About me
I’m open to working remotely, in-office, or hybrid. In April 2020 I had the foresight to commission a bespoke garden office and later that year was fully set up for home working. I’ve been working remotely ever since, enjoying the ability to separate work from home life.
I'm fortunate to live close to York and Leeds, allowing for daily commuting either by car or rail. I’m also only two hours from London using the regular LNER services to Kings Cross.
I have access to rented accommodation in London if required to work in a city office on a full time basis.
Biography
Robert studied Graphic Design & Photography after leaving school and went onto further his education with a BA Hons Degree in Graphic Design, specialising in illustration, animation and colour psychology.
After University his love for video games inspired him to create a portfolio of relevant work for the games industry. His efforts paid off and began working at Team 17 Software (creators of Worms). Whilst designing interfaces and graphics for many multimedia titles he discovered the internet and soon became a web design pioneer. He recognised the marketing potential for this medium, as many gamers were the early adopters of the web. He became T17’s first web designer and continued developing his design experience in this field. He worked on the UK’s first internet shopping mall and left T17 to develop a career as a freelance web design consultant.
In 1998 he accepted a full-time position working for the Press Association’s New Media division. Content was king in the early internet days and working for the UK’s most trusted content aggregator gave him the opportunity to work across a variety of different brands and platforms, developing and designing innovative ways of delivering content across websites, internet kiosks, Web TV and PDA’s. His most exciting projects were designing a monthly magazine-style website for Her Majesty the Queen, and websites for The Prince of Wales and Duchy of Cornwall.
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He took a lead role in designing Ananova, the world’s first real-time virtual news anchor and the brand which later replaced PA New Media. Ananova’s innovative concept led to Orange purchasing the company from the Press Association for £100 million. Shortly afterwards France Telecom bought Orange and the future vision of Ananova was lost.
The Ananova team reinvented themselves as Orange Multimedia Operations, Robert then started a new journey of discovery designing WAP portals and services for the mobile phone market. He found new interests in Information Architecture, Usability Testing and Service Design. This journey was fast-paced as technology and methods were changing on a daily basis.
When Apple launched the iPhone on the Orange network, Robert was the lead and sole designer for its flagship App ‘Orange Wednesdays’ to coincide with the launch. After which another huge learning curve began designing products and services for Smartphones. His time at Orange was very varied allowing him to use all his previous expertise combined with a new love for User Experience.
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After the EE rebranding of Orange/T-mobile in the UK, Robert took on a new role working as a multi-skilled designer in the EE Propositions team, more of an R&D role where he began researching and concepting the future role EE could play in the Smart Home. Hence the non-coincidental link into working for Hive. He was one of the first designers to join Hive back when the company consisted of approximately 50 employees, he has been at Hive for eight years.
Interests outside of work, in 2004 he became a volunteer design consultant for the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, retiring from this position in 2012.
He enjoys making homemade cider, wine and vodka liqueurs using fruit grown from his home garden, close to the North York Moors National Park. Robert is a keen photographer, loves vegetarian cooking and regularly visiting the Far East, especially Singapore, where he finds inspiration on forward thinking UCD. His enthusiasm for experiencing premium aviation products and services is only possible through his interest and extensive knowledge of loyalty airmiles programs.
He is also a practising Buddhist, and has been studying Buddhist philosophy and meditation for nearly twenty years. In 2008 he helped establish Ratnasambhava Kadampa Buddhist Centre in Leeds, his volunteer work there included Treasurer and supporting the Educational Programme Coordinator.