PDF.

Design

& UX

Product

At Pollen

I led the design of travel & events apps, for mobile & desktop, both B2C and B2B.

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At Twitter

I designed B2B apps, and features to end the account hacking epidemic.

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At GDS

I co-founded the GOV.UK design team & prototyped services like Register to Vote.

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IMPACT

Reduced campaign creation time by 80%, by making our internal tools easier to use

Public speaking

by Paul Annett

Music holidays* marketplace + apps

*

A music festival + luxury hotel stay

MY ROLE

Head of Product Design

I coached, mentored, and managed a Product Design team of

• Designers

• UX researchers

• UX writers

• Design managers

I was in a player-coach role, blending strategy, team leadership, people management, and hands-on product design.

Pollen 1

1. More than an itinerary app

I researched and designed Pollen’s first holiday itinerary app, an MVP built in 12 weeks.

Seeing it in use, I spotted an opportunity for it to be a new revenue channel selling upgrades and extras to people already on their trips.

IMPACT

22% increase in
extras sales
by optimising for sales conversion, turning the itinerary app into a sales channel

I developed and successfully executed a strategy to take our single-event itinerary app and turn it into a multi-event e-commerce app.

I hired a team and led them to create this new version of the app.

IMPACT

Reduced event
staffing costs

as customers could buy add-on from the app instead of at a staffed ticket office

About the iPhone app:

• Get hyped for your trip

• Book extras like beach yoga or ski hire

• Claim your included drinks in local bars

• See festival lineups & stage times

Pollen 2

2. ‘Backstage’ internal tools

I created the framework for Pollen’s internal tools, called ‘Backstage’.

I took on broader responsibility as Pollen started to run events more frequently, and with increasingly complex operational requirements, so I hired a pair of skilled UX designers to continue iterating.

About the desktop web app:

• Campaign set up

• Bookings & accounts

• Inventory management

• Integrations with hotels & venues

Pollen 3

3. Event Ops staff app

I conducted discovery research on a Mexico spring break trip, watching seasonal staff struggle with the 3rd-party tools Pollen had sourced.

This experience enabled me to hire, brief and manage a designer to create an in-house replacement.

IMPACT

Reduced training requirements for seasonal event staff by replacing a 3rd party app with our own design

About the Android app:

• Wristband scanning for event entry

• Accept contactless payments

• Customer service & booking lookups

• Works offline / with bad connectivity

Pollen 4

4. Fostering a strong design culture

As Head of Product Design, I was also responsible for team culture, engagement, development, management, operations, collaboration, ways-of-working etc…

TWITTER

5. Ending the hacking epidemic

While I was on the Twitter design team, I designed a feature that allowed you to delegate access to your account to other Twitter users, without needing to tell them your password.

This was useful for influencers and brand accounts who had social media teams, and brought a spate of high profile account hacks to an end.

In doing so, I safeguarded Twitter's reputation as a reliable and trusted news source.

IMPACT

My design protected Twitter's reputation as a trusted news source by reducing hacks on high profile accounts

GDS 1

6. Imagine a government website that’s easy to use…

MY ROLE

LEAD
DESIGNER

I designed the Alpha proof-of-concept of GOV.UK

It demonstrated that with user-centred design, people wouldn't need to understand how government works to understand where or how to access services.

Before this, there were 1,882 central government websites for different services and departments.

IMPACT

The success of the project led to the go-ahead for GOV.UK and the formation of GDS!

I lent heavily on ‘best practice’ as the Alpha was just a 12-week project to present a new direction for government rather than being a fully researched and working product.

Proudly part of the GDS origin story!

A topical image of the Olympic stadium added visual interest, to attract screenshots in press coverage

GDS 2

7. …then make it a reality!

I designed Beta services for GOV.UK

I researched and experimented with form design styles to learn what most users found clearest.

These became the foundations for the GDS design system.

I prototyped services including Register to Vote, Find Company Details (Companies House), Tax Your Vehicle, Student Loan Accounts.

IMPACT

These early service designs created the foundation for the GOV.UK design system and processes

Two iterations of the Register to Vote service, creating the evolving foundations of the early design system

I coached designers across government

IMPACT

£60m saved per year from department budgets by replacing thousands of websites with a centralised, standardised
design

As GDS became established, I worked with other departments to get their digital teams up to speed with new central processes and how to apply the GDS ways-of-working to their projects.

Accolades & awards

A shelf in the GDS office displaying various awards.

GOV.UK was exhibited at the London Design Museum where it beat the London Olympics to Design of the Year!

GOV.UK was recognised for clarity of content and design, awarded the prestigious D&AD Black and Yellow Pencils – “the ultimate creative accolade, reserved for ground-breaking work. Only a handful of these are awarded each year, if any.”

Our work was exhibited at the London Design Museum when GOV.UK beat the 2012 London Olympics to the Designs of the Year award!

The GDS design team at the Design of the Year Awards exhibition.

Photo: GDS design team at the Design Museum.
L-R: Guy Moorhouse, Amy Whitney, Tim Paul, Ben Terrett, Henry Hadlow, Paul Annett, Frances Berriman, Ed Sowden, Tom Byers, Russell Thorn, Chris Heathcote.

Paul applies an incredible attention to detail with no visible effort. It’s just natural to him.

Saul
Former colleague

Paul created an amazing design culture and built a world-class team. I’ve never worked anywhere like it.

Bevan
Former direct report

Paul added confidence and clarity to our innovation lab from his first day as design lead. I found his lack of ego and collaborative style so refreshing and compelling.

Jennifer
Consultancy client

Paul’s a phenomenal design leader, and the best manager in my career.

He held me accountable, pushed my craft, and contributed significantly to my growth.

Kieren
Former direct report

UK

Web Directions @Media

Future of Web Design

DIBI: Design It Build It

Web Dev Conf

Interactivism London

London Agile Content

Europe

Webdagene

From the Front

Ffwd.pro

IxDA Oslo

Webbstrategidagarna

ESAD College of Art + Design

USA

SXSW Interactive

IA Summit

Refresh DC

Dad. Bad puns.

Card tricks. EVs.

Twitter.