About me

My career began with a lucky internship in UX design in Johannesburg, South Africa. I’d been studying Philosophy and saw a flyer in the department saying “We can teach you how to design, but we can’t teach you how to think”. I was hooked on the idea that design is for people, and should be tested with people. Curiosity and critical thinking were handy skills that I gained from Philosophy; and has made UX a great fit for me. Most of my career has been in agency and consulting roles (with varying clients and projects), but the last few years I’ve been an in-house designer.

I’ve since gained experience along the way in CX, Service Design, and UI design. Each role and project has brought an opportunity to learn more, which has made me quite rounded as opposed to narrowly specialised.

My special power is being able to explain complex concepts in clear, basic ways. I have strong communication and presentation skills and am adept at handling stakeholders of all seniority levels.

I’ve grown into managing teams and leading designers. I enjoy mentoring junior designers; often emulating the leadership I have been lucky enough to benefit from.

Core Skills

  • Workshops & Facilitation

  • Product roadmap planning

  • Customer/User Journey mapping

  • Service Blueprints

  • User research & testing

  • Information Architecture

  • UX & Product Strategy

  • Low to High Fidelity Wireframes & Prototypes

  • UI Design

  • Design Systems

Tools I prefer

  • Figma

  • Sketch

  • Miro

  • Trello

Methodologies

  • Agile

  • Design Thinking

  • User Centred Design

What I value

I really appreciate being part of a team. I enjoy a vibrant work culture that is supportive, flexible but high achieving.

I thrive in an environment where projects change every so often and the challenges are fresh.

Research and testing are important to me, and I have a strong preference for opportunities where that is baked in.

I naturally think of experiences beyond holistically, Service Design is an important aspect of my design DNA.

What I bring to the team

  • Energy, charisma, and a good sense of humour

  • An ability to see the bigger picture, smaller parts and the connections and dependencies between them

  • A mix of creativity and analytical thought

  • Self-awareness and vulnerability

  • A stubborn need to improve and optimise workflow and internal processes

  • No ego; can lead or follow

On a more personal note

  • Wife to Ashley, Mom to Rogan

  • Cat slave to Barley and Hops

  • Lover of patterns, print, colour and contrast

  • Constantly listening to a podcast

  • Collector of antique tins and trinkets

  • Eurovision nerd est. 2020

  • Hobby collector & “maker” at heart

  • Lover of Indian, Korean and Middle Eastern cuisine

  • Happiest in the kitchen, where I make most food from scratch

  • Beer obsessed. Obvs.

What others have said

  • Thandi is an exceptionally skilled designer and it has been nothing but an honour to work alongside her these last few months. Her deep working knowledge of UX practices coupled with her fierce passion for designing good experiences make her a formidable force and a true champion of the user. Walking the halls with her is an experience unto itself. From the cleaners to the execs, designers to professional assistants, she makes an effort to talk to and know each everyone that crosses her path.

    Never afraid of a challenge, she is also brave and confident, never hesitating to push for designing the right thing as well as designing it right. I could write an essay on all of the wonderful things that Thandi brings to her engagements and can honestly say I have learnt so much from her in our time together at [Company hidden]. Not the least of which is how to work smartly whilst still delivering way over and above the expectation.

  • Thandi is energetic and has a lot of focus. She has strong and substantiated opinions and is quick to solve some really hard problems, wicked problems with creative ideas.

    She can process, analyse and visualise the challenges in a collaborative and inclusive way despite having a firm (often valid) opinion. She is always willing to dive in and get stuff done – I enjoy working with her because she is an easy listener and helps to add value to the work at hand through her thinking and doing way of approaching things. Overall I believe that she is a really positive and strong player in the team.

  • I worked in collaboration with Thandi on numerous projects here at the JSE. Her approach to creating user experiences for people on digital platforms was always well thought out, and impressive to say the least. She always brought her A-game to the table. A creative and conceptual thinker whose work I admire.

    She is great at taking large amounts of information, analysing and making sense of it.

    I also had the opportunity to work with Thandi in some user research interviews earlier last year (where she assisted our team) and it comes naturally to her. You will be missed!