Hello

Hello. I'm a strategic design director. I blend service design expertise with over 12 years of award winning digital design experience.

I build strong relationships with clients and combine this with a deep understanding of their customers. Through this approach I enable them to develop a vision for experiences that are desirable by those who use them, technically feasible and viable for the business.

I nurture and develop the talent of designers and believe we all work best as part of multidisciplinary agile teams. I am happiest leading collaborative teams through the design process, with clients and customers playing key roles in co-creation.

Over the past decade, I have led the strategy and design of experiences for customers and workforces across entertainment, fashion, fitness, FMCG, property, transport and travel sectors. From Red Bull to Silverstone racecourse, and from L'Oréal to The Shard.

I also have rich experience in designing for the financial and insurance sectors, and the complexities therein. Clients have included Natwest, Direct Line and RSA Insurance.

I balance a strong mind for business, with a genuine aptitude for empathy, allowing me to lead the strategy and design of experiences that are impactful for both customers and for clients alike.

Drop me an email me@kategreenstock.com

Design
Strategy

I add the most value to projects through the strategic approach that I take, understanding the market or business need and defining the value proposition. I have helped clients to build investment cases for market entry and global clients to redefine their offer. Some example projects include;

Evaluating service across the UK wide offices of Jelf Insurance Brokers through ethnographic research, interviews and workshops in order to design a standardised model for their digital services

Working with TEGA team at Girl Effect to build an investment case for innovative product enhancements to step change their research methodology

Defining how IP Global, International property investors, position themselves in the market and co-creating a content strategy for their unique proposition.

Design
facilitation

I am well versed in facilitating workshops and achieving stakeholder alignment.  I have led ‘Google Ventures’ inspired Design Sprints for corporates and not-for-profits and designed bespoke training for companies to adopt the practice in house. I’ve also facilitated Design Thinking workshops for London Design Festival and Service Design Jams. Some example projects include;

Defining services to help new scientists to get exposure and funding through a series of Design Thinking workshops and concept testing for Nature Publishing

Investigating how to make BSI standards more accessible and actionable for engineers through an intensive ‘Google Ventures’ inspired Design Sprint

Designing a bespoke design thinking workshop and toolkit for the internal innovation team at Life Fitness, then ‘training the trainer’ to enable them to conduct the sessions globally

Design
Research

I am passionate about the importance of research in the design process, whatever fidelity the budget affords. From ethnographic studies to concept testing, I champion the human centred design approach for every brief. Beyond initial research, I also ensure that data from user testing feeds back into our understanding. Some example projects include;

Validating a proof of concept for a digital ordering concept at Harvester restaurants through in restaurant interviews and user testing

Redesigning the operational experience of the London Gateway super port, from ethnographic research to a service blueprint and prototype

Evaluating how medical product designers were interacting with BSI standards through user testing the information architecture of their standards tool

Design
Direction

For the past 5 years I have acted as Design Director across a wide range of projects and clients. I have designed and tested customer-centric experiences, products and systems across multiple touch points. I have worked with teams to tackle complex UX for education platforms, and craft best-in-class UI for luxury clients. I am hands on or light touch as the project or design team requires. Some example projects include;

Launching an at home hair colour system for Josh Wood Colour through conversational e-commerce

Redefining education for the Life Fitness sales teams through an award winning gamification product strategy and design direction

Translating the luxury design cues from Mount Anvil boutique apartments into a revamped digital experience

Design
Leadership

Above everything else, my mission is to inspire and nurture the talented people that I manage (and some that I don’t).

I have led design teams from 3 to 8 people and I am part of a mentorship programme for women entering the industry. I introduce the design process to clients and train their teams on how to apply it. I have also spoken in public on the importance of design leadership.