UX Design Leader · Service Design · Experience Architect
Philosophy
"I've spent over 25 years designing at the intersection of people, systems, and the organisations that serve them."
My career spans from early days in London design studios to leading experience strategy and service design across Telstra Enterprise. No matter the role, one belief has shaped my work: the best products and services are the ones that feel effortless — where complexity is absorbed by the system, not the user.
I've built design teams from the ground up, shaped enterprise‑scale design operations, and mentored designers at every stage of their careers. My practice blends UX, service design, and experience architecture, giving me the ability to move fluidly between detail and system, craft and strategy, vision and delivery.
I see design as a whole‑of‑business capability — a way to drive clarity, alignment, growth, and customer trust. Whether I'm mapping a service ecosystem, defining an experience strategy, or simplifying a complex workflow, my goal is always the same: create experiences that make sense to the people who rely on them.
Great design begins and ends with the people it serves. Every decision — from information architecture to service flows — is grounded in research, empathy, and a deep curiosity about how people think, behave, and navigate complexity. If it doesn't make sense to the human on the other side, it doesn't make it into the solution.
Design without intent is decoration. I bring a strategic lens to every challenge, ensuring design decisions ladder up to business outcomes — reducing friction, improving adoption, strengthening trust, or enabling teams to deliver with clarity. Craft matters, but strategy is what makes it meaningful.
Exceptional design doesn't happen by accident — it happens in environments where teams feel supported, aligned, and empowered. I invest as much energy in building design operations, shaping ways of working, and fostering cross‑functional trust as I do in the work itself. Strong culture and strong design are inseparable.
Career
Experience Design Lead
For eight years, I led experience strategy and service design across Telstra Enterprise's most complex platforms — including billing, identity, security, service management, and the flagship Telstra Connect ecosystem. My work focused on simplifying multi‑system workflows, improving clarity for enterprise and government customers, and shaping the end‑to‑end journeys that underpin Telstra's digital experience.
Across these programs, I established design operations foundations, strengthened information architecture, and aligned cross‑functional teams around shared customer outcomes. I brought structure to ambiguity, created scalable patterns and frameworks, and helped teams deliver coherent, trustworthy experiences at enterprise scale.
UX Manager
Shaped the UX discipline across the NRMA Group, uplifting design capability and guiding experience strategy for a major business‑critical digital product nearing launch. Worked across multiple business units to embed human‑centred design, scope the UX for NRMA's electric vehicle fast‑charging network, and facilitate customer experience workshops that aligned teams around clearer user needs and improved cross‑functional collaboration.
Head of Design
Oversaw the design function across Scentia's portfolio of four education brands, shaping modern learning experiences spanning professional development, VET, and higher education. Introduced human‑centred and agile design practices, redesigned service processes to improve quality and scalability, led an organisation‑wide customer experience initiative, and mentored designers in UX, Lean, and design‑thinking methods to uplift capability across the group.
Experience Design Lead (Contract)
Joined Telstra Digital as an Experience Design Lead during a major transformation of Telstra's consumer commerce ecosystem, shaping modular e‑commerce UX patterns for a large‑scale migration to Adobe Experience Manager. Co‑developed Telstra Digital's design principles, strengthened inclusive design standards, and contributed to more consistent, accessible experiences across high‑traffic consumer journeys.
Creative Director
Directed and mentored a multidisciplinary design and UX team delivering digital experiences across four global regions and 18 languages. Introduced design‑thinking‑led processes, modernised tooling and documentation, co‑developed new brand guidelines for HotelClub, and delivered redesigned digital experiences that improved clarity, usability, and creative consistency across a fast‑paced international environment.
Head of Strategy & Creative Services
Directed a multidisciplinary team of designers, UX architects, and strategists to deliver award‑winning multichannel digital experiences across government, tourism, education, and corporate sectors. Built and managed strong client relationships, collaborated with multiple external partners to produce video, print, interactive, and other media, and championed design thinking and human‑centred design across the organisation. Co‑developed creative and UX approaches that contributed to Komosion receiving the NSW Excellence in Digital Marketing awards in both 2012 and 2013.
