William Hingley

Graphics

Students on this course:

Spotify Rewards, D&AD

This project was very much focused on UX from the start and looked at increasing user engagement and retention. By undergoing this task, I wanted to create familiarity and accessibility to all user groups, rather than privileging a certain demographic. The feature does this by recalibrating Spotify’s existing feature of “Rewards”. I achieved this through gamification of the app using tools such as push notifications and daily streaks as a way of enforcing users' behaviour.

English Heritage AR

This project was devised during the thick of the pandemic where people were exploring more of their local hidden gems. I wanted to be able to create something that enabled people to explore and learn about some of the amazing locations from around the country. I achieved this with augmented reality (AR). The concept enables users to virtually explore and step into something new, the app also enables the user to download different English Heritage sites straight to the device and tap on hotspots to find out more information on particular monuments. The app is built with the future in mind, when COVID-19 is in the past the app can be used within the classroom and be used to excite and inspire younger generations, furthermore, the app was designed with the needs of the less tech-savvy in mind as the app has potential to be used by the elderly or less mobile.

Forkit

Right at the beginning of this year, a group of three of us got together to complete a nine-week user-centred design course with Acumen. As a result of this time, we developed a product and service that helps, encourages, and teaches fresher students to cook healthier and nutritional food during this time away from home. Through extensive research and testing, we devised a course run and enjoyed by students to teach each other cooking skills throughout their first term at university. The other side of the app allows users to personalise their cooking abilities and the equipment at hand to offer meals that they are capable of creating. There are features within the app that encourage the user to create the dish themselves before they order for delivery, displaying incentives such as money and time saved. A key part of this project was the onboarding process (above image), the reason for this being so critical was that it created a very personal experience for the user where the user is not discouraged from cooking but encouraged by the app offering dishes that they are capable of creating.

Clear Point

To give background to this project, I was tasked with engaging low-income households with becoming advocates for protecting the environment and their local communities. When researching why recycling is still such a problem within certain communities I found that one of the biggest problems is that people are not confident that they are recycling correctly. I decided that meal deals would be the way I would target my users due to the huge amount of packaging that goes into them.

One issue that I came about was that people don’t like campaigns being forced upon them and so I had to find a way of getting the issue in front of them without putting them off. I went about looking at creating packaging that only revealed detailed information about the campaign after the point of sale, trapping the user's attention. I devised a one-off campaign that offers consumers a free meal deal, the consumer claims the cost back after correctly recycling the packaging. I further helped users' confidence by devising a recycling unit that uses bold visual aids to help clarify any confusion.

William Hingley

Throughout my final year studies, I have been focusing on user experience as my area of interest and bringing design and its development back to the users behaviour and expectation.

I am a UX designer who aspirers to further my knowledge and experience through the industry. I am fascinated by why people behave the way they do and how to use the information to benefit my design and its process. Throughout my work I have looked at different ways in which a user's experience can be enhanced and used to benefit the end goal, creating an emotional design that helps engage the user. Throughout this final year, UX has been my focus and as a result, my work has created a true passion.

Final year project

English Heritage AR / Forkit / Spotify / Clear Point

Awards

Gained a distinction through my Foundation Arts Degree that I studied at Loughborough University, 2017-2018.

Work Experience

I was extremely lucky to have worked with the team at Hydra Creative throughout my time on placement.

Whilst with Hydra I was given a paid position as a ‘Graphic Designer (intern)’. Throughout this time I was able to work on such a vast array of tasks from internal to client work. I was also able to engage in client meetings and have professional communication with clients.

My year out like many of my colleagues at university was very strange with the arrival of COVID-19. It was a very disruptive time for everyone, it presented a new way of working and caused problems that had to be overcome.
COVID-19 helped me to assess what I had learned and tested me, I felt I was able to hold my own when working from home and found I could adapt well to change and get work completed. This wouldn’t have been possible without the support and community at Hydra.