Tiffany Apatu

I am a Designer.
I am a creative leader.
I am a work in progress.

Designing for people will get you the right results.

I think that less is more, details matter and that great design doesn’t just happen. It comes from hard work, attention to detail, listening and continuous improvement.

I create great user experiences and — perhaps most importantly — I create and grow Design teams that do it better than I do!

I am currently Assistant Vice President of Product Design at PCCW Global.

Who am I?

I’m a Design Thinker and Leader with 21 years of experience in product design and strategy.

I am committed to creating user experiences that people want and love. Importantly, I build, lead and empower the teams that do so.

I’m empathic, collaborative and truly believe that together, we are better.

Career highlights

I’m most proud of building and developing 2 design teams at Console Connect/PCCW Global and Flight Centre.

Designing Console Connect from the ground up in true Silicon Valley startup style.

Producing and rolling out all creative for Flight Centre’s digital signage implementation – much of which is still in use today (more than 5 years later).

Launching the website and online booking engine for Virgin Australia’s first long haul airline.

What makes me tick?

Collaborating, creating things that people love and need, problem-solving, gorgeous design… and ~~travelling and~~ eating Japanese food.

When it comes to Creative Leadership, I value clarity, creativity and collaboration.

My core skills

UX Direction and Leadership

Build, maintain and grow creative design and product teams
Develop and mentor creative professionals
Define and execute Design strategies
Brand championing
Evangelise and enable Design Thinking

Empathise through research

1:1 interviews
Group studies and focus groups
Contextual enquiry
Genba walks
Empathy mapping

Problem definition

Research analysis
Problem definition workshops: in-person and remote
Journey maps

Ideation and collaboration

Brainstorming and gamestorming: in-person and remote
Affinity diagramming
Rapid prototyping
Collaborative prioritisation

Prototyping and design

Low-fi paper
Mid-fi using Whimsical, inVision
Hi-fi using Figma or Sketch + inVision
Product concept production including video, brochures, posters
Service blueprinting

Research and testing

Design and facilitate:
- usability testing
- focus groups
- surveys and feedback
Analyse and workshop feedback
Iterative design/test and learn

CURRENT POSITION

Console Connect / PCCW Global

AVP Product Design

Global team

I lead and enable a team of Product Designers, UX Researchers/Testers and Analytics specialists in Brisbane and London.

We operate in a SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework environment) and work with Business Owners, Product Managers, Systems Architects and feature teams (including Product Owners, Scrum Masters, Developers and Quality Engineers).

Strategy

I develop and evolve our Product Design Strategy and roadmap as well as actively contribute to product strategies at large. We use Design Thinking to test ideas and inform prioritisation.

I continuously interact with stakeholders at all levels and promote Design and Design Thinking in product development and agile environments.

I’m an extended part of the Marketing team and actively contribute to Brand Strategy and Creative Direction.

Design

I design and facilitate workshops including Problem Definition, Ideation, Customer Journey Mapping and Service Blueprinting.

I both design, and contribute to the design of, UI designs from low-fi wireframes to detailed interactive prototypes.

We have recently launched our Nimbus Design System.

EXPERIENCE

Flight Centre Travel Group

Head of Digital Experience

Defined strategy and program of work for Digital Experience for Flight Centre.

Enabled a team of 20 digital specialists and 3 Team Leaders.

Accountable for UX and UI Design, Development and Optimisation.

Customer and competitive research and analysis.

Creative and UX direction.

Leader, Design & User Experience

Led the design and user experience for Flight Centre, Student Flights, Escape Travel and associated brands.

Performed analysis and conversion rate optimisation through multi-variate testing.

Established and grew Flight Centre’s first Design and UX team.

Key projects

A key contributor to the “Travel Shop of the Future” Digital Transformation program.

Lead Designer for global digital signage design and rollout.

Established Customer Closeness Program to drive habitual customer insights.

Peak XD

Senior UX Consultant

Interaction, interface and information design for private and public sector clients. Designed and conducted usability testing. Delivered UX training courses.

Virgin Australia Airlines

UX/CX Specialist (various positions)

Developed online strategy and continuous improvement for all websites and online booking engines. UI and interaction design, testing and optimisation. CX and service design for transformational projects.