Gavin Edwards directs product design and research for Skyscanner, a travel search platform serving 90 million users a month. He talks to MEX founder Marek Pawlowski about applying research insights at scale, the cultural nuances of users’ travel behaviours and his own journey through design agency work to leading in-house teams. Along the way, the conversations touches on design education, Gavin’s love of engineering and tinkering, as well as hiring for large-scale design teams of 50+ headcount. 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)
• Gavin Edwards, Director of Product Design & Research, Skyscanner (@thewince)

Links

• InVision’s Design Maturity Model, mentioned by Gavin as an example of thinking about design operations.
• McKinsey Design Report 2018, mentioned by Gavin as an example of thinking about design operations.
• Else, the London-based design agency where Gavin worked.
• Brunel Industrial Design Engineering, the course Gavin studied at university.
• Warren Hutchison, founder and partner at Else, who Marek spoke with in episode 46 of the MEX podcast.
• Dave Dunlop, one of the Else partners mentioned by Gavin.
• Andy Moore, another of the Else partners mentioned by Gavin.
• Else’s Academy programme, which aims to nurture design talent at the company and build an ongoing relationship with academia through teaching and mentoring.
• An example of how MEX has worked with universities like Brunel on an ongoing programme of collaborative activities, mentioned by Marek as part of the discussion about long-lasting relationships in design education.
• Marek’s conversation with Jo Barnard, founder of design agency Morrama, in episode 59 of the MEX podcast. Jo first got involved with MEX through part of the student programme with Brunel.
• Franco Papeschi’s MEX/9 talk in May 2011 on sustainability and the craftsmanship of digital materials, mentioned by Marek during the conversation with Gavin about craft parallels.

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