Interview with Creative Insider
I loved talking with Ethan from Creative Studio Insider about my design career journey, trends in the UX industry and advice for designers looking to change disciplines into UX/UI.
Hey, I’m Jim,
a UX/UI Design leader
in Naarm, Melbourne.
Experience
Lead Product Designer
EQL
2022–Present
I've joined the exciting team at EQL, working on their hype commerce product — a launch platform that manages high demand goods, filters out bots and promotes fairness for fans.
Digital Director
Liquorice
2013–2022
I've had the privilege of building and leading the immensely talented UX/UI design team at Liquorice, a digital and brand agency in Fitzroy, Australia. I’ve led the team of talented creatives over 9 years as we worked on design research projects, digital strategies, applications and websites.
As a Director in a mid sized agency I've also worn a lot of other hats; on some projects I have also managed our developers, copywriters, and animators. I even had a decent stint as a design / product manager on our internally developed SAAS product, Dokio, before it spun off into its own sister company.
Founder + Digital Designer
Something Splendid
2007–2013
With friend and cofounder, Jonathan Bellew, I ran Something Splendid, a small digital and branding studio in Collingwood, Australia. We began working together on client projects as a side hustle in our final year of uni and both turned down real jobs with other studios when we landed our first big project just before graduation.
We quickly found our niche in designing and building beautiful websites for the cultural and arts sectors in Melbourne. We were lucky enough to work for diverse clients like Rooftop Cinema, Mr John Clarke, BKK Architects, Next Wave Festival and even Crimestoppers Victoria! From 2012 onwards we found ourselves doing website work almost exclusively for Liquorice, and in April 2013 we were acquired by them to build the digital side of their agency.
Bachelor of Design
(Visual Communication)
Monash University
2007
Liquorice front door, Fitzroy
Kolmeo
Kolmeo apps +
marketing website
2020–2021
Kolmeo is a proptech startup with apps for property management for rental agencies, owners and tenants. I led the UX/UI team at Liquorice to build a design system for mobile and desktop app UI and design a marketing website to mirror the joy and fun of their new brand with bright colour, fun illustrations and detailed frontend animations.
Kolmeo’s internal design and development teams were struggling with consistency and balancing the new brand with functional requirements. We were trusted by them to simplify design elements and add brand personality, ultimately delivering a Figma design system that included key design patterns, components, a brand style guide, iconography and illustrations.
View site
“We had the pleasure to work with Jim and the Liquorice team who created our wonderful, vibrant and fun website and app UI. Our new look really represents the type of business we are building and we always get wonderful feedback on all the work, both internally and externally.”
– Narina Amvazas, Head of Brand, Kolmeo
UX/UI Direction: Jim Yencken
UX/UI Design: Jayne Halsey and Steve Mitchell
Case study & team acknowledgements
Stallion Match
Stallion Match app
2021–2022
Stallion Match is an analytics platform, directory and messaging system for horse breeders and stallion farms. I led the Liquorice UX/UI team on an extensive research and design project and delivered an extensive Figma design system to Stallion Match’s development team.The heart of the platform is an analytical search algorithm for breeders to find suitable matches for their horses.
The complexity and detail of the data challenged us to present complex information in a way that was simple enough for hobbyist breeders and powerful enough for industry veterans. We conducted user testing on early prototypes with a mix of users in the industry and identified potential UX pain points and key features that needed further functionality.
“Partnering with Jim and the team at Liquorice to design our new web application, Stallion Match, was an enjoyable experience. Their extensive experience in UI and UX was evident from the outset. They were required to undergo extensive market research before the design phase – which they did expertly. Their enthusiasm, coupled with a passion for design, has resulted in the Stallion Match platform successfully marrying sophisticated analytics with a crisp and pleasurable user experience.”
— Matthew Ennis, Man. Director, Stallion Match
UX/UI Direction: Jim Yencken
UX/UI Design: Will Batrouney and Steve Mitchell
Case study & team acknowledgements
ACMI
ACMI Website
2019–2022
I led the UX/UI team at Liquorice in designing the new website for ACMI, Australia’s beloved national museum of screen culture. Not just a marketing or ticketing tool and much more than a digital museum collection; the goal was to extend visitors' journeys from the physical exhibition space into their homes.
Visitors to the museum can collect their favourite works using an RFID tag and explore deep information and curated recommendations on the website. A once in a lifetime opportunity to be involved in such an exciting museum and collaborate with their passionate staff.
View site
“Jim and the Liquorice team’s experience with websites, ticketing integrations and web applications for the Australian cultural sector was invaluable and we highly recommend him to others seeking the same expertise.”
— Seb Chan, Chief Experience Officer, ACMI
UX/UI Direction: Jim Yencken
UX/UI Design: Peter Binek and Jayne Halsey
Case study & team acknowledgements
Values
Lead with vulnerability
High performing design teams require psychological safety in order to share ideas, make mistakes and iterate on difficult problems. Lead by example by being open, authentic and vulnerable.
Test early
and often
Challenge assumptions with research at every opportunity — you’ll learn more from a day of user tests than a month of revisions and finessing designs. After all, the most expensive thing you can build is the wrong solution to the problem.
Balance
passion + curiosity
A thriving design culture is a balance of sharing things that inspire but also being curious about failure — every bad user experience is also an opportunity to create unexpected delight.
Culture
before
talent
The value of culture and kindness is higher than talent and ego — it’s easier to build skills and experience in a healthy team than it is to repair a toxic workplace of rockstars.
Spread the praise, take
the blame
Celebrate success as a team, recognise individual contributions and amplify other voices. Take responsibility for mistakes, look back with honesty in retrospectives and own the process of change.
Prototyping in low(ish) fidelity
More realistic than a wireframe and faster than polished designs; low(ish) fidelity design is often the sweet spot for prototyping and user testing and a great place to begin designing.
More projects
Alcohol and Drug Foundation Community app and website
UX/UI Direction: Jim Yencken
UX/UI Design: Angus Tait, Peter Binek
Case study & acknowledgements
Craft Victoria website
UX/UI Direction: Jim Yencken
UX/UI Design: Will Batrouney
Case study & acknowledgements
Geelong Arts Centre website
UX/UI Direction: Jim Yencken
UX/UI Design: Peter Binek
Case study & acknowledgements
Dokio application and website
UX/UI Direction: Jim Yencken
UX/UI Design: Angus Tait, Peter Binek, Jayne Halsey
Case study & acknowledgements
Man With A Van website
UX/UI Direction: Jim Yencken
UX/UI Design: Peter Binek
Case study & acknowledgements
Thorne Harbour & Beyond Blue Dale community application
UX/UI Direction: Jim Yencken
UX/UI Design: Angus Tait
Case study & acknowledgements
Testimonials
Contact
me at jimyencken.com
Linkedin