Getting Under the Hood… Scarlett Maddock, Head of Experience design at Jadeworld
Ahead of tomorrows Under the Hood event, (Wednesday 28 April 2021, 12.30pm – 1.30pm) we learnt more about one of our presenters: Scarlett Maddock, Head of Experience design at Jadeworld.
Jade combines the power of People, Data, and Software to deliver unrivaled customer experiences. By maximizing the value of emerging and existing technologies, they constantly help organisations to better engage and retain their customers.
Can you tell us a little bit about who you are, what your background is, and how you first got started in the industry?
I’m from the UK, have been in NZ for 7 years and began working within the UX space straight out of university after completing a degree in graphic design. I was at my degree show on opening night, concerned about what I was going to do with my future as I knew the work I had been doing at university wasn’t the same as my peers when someone came up and asked if I knew what IA was. I said no and he told me he thought I was one (an information architect) – I was so relieved, accepted an internship and my career went from there. I have spent most of the last 15 years working within the financial sector and joined Jade around 6 months ago.
What do you enjoy most about your role as Head of Experience design at Jade?
There are two things. Firstly Jade is on a transformation journey and I get to be a part of shaping the destination and how we get there and secondly the culture. There is a really special atmosphere at Jade – it’s a combination of lovely people, determination and an invitation to add value and that comes from the CEO all the way through the organisation.
What insights to the Jade methodological approach, vision or philosophy can you give us?
Jade understands that while having a vision is an important start, what you do with that vision, how you operationalise your strategy is the key to making that vision a reality – and that thinking needs to be aligned across the organisation.
What project will you be presenting in Under the Hood?
We are sharing a piece of work that we’ve been doing for an aged care facility. It’s really unique as it embraces a full and holistic approach to Experience Design and the success of the outcomes has been down to the open-mindedness of the Customer. They were truly focussed on letting the research inform on the direction and comfortable that addressing the user need was the most important part of solving the problem.
What was the most challenging part of the project and what lessons did you draw from it?
There was an unspoken assumption across the project team that a single solution would be identified. The reality was far more complex and required a lot of analysis to be able to understand, articulate and communicate so that the right approach to solving the problems could be identified.
Was there an ‘Aha!’ moment in the project when things clicked and feel into place?
There were actually multiple but we will save those for sharing later
Now that project has finished what are you working on?
We have a diverse set of Customers so are working on multiple projects and on-going initiatives within the areas of AML and finance, insurance, machine learning and many others.
Finally, do you have any advice for people who want to get into experience design?
It’s not visual design so if that’s not your background don’t let it hold you back. When I look for potential new team members I’m assessing on a candidate’s ability to think and communicate and there are so many ways to do these things. Also your cv is super-important. Please consider the information design element as it’s such a critical part of visual communication and I am definitely assessing you on this aspect.
