Steeton, England, United Kingdom
Digital Accessibility Leader, with 15+ years experience in UI Design and Front End Dev. Can often be found ranting about semantic HTML and colour contrast. Side hustle: Freelance live music and portrait photographer covering Northern England for various magazines & websites.
Co-founder of regular accessibility Network based in Leeds, bringing together like-minded individuals to be curious, and inspire them to drive change in the world of digital accessibility.
Internationally published photographer available for commission. Specialising in live music photography, and equally adept at portrait, still life, editorial & corporate photography. Featured in many magazines and websites, including the The Fly, BBC, Clash, The Guardian, The Independent, The Sun and The Observer.
Job title updated to reflect specific areas of the team,
Alongside my formal role in Digital Design, I have adopted the responsibility of Digital Accessibility at Skipton Building Society, driving and embedding accessibility across both colleague and customer facing channels - Digital Accessibility Champions Network Lead & Founder - Engaged with colleagues across the business - from Delivery teams right through SLT, ExCo, to the group CEO - to raises awareness of digital accessibility - Design of Accessibility Approach - a strategy to embed accessibility best practices throughout the software development process. - Design of formal training paths for all software developers, designers, and testers. - Design and delivery of informal training for colleagues on topics including keyboard navigation and screen reader use, as well as Inclusive PowerPoint presentation sessions. - Design, development and delivery of Skipton’s Empathy Lab, which has been experienced by over 500 colleagues, and showcased externally to peers. - Represented Skipton at Financial Services industry conferences to discuss the importance of accessibility within the sector. - Working with third party accessibility partners to arrange audits - Conducted internal accessibility reviews, using both automated tools and manual techniques. - Conducted user testing with disabled users - Supported developers and designers on HTML/ARIA best practice. - Providing consultancy and guidance for change - Engaged - and challenged - third party suppliers to ensure supplied services meet accessibility standards. - Championed accessibility in branding work, ensuring that key accessibility considerations and testing were included in scope.
An evolution of my role as Digital Design Manager to more of an SME role. Accountable for the look and feel of the Society’s digital platforms, driving a standards-based approach through patterns libraries and design systems, and engaging with key stakeholders to optimise UI across all platforms. - Driving insight-led user-centric design - Leading production of Society’s first design system - Working with stakeholders to understand problems - Design of Prototyping Kit for user testing
providing voluntary consultancy for a local charity who support disabled people, their carers and families