Craig Dennis

Currently Product Designer at Close

  • craig@simplebitdesign.com

Design is not just the way things look. Design is the way things work.

I'm a designer with a passion for the web focusing on interfaces, interactions & experiences.

I run an agency during the day (and sometimes the night) and I also work on a other projects here and there, just for fun.

Each project is different but can include initial sketches, detailed wireframes and crisp, sharp interface mockups. I'm a designer who codes and so capable of implementing designs with semantic, accessible markup and adding advanced interactions in javascript.

I try and make time to learn something new every day. I'm active on ; chatting with similarly minded people or getting trolled. I also contribute to the community where I can on Stack Overflow and GitHub. I also post a few things on Dribbble

"Sometimes the best UI is no UI at all"

Experience

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Close

The CRM for sales people with a remote-first culture and a 100% distributed team.

  • At Close my responsibilities include:
  • Communicating strategies, user flows, behaviours, wireframes, mockups, prototypes, imagery and iconography, switching between low and high fidelity as appropriate.
  • Executing best-in-class UX and UI, to create delightful customer experiences.
  • Defining and leading the design direction for the product.
  • Combining product skills with honest user feedback and data-driven research to create elegant and impactful experiences to solve problems for customers.

Simple Bit

A small design team who make intuitive interfaces.

  • At Simple Bit my responsibilities included:
  • Managing all creative aspects of the business
  • Promoting the company and proactively bringing in work
  • Interface, Experience & Interaction Design
  • Sketching, wireframing, designing and coding
  • Scoping and budgeting time for work

Etch

I am proud to say I was involved in the formation of Etch. We’ve created an environment which fosters enthusiasm and encourages everyone to work to their full potential.

  • At Etch my responsibilities include:
  • Managing production targets and motivating staff
  • Overseeing all production work and QA
  • Interface, Experience & Interaction Design
  • Sketching, wireframing, designing and coding
  • Scoping and budgeting time for work
  • Developing concepts & pitching ideas to new and existing clients
  • Experimenting with the latest HTML(5), CSS(3) and jQuery techniques & best practice
  • Encouraging a culture of learning and independent thinking

Red Bullet

I was given the opportunity to lead projects from inception to conclusion and learn best practice in a multitude of disciplines from a hands-on experience. This forced me to learn quickly and apply that new knowledge in interesting ways.

  • At Red Bullet my responsibilities included:
  • User interaction design
  • Front end design & development
  • Dealing with client communication
  • Building semantic, accessible web & mobile sites and apps
  • Feeding the cat

Tamar

Based in West London, Tamar gave me my first design job after leaving university; having been discovered at New Designers. It gave me my first experience of working in the design industry.

  • At Tamar my responsibilities included:
  • Presentation preparation
  • Asset creation
  • Unserstanding client wants vs user needs
  • Conversion & Persuasive Design
  • Design & build of websites

Education

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Ravensbourne

  • BA Degree:
  • 1st class with honours
  • Other:
  • Student Representative

Oakwood Park Grammar School

  • A Levels:
  • Business Studies
  • Psychology
  • GCSE:
  • 12 Grade A-C including Maths, English and Triple Science

My utility belt

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  • Tools:
  • Pen & Paper
  • Sketch App
  • Photoshop
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • JavaScript
  • Reading list:
  • The Sketchnoting Handbook
  • Smashing Book/li>
  • What Ever You Think, Think The Opposite
  • Raster Systeme
  • A Book Apart

Designer Brain

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Left Brain

Considered to be adept at tasks that involve logic, language and analytical thinking.

Information Architecture
Predictable grouping of data
Usability
Esuring people are able to complete their goals
Accessibility
Enable access to content for a wider audience

Right Brain

The right side of the brain is best at expressive and creative tasks.

User Experience
A good experience beats a bad product
User Interactions
Subtle animations and transitions
Sketching ideas
Visual exploration of solutions

Let's talk!