He works openly and constructively with the rest of the design leadership team. He frequently steps up to lead beyond his remit. He has lead on a number of initiatives that span all the different design professions including leading on procuring new suppliers, and design standards and assurance. He actively works collaboratively with the other Heads of Profession on that. He has also managed recruitment for a number of senior design leaders, who report direct to me, while I lacked dedicated executive support, going above and beyond his own remit to fill an obvious gap and make sure people were onboarded well into the team and that nothing fell through the cracks.
He is guardian of team morale, someone people on the team at all levels often turn to for guidance, counsel and support. He is open and honest in how he communicates, whether the news is good or bad. He never tries to cover up problems but instead raises them quickly and clearly.
From Gavin Wye
At the Ministry of Justice, Matthew built and scaled one of the best digital design teams in government. His ability to lead at all levels is second to none. Matthew understands that people take time and willingly gives this time to support and help people grow. He brings people together in a gentle and unassuming way, empowering everyone in the process. He is also a brilliant designer and writer in his own right. Matthew is a connector, a collaborator and an instigator. I would work with him again at the drop of a hat and would recommend that everyone should work with Matthew at least once in their career.
From Adam Silver
Matthew is an excellent design leader. I worked with him at the Ministry of Justice where he built one of the most talented, friendly and highly-rated design teams in government. He has a great combination of qualities that make him a great leader. He’s warm, experienced, conscientious and productive. For example, he designed an excellent onboarding process and was instrumental in the creation of the MOJ Design System and register of public services. If it’s not obvious already, I would highly recommend Matthew and would love to work with him again.
From Nic Price, Director, People Thinking Ltd
Matthew has a great knack of bringing the best out of everyone on a project. He picks up on what matters and makes sure the right voices are listened to at the right time. Matthew can stand back and see the whole, while knowing when to lean in and look after the parts. He knows when a project requires his meticulous attention to detail (for example, in communicative diagrams) and when it needs his team facilitation and leadership abilities. He is also a great person to put the world to rights with, and I look forward to our next opportunity to work together.
From Jenny Dunlop at Intel
Matthew is a smart, versatile and talented designer. He quickly grasps the salient issues of formless problems, and he patiently and rigourously arrives the right solution. His deliverables are top notch; thorough and well thought-out. He is calm and professional and a pleasure to work with. I recommend him.
From Tanya Ahmed, User Experience Architect, Lab49
Matthew is a strategic thinker, skilled at mobilising and inspiring teams – and also a joy to work with. Moreover he has been a supportive colleague -and a great listener. He has the expertise and experience in the field to design rich user experiences. Would love to work again with him in the future!
From Justin Robinson, UX Architect, Lab49
Matthew is the guy I want in the room right from the start, when ideas are ten a penny and there is no shape or form to the concept or proposition. Matthew is the kind of designer who can begin to craft a strategy and a reality from the chaos that constitutes many large scale enterprise projects. Both manic and composed, he’s a salient soul who needs no help in sifting the signals from the noise and is a rock solid colleague who I’d work with any time. He is also the man who left me the most hilarious voice mail I’m ever likely to receive.
From Ann Carrier, User Experience Consultant, Lab49
Matthew is a lynchpin. He connects. Whether it’s people or ideas, he brings seemingly chaotic elements together and the result might be unexpected, but will certainly be interesting. His commitment to producing good work is unshakeable, and he’s a thoughtful and supportive colleague, whether working as part of the same team or not. He’s top of the list of people I want to work with again some day.