About me
Striving to create meaning in my everyday life
Dennis Williams
User Experience Specialist, Cape Town, South Africa
I'm a passionate, enthused creative problem solver. I live for ideas and driven to create things with meaning.
A Certified User Experience and Customer Experience consultant with 15 years digital design experience and 7 years of high level, high impact UX consulting experience. I can operate on strategic and tactical levels to implement game changing innovation for digital products, websites and immersive experiences.
I have a good grounded knowledge of the entire product development and business biosphere including strategy, market positioning, marketing and development whilst firmly pragmatic and aware of finance and revenue models.
I have worked on major bluechip projects locally and for international companies, collaborating with world wide UX groups, companies and experts.
"Passionate about the subject matter. Determined to succeed without sacrificing people, clients or creativity. Has the integrity and soul to give a project the flair that will make it not only succeed, but differentiate itself and rise above all competitors. An extremely modest, considerate and intelligent visionary to work with."Lizelle Steyn, Founder MoreThanMoney
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Skills and Experience
With more than 15 years experience in digital, the following skills summarise my fields of speciality
Strategy & Business
Business Discovery, Project Definition, Vision Analysis
UX Research
Contextual, Mental Model and Competitor Research
UX Design & Prototyping
Ideation, Low & High fidelity prototyping
UX Testing and Validation
Usability project design and facilitated testing
Digital Design
End product design, graphic output and HTML
Marketing & Communications
Strategy, Exec Presentations, Pitches and Public Speaking
Work Experience
Some of my biggest clients over the last 5 years
2014
Old Mutual Wealth
User Experience Owner and Conceptual Ideation
"I think that if Dennis did one thing - and he did many - he made us think about the problem through a completely different lens, he asked one simple question which completely reframed how we were approaching things and helped set us on a new course."
Warick Burke - Old Mutual Wealth Executive
2014
Cheapflights.com
Usability Principle
"One of the most knowledgeable people I know on the topic of UX. Stays up to date with all the latest research and developments and have been in the local industry longer than anyone I know of. Extremely easy person to work with."
Suzanne Lilley - Head of Product at Cheapflights
Present
Vodacom
User Experience Principle
"Dennis exposed the team at Vodacom SA to the importance and value of a user-centered approach to solution development for business information needs. This approach has been incorporated into the business intelligence solution design and delivery process as a key principle and driver."
Mathilda Nel - BSG Manager
2012
RCS
UX research and prototyping
“This process was almost cathartic as it created greater levels of transparency, alignment and integration between BI and the organisation, with the resultant UX inspired dashboards allowing BI to transition from the supply of data to trusted partner in making informed decisions.”
Rori Kew - RCS Chief Risk Officer
2014
Inet-Bridge
UX Research and Design principle
"Masters at their craft!"
Barbara Arnold - Inet-Bridge Marketing Executive
Present
DNA CREATIVE
Owner & Principle Consultant
With over 15 years of business experience I've learned a few very valuable lessons. I've become obsessive to always put the customer at the center of the approach; to always be pragmatic about the road to get to the vision; and to have a firm grasp of finance and business as the starting point for any endeavor. I believe that no project can be a success if you don't win the hearts of the teams that must help in order to achieve it.
Education & Continued Learning
Highlights of Courses and Diplomas over my career
User Centric Innovation and Strategy
Human Factors International
Identifying and capitalising on opportunities that will enable successful penetration of the market. Analysing the impact of trends and lifestyle changes on users to develop appropriate positioning and design of new products and services. Capturing rich data that will enable in-depth understanding of the users and their ecosystems. Correlating design research, market understanding and business goals to define new markets, branding strategies, product positioning, and new business models. Translating actionable insights to new product, service and business ideas that will have a positive impact on the lives of users. Validating and test new ideas to minimize risks and determine criteria that are important for success.
MBA introduction to Marketing
Coursera via University of Pennsylvania
Branding - Marketing Strategy and Brand Positioning, Customer Decision Making and the Role of Brand, Effective Brand Communications Strategies and Repositioning Strategies
Customer Centricity - The Limits of Product-Centric Thinking, The Opportunities and Challenges of Customer Centricity, How Can Customer Centricity Be Profitable?
Go to Market Strategies - Omni-Channel Strategy and Online-Offline Interaction, How to Find Lead Users and Facilitate Influence and Contagion, Targeting and Messaging, Pricing to Value, Customer Access and Distribution
Certified Usability Analyst
Human Factors International
User-Centered Analysis and Conceptual Design - The basis for designing software interfaces that are intuitive and easy to use. Methods of analyzing user requirements.
Practical Usability Testing - A critical component of creating a user-centered application is progressive testing. Practical techniques to help move the design into accordance with the user's needs, limitations, mental models and cognitive styles.
The Science and Art of Effective Web and Application Design - Up-to-date usability research and the principles of successful visual design. Creating winning Web sites that balance user performance and visual appeal.
Putting Research into Practice - Review of recent usability research with a distinct "How can I use this?" focus.
Diploma in Multimedia Design and Production
CityVarsity College
Diploma Course in Multimedia Design involving work in many areas of graphic and new media design. Education in the design and production of print media, film, web design and interactive media design. Graduated with distinction and award for most likely student to succeed in business.
Get In Touch
Please feel free to contact me for references, or even if you would simply like to chat.
Contact details
Tamboerskloof Rd Tamboerskloof Cape Town
082 852 8359