Interview: How do you develop a career as a Senior Digital Designer?

Eleanor
Oct 30, 2016
2 min read

This month I was fortunate enough to get theopportunity to interview, DamienGallagher the Senior Digital Designer at ‘Which?’. ‘Which? ’ is currently the largest consumer body in the UK with over 680,000 members that subscribe to the magazine and 335,000 plus online subscribers. The first issue of the magazine was published in 1957 from the company’s converted garage in Bethnal Green. The website launched in 2006 and is now one of the most used websites in testing household products.

The brand however goes beyond this with its principal purpose being to make ‘positive change on important consumer issues’. Existing ‘to make individuals as powerful as the organisations they deal with in their daily lives. ‘Which?’ achieves this through their ‘advice [that] helps people make informed decisions’, with ‘campaigns making people’s lives fairer, simpler and safer and ‘services and products putting the consumers’ needs first to bring them better value’.

Read more to find out what it involves to be Senior Digital Designer at Which? and to find out what advice Damien has for students wanting to get into this line of work…

1. What’s your job title?

Senior Digital Designer at Which?

2. How would you describe your job?

I design elegant, engaging websites/pages that are simple and intuitive to use.

3. What is a typical day for you?

Because of the nature of project work, there’s quite a lot of variety depending on what I’m working on. I am in the office three days a week and work from home the other two. Typically I will divide my time between deep periods of concentration working on designs and meeting and collaborating with other people (product managers, user experience designers, business analysts, researchers) to plan, propose or review work and make sure the sites we build meet all our objectives and our users’ needs.

4. What skills/qualifications do you need to do your job?

Always a difficult one, because I got into web design and development before there was any education available on the subject. I studied fine art and my colleagues have studied illustration and digital design. With design, I tend to find that a great portfolio and experience count for more than past qualifications.

5. What experience do you need to do your job?

Designers will find they can get work based on the strength of their portfolios and as they accrue commercial experience, that will start to get them better and better jobs. In terms of actually performing well at work, I think experience has taught me to remove any ego from my work and understand that we are working towards a common goal. So there’s no need to get defensive about constructive criticism. It’s all about exploring the best solutions.

6. What advice would you give a student looking to get work in your field?

Be proactive. Do lots of personal projects and publish them to your online portfolio. Be proactive and meet people, go to networking events, do some contract work. Do, do, do!

7. Who is your creative inspiration and why?

A designer I really like is Tobias Van Sneider. One thing he does is a set of audio interviews with inspiring designers or artists. I love his open, ego-less, enquiring manner.