Design Talk 67. Agency foundations; Tom Wood, co-founder, Foolproof

Tom Wood, co-founder of Foolproof, joins Marek Pawlowski to talk about what it takes to build a user-centred design agency, from the initial inspiration 17 years ago during his time as Head of Advertising at Virgin Money, to setting a course for the future through an acquisition. The conversation ranges from the nuances of structuring design teams for ongoing skills development to how it feels to be on both sides of the table during design agency mergers. Tom and Marek also talk about their shared interest in Norwich as an emerging centre for digital design and the technologies which might shape the next generation of interaction design. Get in touch with feedback and questions @mexfeed on Twitter or email designtalk@mobileuserexperience.com.

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On this edition

• Marek Pawlowski, podcast host & founder, MEX (@marekpawlowski)
• Tom Wood, Founder & Managing Partner, Foolproof, (@foolproofer)

Links

• Virgin Money, where Tom worked as Head of Advertising before founding Foolproof.
• Peter Ballard, Tom’s co-founder at Foolproof.
• Zensar Technologies, which bought Foolproof in 2016.
• Announcement of the Foolproof / Zensar deal in November 2016.
• Acquisitions & long-term growth strategies for design agencies, an article by Marek on the M&A landscape in digital design.
• A model for nurturing ideas as the life blood of agencies, an article by Marek on design group culture.
• Norwich, City of Stories, discussed by Tom and Marek as a hotbed for digital and design.
• Sync the City, a 54 hour start-up competition hosted in Norwich each year, where Tom and and Marek have served as mentors.
• Foolproof’s 2015 acquisition of creative technology agency Knit.
• ‘I thought you knew me!‘ An article by Annie Maxted in the Foolproof journal which goes into more detail on the challenges of personalised user experience Tom alluded to during our discussion of AI and automation.
• Interactive Light, an experiment by Argo Design, mentioned by Marek as an inspiring piece of experience design.
• The Misused Hardware Store, mentioned by Marek as an inspiring piece of creativity relating to experience design.

About MEX Design Talk & how to get in touch

The podcast for the MEX community, interviewing UX pioneers, exploring emerging technologies, user behaviour and how to design better digital experiences.

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Thanks

• Jukedeck, for the artificial intelligence engine which provided the music