More than just a nine to five: Kin’s story
For Kin underpinning all his work has been a human-centred approach, focusing on how people interact with digital products and services
After studying design at the Kent Institute of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art, Kin began his career working as a designer in branding and advertising. He moved into the digital space in 2000 where he worked across multiple sectors, from financial services to retail to energy. Underpinning all his work has been a human-centred approach, focusing on how people interact with digital products and services.
Design as an enabler for bp
Kin knew of bp before he joined in 2020, having previously worked as a design consultant for the company. The biggest selling point for him to join bp full time was the opportunity to be part of the organisation’s strategic decision-making process and influence the impact of design at bp.
“One of the big challenges of my career has been trying to make businesses take design thinking and user research seriously, and view them as essential enablers,” says Kin. But that was never the case at bp.
Having started as a design lead for the B2B Fleet portfolio, Kin manages between eight and ten designers working across five or six projects.
Kin currently works with an entity that covers digital production across bp engineering platforms and assets, as well as managing design teams who are focusing on improving the employee experience across procurement, HR, finance and legal. Explaining his role Kin says:
Solving problems in the digital space
“Design has never been just a nine to five for me”, Kin explains. “Everything I do tends to have a creative slant to it.” When thinking about his 25-year career, Kin finds it easy to identify a common theme. “I’ve always been a problem solver. That’s the core of what a designer does – understanding a problem, figuring out why that problem exists, and then creatively inventing the future that people need”, he reflects.
Right now, bp is striving to push further into new digital technologies. “I love that bp is an established player in the digital space, but the wonderful challenge I have every day involves using design to ensure greater user adoption and accessibility”, Kin explains.
Working on some of the big problems that bp have set out to solve is what makes design at bp so exciting. “bp has some inspiring design challenges to take on”, he says.