Paul Reynolds

As a Principal Consultant at Mima I deliver human-centred strategy and design for complex & mission-critical workplaces and design of customer facing operational environments & systems. I have led the strategy & design of complex and mission-critical workplaces across many sectors and regions, covering visioning, qualitative user research, blocking and stacking functional spaces, ergonomic space planning, design intent for furniture & interiors, human-centred application of technology, operator workflows development, and inclusive wellbeing features. My work has facilitated high-performance workflows and communications. As an example, the outcomes for a rail industry project included a 30% reduction in the time for the service to return to timetable following comparable operational incidents and a 60% reduction in train cancellations. Sectors I have worked in include data centres, aviation, rail, renewables, emergency services, government, and international experimental research centres. I have helped transport organisations improve key system stages in their operations (like ticketing & check-in) and helped to optimise physical design of customer facing features (such as customer service kiosks). Applying human-centred spatial design in these areas bridges customer flow and organisational strategy for digital products and services. I have also helped transport organisations achieve key performance aims during periods of planned operational change through monitoring, measuring and improving customer experience touchpoints that influence user behaviours and associated commercial outcomes. I have also worked on projects with a distinct focus on developing organisational strategy at start-up stage; building design thinking skills within client teams, exploring market opportunities & business cases, and collaboratively mapping product & development roadmaps.

As a Senior Consultant I led human-centred design activities across a broad range of projects; carrying out contextual inquiry, synthesising and analysing research outcomes, gathering functional requirements, delivering feasibility studies, concept design, detailed design, and specification of furniture & room finishes. I also used my growing knowledge of human-centred workplace design of environmental aspects such as artificial lighting, control of daylight, acoustics, design for the mind, and other key considerations to optimise the design of a variety of workspaces and features in tune with human behaviour; supporting wellbeing and enhancing performance. My work focused heavily on engaging with end users to collaboratively ensure optimisation of the features and arrangement of workplaces, zonal features, furniture and equipment to enable them to do their work effectively. I worked closely with end user representatives using informal interviews, meetings, interactive workshops and other techniques to understand their requirements and motivations and to develop accessible and inclusive concept and detail designs that would work well for them and others. I regularly worked closely with furniture suppliers and other specialists - throughout design stages and completing factory and site acceptance reviews - to ensure that the implementation of the design met the needs of the users. I redesigned the main design office at Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN) in Switzerland, developed feasibility and concept designs for the main control room at International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) fusion project in France, and was the lead designer for over 30 station ticket offices and control point upgrades across London Underground stations as part of a major programme with Transport for London (TfL).

As a Consultant I delivered key design activities within projects led by others. Activities included conducting measured surveys, ideation, concept sketching & development, constructing full-scale adjustable prototypes, assisting in prototype testing exercises, performing 2D ergonomic design and validation, creating 3D CAD models and photorealistic renders, and design development liaison with manufacturers & suppliers. Projects I worked on included utility company control centres, airport terminal control rooms, and bespoke furniture design for Network Rail as part of multiple connected facility upgrade projects. Through the experience of this role I built the capability to lead human-centred workplace design projects and grew a keen interest in holistic development of briefs and requirements to drive more comprehensive consideration of user needs and aspirations in the design process.

As an Industrial Design Intern I was involved in a range of projects and activities. Design tasks included graphic design development of symbols for use in a railway technology system, conducting measured surveys of workspace sites, detailed design of furniture, interior design ideation and creation of mood boards.