We’re delighted to have been recognised for the second consecutive year by The Sunday Times as one of the ‘100 Best Small Companies to Work For’ in the UK.

This year we’ve moved up a huge 57 places to reach number 19 achieving top 10 scores for Leadership (90%) and employees feeling proud to work for the company (95%). We also received the maximum 3 star ‘extraordinary’ status, a fantastic achievement.

It’s not often that you get a chance to stand back and cast an eye over what has been going on in the last twelve months but World Usability Day has offered me just that opportunity.

Today, as in previous years, we will open our doors to a group of graduates from a range of London universities to showcase what working in experience design is really like.

What better way to celebrate 10 great years in business than by catching up with old friends of Foolproof. So I dusted off the personnel files of old colleagues and took a walk down memory lane – ok Facebook, since many of our former staff are scattered around the globe.

As one of the longest serving Foolproofers I was well placed to undertake this project, having had the privilege of knowing and working with them all. I was even part of the interview panel for many of the earlier ones – long before the days of in-house HR and line management functions.

I recently attended the UK UPA event ‘Profiling the Perfect UX Practitioner’. The panel consisted of Aline Baeck, Andy Budd, Stavros Garzonis and Jason Mesut.

The evening began with each speaker sharing their views on what makes a perfect UX practitioner and ended with a Q&A session that sparked further discussion about portfolios, mentorship and the importance of a design education.

The general consensus towards the end of the evening was that there is no such thing as the perfect consultant. UX practitioners come in all shapes and sizes and to be a good one you don’t require a formal qualification.

Q: So, you recently celebrated your fifth anniversary here at Foolproof, what was your career path leading up to joining the company?

A: Before Foolproof I worked for a usability agency as a usability consultant. On the side, I completed a Chartered Institute of Marketing Diploma to expand my commercial knowledge and to complement my existing psychology degree and Masters in HCI with Ergonomics.

Foolproof’s design philosophy really appealed to me as they balance the needs of both customers and businesses in a way which the agency I worked for didn’t.

This month, we opened the doors of our London office to students from UCL and City University for World Usability Day.

The event was designed to give students a good idea of how we work here at Foolproof and how the skills that they’re developing during their courses can be applied to commercial projects.

For the last 10 years University College London Interaction Centre (UCLIC) has provided the user experience (UX) industry in the UK – and beyond – with many of its movers and shakers through its Masters course in Human-Computer Interaction. You can now find UCLIC graduates in the corridors of many of the leading consultancies, not to mention companies such as Google and eBay.

Foolproof counts at least half a dozen UCLIC graduates amongst its current staff, so it felt only natural that we should sponsor the Centre’s 10th anniversary as a demonstration of our ongoing commitment to this most valuable of resources. As a former student, it was with great pleasure that I returned to UCLIC last week to attend a day of lectures and networking to celebrate their anniversary.
 

If you’re interested in getting a job in user experience (UX), what should you do to make a great first impression? I spoke to Leslie Fountain, Experience Design Director, and Karen Varnavas, HR Co-ordinator, to find out what you should think about when putting together your CV, covering letter and portfolio.

Post by former Foolproofer Roger Smithers.

It seems to be the month for Foolproof student activities and not to be left out I went back to one of my old haunts, Gaydon, and the heritage motor museum, to give a short presentation to IEHF students about where a career in Ergonomics and Human Factors can take you (or at least has taken me), and what Foolproof and a career in the digital space can offer.

Following on from Mara and Elsa’s presentation to UCL students last week, we invited the same students to visit us in our London office as part of Foolproof’s World Usability Day activities.