Ahmed Shuja - Methodical Problem Solver. Experienced Digital Designer, Speaker, Manager, and Mentor; with a Global Perspective

I design digital products, services, spaces, and furniture that make life a little better.

My work is led by research & governed by my 6 point Design Philosophy.

I firmly believe in paying utmost consideration to ‘context’ for designing anything for humans. We are complex emotional creatures who take inspiration from their surroundings and behave as per our individual/ respective circumstances that drive biases. This is reflected in my teaching, consulting, mentoring, and talks. I love cooking & baking along with documenting my world as an amateur photographer. I have previously written, composed, and even sang songs to swoon my then girlfriend and now wife.

Design Methodology

Tried, Tested & Iterated KPI-driven & Adaptable Lean Human Centred Design Methodology

Confession: I love iterating my own designs after observing people interacting with UIs and products I have crafted. My guilty pleasures thus include ethnographic research methods along with working closely with all stakeholders to optimise products and services.

I have been designing & developing the web since the 1990s with a focus on UX/CX and Service Design over the last decade.

A few things I do...

Present Concepts & Solutions
Persuade team members & Clients
Tell Great Stories
Conduct Task Analyses
Mentor Design Teams
Sketch / Wireframe
Specify Interaction
Make sense of Analytics Data
Create Personas & Scenarios
Conduct Diary Studies
Workshops with Product Teams
Perform Cognitive Walkthroughs
Contextual Inquiry
Recruit & groom UX Talent
Create Task Flows
Conduct Depth Interviews
Heuristics Based Evaluations

I use Adobe XD, Sketch Illustrator, Sketching (Paper, iPad + Pencil), Analytics, InvisionApp, and even PowerPoint to get the job done!

I have designed for users aged 6 to 66 years from the UK, North America, Australia, Middle East, Africa, South Asia, and Singapore.

6 Point Design Philosophy

1. Stephen Hawkings was spot on...

Storytelling is key! For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learnt to talk and we learned to listen... to stories!

2. Sustainability ensures ROI

Sustainable Usability and User Experience (UX) are more about ‘function’ than they are about 'form’. i.e. Figuring out how things work is more important than how they look.

3. Always go for a Win-Win!

Identify the users of your product or service and thoroughly understand the context of use before wireframes or prototypes - you will automatically meet the business goals & objectives.

4. Usability is Important

Usability is the inverse measure of frustration caused by technology or other systems. Frustration seldom leads to a favorable outcome, unless the objective is to annoy the users/customers.

5. More than meets the eye!

UX/CX Design is all about research led solutions to users' pain-points, the visual artifacts are created merely to communicate the solutions.

6. Context changes everything!

An Experience Designed for the User,in a certain context, based on carefully selected user-centered design practices for that context, makes the experience relevant.

Featured Projects

Sehat (2015)

Lead Service Designer

An online shop for a famous brick-and-mortar chain of pharmacies, the product was not attracting enough users with a very high percentage of failed checkouts. The redesign KPIs focused on increasing sales/ completed checkouts.
The end result was rebirth of the entire service to achieve business goals.

ListenTool (2014)

Lead Product Designer

ListenTool is a revolutionary new social way for organisations and teams for improving their people performance - moving away from the traditional 360 Feedback and Performance Reviews. It didn't start out like that!
The original brief required a better looking survey tool.

ScribeForce (2013)

Lead Product Designer

ScribeForce is a digital transcription workflow solution. In use since 2006 by users belonging to clinics & hospitals in the UK, ScribeForce needed a revamp to expand globally in 2014. This came with a super challenge.
The existing, loyal customers could not upgrade from IE6 @ 1024x768.

Eleni LLC (2013/14)

Lead UX Designer

A mega-project with responsive UIs or dedicated Mobile Apps, for: Warehouse Operations, Trading, Auctions, Accounting, Banking and Finance, Big Data Analytics, User Management, Audit, Surveillance, Clearing & Settlement and more.

CricOut (2013)

Lead UX Designer

CricOut is a startup aiming to be the online social network for cricket. I worked with the product owners to define the product and it's experience. From a chat board like cricket commentary screen to a social network...

Kansai Paints (2012)

Lead UX Designer

Expanding into decorative paints, Kansai Paints wanted to look Japanese and needed to engage users who visited their corporate portal. I designed tools with integration into social media to propagate the message and drive user acquisition.