2017 - 2021

Service Owner & Designer

I joined Shelter, the UK Homelessness Charity in 2017, after four years working in digital design of software as a service for consultancy Ecom. My experience ranged from illustration & visualisation, animation, UI/UX design and learning theory. This made me a perfect ‘T-shaped’ fit for Shelter. Starting initially as a product designer before being promoted to service owner of the online advice service.

1. Service owner accountability

In my final year at Shelter, during the Covid-19 pandemic at the height of service use around housing and homelessness needs, I had accountability for the online advice service for Shelter in Scotland.

Ensuring the service could meet demands, but also turning around an advice service of over 2,000 pieces of content tools to focus on the most acute needs.

2. User-centered design with the vulnerable

Conducting qualitative and quantitative user research with the vulnerable, those experiencing homelessness, ill-health, addiction, relationship breakdown et al.

3. Team leadership

I recruited a team of four content designers, user researchers and UX design. Leading these practitioners to prioritise the acute and emergent user needs of the advice service.

Including upskilling previous face-to-face advisors in practices of user research, content design, prototyping.

4. Organisational strategy

I worked with Directors of the charity to develop a user-centered strategy for our online advice service, the allocation of budget and roadmaps for delivery over the course of the year.

  • Working at Shelter for 4-years gave me a lot of flexibility to explore service design, participatory-led practice with vulnerable service users and strategic change.

  • Shelter was ambitious, supportive of professional development and allowed me to scale service design practices working with colleagues across England, Wales & Scotland on the development of our advice services.

  • Professional development allowed me to study modules on the service design masters course at the University of Dundee and obtain a professional development award in Service Design.

  • The development of design tools & methods, for discovery, ideation and implementation allowed for ample flexibility to explore too. As I developed persona kits, ideation workshop kits, research diaries, and advice content audit mechanisms.

  • Working with the vulnerable alongside social workers, addiction workers and advice providers allowed me to hone my skills with working with people going through hardship. Recognising that the work around design is not just about tools and methods, for visualisation or understanding. But also ‘ways of being’ with people, community engagement and building trust. As well as safeguarding throughout participation within service design practices.

Working for Shelter as a design practitioner

Working for Shelter methodologies applied

  • Content auditing of digital advice services at scale

  • Strategy development and accountability for a service as owner.

  • Qualitative user research methods with vulnerable communities.

  • Lo-fidelity and high-fidelity service prototyping.

  • Content design and development, leading content designers to take user-centered approaches to their work.

  • User-journey mapping, user stories, persona kits.

  • Synthesis of research at scale and application of methods for communicating evidence including Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD).

  • Delivery planning and service improvement roadmapping.

  • "Working at Shelter for four years helped to shape my career and my values as a design professional and as a person. Working directly with the vulnerable while recognising that many of us are one pay-check or relationship breakdown away from requiring housing advice."

    Nate G Sheach, 2020