Creative Director
Served as Creative Director for a rapidly growing digital agency, leading creative direction and hands‑on design across branding, web, and print projects. Guided a small team of designers, partnered closely with clients through briefs, workshops, and pitches, and acted as creative lead for Samsung Australia — producing digital and print assets that supported national campaigns and elevated the agency's profile. Helped expand the studio's creative capability during a period of rapid growth.
Creative Consultant
Supported a rapidly growing regional design studio as a Creative Consultant, delivering hands‑on branding, web, and print design for small businesses across the Mid North Coast. Provided creative direction and technical guidance that expanded the studio's service offering, improved production processes, and strengthened the quality and consistency of client work — helping lift the studio's capability and reputation in the local market.
Creative Director & Owner
Founded and ran Craving Sushi Design after leaving Thin Martian, anchored by a major contract with Xbox EMEA. Delivered digital advertising, interactive experiences, and branded content for global entertainment clients and publishers — including assets for the Xbox console UI, Xbox.com, and MSN — and produced interactive educational content for well‑known children's brands. Led the full redesign of the Commonwealth Secretariat website, driving a deep information architecture process and delivering a modernised, scalable digital presence for an international organisation.
Senior Designer & Studio Manager
Played a key role in the growth of Thin Martian, balancing creative leadership with studio operations across a fast‑moving digital agency environment. Directed design direction across web, interactive, and campaign projects, managed resourcing and workflow, and acted as a primary client liaison across major accounts. Mentored junior designers, strengthened creative processes, and helped scale the studio's capability as the team expanded and the client portfolio grew.
Graphic Designer
Worked as part of the MSN EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) in‑house design team, producing web, graphic, print, and packaging design across multiple content verticals and regional markets. Delivered hands‑on HTML production and CMS management, supported high‑volume editorial and campaign workflows, and contributed to the visual consistency of one of the world's largest online platforms during a pivotal period in its evolution.
Toolkit
Hard Mastery
Strategic Direction
Software
Certifications
AI for Designers
2025
Design Psychology
2025
IBM Enterprise Design Thinking for AI
2024
UX Strategy Playbook with Jared Spool
2019
Lean Six Sigma Foundations
2019
Accredited Customer Experience Master (ACXM®)
2018
IBM Enterprise Design Thinking Practitioner
2018
Design & Innovation Thinking
2017
Certificate IV in Training & Assessment
2008
Testimonials
01 / 05
Craig is intuitive and gifted for all things human focused. He brings his wealth of knowledge to his research, creative thinking and UX design. Most importantly he is a true team player and works well within diverse and multi dimensional project and team setups.
Service Designer
02 / 05
Beside his extensive experience on Human-Centred design, his ability to go the extra mile to understand underlying systems and identify true customer needs, I was amazed to realise his deep understanding of how a true agile team operates and his ability to guide the team to grow into that. I'm sure Craig can steadily uplift any team he joins.
Digitisation Delivery Lead
03 / 05
With his years of experience, Craig is consistently one of the broadest and most forward‑thinking voices in the room. Generous with his deep knowledge across design thinking, service design, CX and systems thinking, he has that rare ability to zoom out, think broadly and anticipate challenges long before they appear.
Senior Content Designer
04 / 05
Craig is a dependable and approachable teammate who brings a pragmatic mindset and a strong grounding in research and design methodologies. He's generous with his time, openly sharing insights and knowledge, and is particularly strong at teaching and supporting others' development and craft.
Senior Experience Designer
05 / 05
Craig is an extremely knowledgeable, experienced, and passionate human-centred design practitioner who I had the great fortune to work with at Telstra. Craig is a true leader — honest and to the point but always professional, with a clear vision of what he wants to achieve on a project and how to get there.
Practice Lead
Open to opportunities · Sydney, Australia
I'm exploring senior experience design and leadership roles where design drives clarity, alignment and meaningful outcomes. If that sounds like your world, I'd love to talk.