Move fast and iterate: the way to go for Tangent
London, February 27th, 2020
With offices in London and Newcastle, Tangent is a digital agency that helps brands realise their potential, reimagine their customer experience and reinvent their future.
“Move fast and iterate” is their mantra, hoping to help clients to create great digital products without wasting their time and budget.
Richard Trigg is the Experience Design Director at Tangent, a position he has held for over three years.
In an interview with TIA, he described the main features of the agency and its team, while also looking at their design process and recent work. He also reflected on his career and the future challenges ahead.
Can you tell us a little bit about your role and your main tasks?
My role is all about delivering useful and aesthetically pleasing design solutions for our clients. To do that, I get involved in the end-to-end design process from framing problems, prototyping and testing solutions to measuring effectiveness.
What makes Tangent stand out from other agencies?
Our strongest asset is and always will be our people. We build strategic relationships with our clients focused on delivering growth and value. But we also like to think we’re a fun agency to work with and like to share a laugh.
About the agency, what are the key elements behind its culture?
Encouragement to fail and learn from our mistakes. Good design rarely happens the first-time round. We have a culture that supports our teams to be bold and try new things and support us to learn from mistakes and move on.
How would you describe your design process?
If the 15 years working in design have taught me anything! To do ‘good design’, the most important thing is space and time to practice divergent and convergent thinking.
What that means in practical terms is resisting the temptation to jump to a solution too soon. A key aspect of our design process is getting away from our macs. We always get out into the field, talk with users and seek inspiration from varied sources.
How do you prioritize which product features to keep or discard?
Easy one! We just ask this question “Will this feature help us achieve our objectives and is it feasible?” If the answer is “YES” it goes in scope. “NO” we ditch it. “NOT SURE” we conduct more research.
What would you say will be the next big trend in the UX Design industry?
Micro interactions, Neumorphism, AR and VR. But in all seriousness, my honest recommendation would be that we all spend more time developing good content. I see so much bad content on the web and in apps. Forget about the bells and whistles until you have the foundation sorted.
Can you share some recent work you are proud of?
We’re working a large programme of work for IWG (Regus) at the moment. We’re creating a new app and responsive portal for their customers to manage their workspaces. We’ve also recently launched three new sites for Peak, Decibel and Codility. It’s been exciting to help them on their journey to raising funding.
As a UX designer, what are the current challenges you’re facing?
It is a constant challenge to bring our clients along with us throughout the design process, especially if they aren’t used to working so closely with an agency partner. I think the biggest thing is helping them to overcome any preconceived ideas they have about what ‘good design’ looks like and trusting us to base our output on a process that is tried, tested and has the user at the heart of it.
What are some apps or websites that you love?
The Trainline team have done a good job with their recent app update. The new SplitSave feature is very cool. On the face of it SplitSave seems very simple. But calculating millions of train journeys, maximising savings and ensuring no unnecessary train changes is a big ask. I would have loved to have tackled that one!
In your opinion, what’s the most exciting part of working in digital at the moment?
Just the pace of change, digital is constantly evolving and its exciting always learning new things.
Do you have a particular goal you would like to achieve by the end of your career?
My goal is always to build and scale a happy design team. If I can continue to nurture and support designers to do great things I will be happy.
Thanks Richard!
Follow Richard Trigg on social media:
LinkedIn
Richard’s Working Preferences:
Android vs iOS:
100% Apple
Preferred social media channel:
Twitter
Coffee vs. tea:
Too much coffee
Favorite work snack:
Kit Kat
Sitting vs. standing desk:
Sitting
Most quoted book:
Laws of simplicity - John Made
Treasured TV show or movie:
Anything with about music or sport
Name 3 artists on your office playlist:
Idles, Fontaines D.C. and Bonobo
Actual project management application:
Teamweek, Trello & Airtable
Preferred business meeting restaurant in your city:
The Ship, London
Favorite sneaker brand:
Vans - I love their recent collabs
If you could work anywhere in the world, where would it be?:
Norway (never actually been but it just looks so peaceful). If anyone reading has got some challenges they need solving, lets organize a workshop in Norway!
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