100 Mentorship Minutes

https://generalassemb.ly/instructors/buzz-usborne/2678

Course Instructor

I served on a Marine Rescue crew out of Shellharbour, NSW. A practical use of my maritime skills, and a way to give back to the community whilst also spending a bit of time on the water.

Crew

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Campaign Monitor is email marketing software used to create, send and measure various types of email communication, by small-to-medium businesses. During my time there, the company raised $250m and became one of Australia’s largest software companies operating in both Sydney and San Francisco. 

As Head of Design, I worked directly with the co-founder to build and lead a team of UX, UI and digital designers, front-enders and studio management responsible for all creative output of the business. During this time I served as the creative lead — personally designing and setting the visual tone of everything we did, whilst also mentoring and managing my team. 

Achievements:

- Designed the Campaign Monitor brand, logo and visual style
- Design and front-end development of the entire company website and blog
- Repositioned design to be seen as an integrated part of the engineering and discovery processes
- Was responsible for hiring and overseeing an extremely talented, collaborative and e

Head of Design

Junior Designer

As an independent design contractor based in London, I worked with a number of software teams and digital agencies in UK, USA and Australia — with a primary focus on UX, UI and digital projects. It was also during this time that I built Prevue, a concept sharing and feedback tool that today is used by over 30,000 agencies worldwide. Achievements: - Worked overseas as the temporary Creative Director for a digital agency (3 month cover) - Enhanced my proficiency in HTML, CSS, PHP and Wordpress development - Designed on a wide variety of projects — including branding, UX, UI and front-end - Established, grew and managed several profitable businesses Case Study: https://buzzusborne.com/casestudy/pbp/

Design Consultant

Design Contractor

Reporting directly to the CEO, my core responsibilities were to enable design success throughout the business — teaching customer-centered tactics and best practice to an engineering-bias organization.

In a leadership capacity I created cross-functional processes for designers to operate in a collaborative and effective way — and support individuals in their craft and professional development. I created career growth frameworks, coaching structures and processes necessary to help designers operate at their best.

On the tools, I created the design system and established the principals and visual direction for strategically important projects. I was also responsible for modernizing the UI and creating the UX and UI foundations for future product growth.

Principal Designer

My primary role at Atlassian was to help progress the visual craft standard of the globally distributed design team. This involved mentoring, education, facilitating design discovery and helping designers develop and sell conceptual improvements at a company scale.

I was also responsible for helping large projects find clarity in moments of indecision. In this capacity I was able to produce process, UI and visual direction for a re-launched version of Jira and provide design strategy to Bitbucket, the design systems team and a host of smaller initiatives.

It was my time at Atlassian where my love for coaching, creativity and establishing remote-first practices grew.

Lead Designer

I joined Sendle — a logistics startup — during their formation to be the voice of design, and establish the systems and visual tools necessary for scale. As a small team, I was also very hands-on in producing the work — operating at the breakneck pace of a startup.

My biggest impact was in creating products and features that had a direct and measurable impact on revenue, volume and reduced churn — whilst also building a more customer-centric focus to the business, and proving that by helping customers be successful, we'd be successful.

VP Design

Over the course of 5 years at Campaign Monitor I held a number of titles on both the Marketing and Product sides of the business. But my first and most significant role was as Head of Design, where I was tasked with building the brand and creating a design team — a dream opportunity for me.

I created and managed a team of high-performing designers, front-end engineers and design-adjacent roles to deliver world-class user experiences to millions of customers. I designed the brand, design strategy, and worked directly with the CEO in guiding the company through its acquisition and billion dollar valuation.

Director of UX

Working with a quirky and multi-disciplinary team of designers, business strategists and developers who build world-class digital products for global brands. As Design Lead, I worked directly with clients and engineering teams to design a variety of products such as educational games, iPhone apps and social platforms — and was involved in the entire process, from concept and prototyping through to presentation and release. During my time I also worked on a number of digital briefs including media launches, micro-sites and blogs — giving me chance to explore numerous visual styles and design techniques. 

Achievements:

- Was responsible for the design of the in-house content management system used for the majority of client work
- Designed for and presented work directly to global brands including TONI&amp;GUY, Ray-Ban, State of California and Paramount Pictures
- Worked across a number of disciplines, from UX/UI to advertising and PR

Case Study: https://buzzusborne.com/casestudy/misc/

Design Lead

Skype is a video and messaging service known for it’s distinctive and playful visual style. At the time, the company were planning on expanding their offering to TV and integrated (in-app) products, from a traditionally desktop/mobile solution. My task as Product Design Lead was to work with the existing product teams (who were reviewing their own visual style) and external agencies (tasked with branding) to design a suite of icons that would be used in all future Skype products. Achievements: - Designed a suite of icons that were recognisably “Skype” but were able to adapt to meet the changing requirements of different mediums (phone, television, desktop etc) - Concept, design and artwork of 80+ icons still in use today - Led a team of in-house designers and external iOS app developers tasked with implementing my designs in the product - Produced comprehensive documentation and guidelines that enabled the extension of the visual style in the years following Case Study: https://buzzusb

Product Design Lead

I worked with the talented Fat Digital team as a temporary Creative Director in Sydney, Australia. During this time I worked alongside the front and back-end development team to design a number of digital projects — all with a strong focus on UX and accessibility, over a number of industry sectors. I was also involved in liaising directly with the client, both in presenting and pitching.

Freelance Creative Director

In 2007 as a freelance designer, I found there was no great way to share design work, collaborate and gather client feedback. I had a need, so I learned how to code and built my own solution — Prevue.

Through constant progression, iteration, reinvention and plenty of late nights — I took Prevue from an idea to a profitable concept sharing and feedback platform used by over 30,000 designers and agencies worldwide, to share millions of images with their own clients.

In 2018, Prevue was acquired ✨

Founder

I worked on a number of high-profile fashion, e-commerce and lifestyle digital projects, overseeing visual design on projects through from concept to completion. Case Study: https://buzzusborne.com/casestudy/misc/

Senior Digital Designer

Digital Designer

Graphic Designer

I’ve coached hundreds of high-performing designers and creative individuals — helping them navigate tricky spots in their career and find clarity and purpose in moments of opportunity. I lead with honesty and humility, and aim to help designers uncover success on their own terms.

In this capacity I've had the privilege of coaching design leaders from the likes of Canva, Atlassian, Facebook, Webflow, Shopify, Wordpress and some amazing high-performing startups!

I also facilitate design reviews for small tech teams — collaborating with designers on concepts, ideas and coaching individuals towards producing their best work. I also advise portfolio companies of one of Australia's largest VC firms — helping CEOs create effective design organizations.

Design Coach & Advisor

I help creative, customer-first software teams reach their true potential. Through various advisory and investment roles I bring my industry experience and network to help small teams achieve big things. Investor in Liveblocks.io, ImClever.ai, Zhik.com and a few extra companies who have collaboration and creativity at their core. Currently advisor to Canva, SignerX.com, Petzyo and a handful more awesome design-first teams.

Investor & Advisor

Principal Designer, coach and creativity amplifier 🌈

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