Storytelling is at the heart of being human. It’s certainly in the DNA of Emma Wailes, who is working in partnership with the BA (Hons) Graphic Design curriculum development team at Edge Hill University. Her journey to becoming Head of Design and Principal UX Consultant at Hippo Digital tells its own story:
“Storytelling is what brought me to UX. I’ve always been a drawer/designer or storyteller,” says Emma. “I studied graphics/illustration and animation at university before getting a job designing packaging for Galt kids’ toys. After that, my career becomes a bit squiggly, juggling raising my daughter with teaching in various universities and delivering media courses in prisons, before working as a learning designer, and finally a UX (user experience) designer.”
Emma can now add a new chapter to her story: being one part of the team of industry pros handpicked by the programme leader of Edge Hill’s new graphic design degree, Jenna Gardner, to build industry savviness into the course. Over three years, they’ll be on-hand to deliver workshops and mentor our graphic design students as they feel their way into the professional world.
“I wanted a forward-looking and optimistic graphic design programme,” says Jenna. “I also wanted people to be able to explore their creativity and try new things on their degree journey. Building networks will be vital in securing employment, but it also means that the content on the programme is always cutting edge. There’s no doubt that digital skills will be increasingly important in the future, so this is embedded throughout the degree.”
With extensive user experience design skills, Emma has helped to future-proof a degree that will equip students with a comprehensive set of design skills to work in the digital age. It’s a degree that’s able to encompass all aspects of the product story, from initial product development to how the final product looks, works and feels across a range of media. Emma joins professional graphic designers Sophie Green and Luigi Carnovale in providing the course with the sort of industry insight and practical know-how our students will need when they enter the sector.
So, UXD, tell us more, Emma?
“UXD is ‘User Experience Design’. It focuses on the needs of the user and their abilities, their interactions with the product or service, and how it becomes part of their wider goals and objectives. We centre research, requirements, designs, and product thinking around the users’ needs. These are primarily the end users of a commercial product, like the customers in a retail store, but it can also be teachers, for example, if we’re dealing with a public sector service. However, there are other users in the whole experience that we need to consider, so never just stop at the end user.”
Take the humble hammer, says Emma.
“You don’t buy a hammer just because you like them and think it’s the next top product – you buy it for a purpose. That purpose is driven by the need – to put up a picture or build a table, perhaps. But that doesn’t necessarily mean a hammer is the product you need to buy, even if it’s a sensible purchase. When you buy the hammer, this has created additional needs that now need to be considered to enable you, as the user, to use the hammer. Our main objective in UX Design is that we’re responsible for reducing the risk and delay to building something useful for users.”
How do graphic design and UXD intersect?
“UX is how the product or service works and feels, graphic design is how it looks,” explains Emma. “Digital services often need a level of how it looks to, for instance, be effective, or engage users.”
Graphic design is part of the storytelling process of product development, says Emma, taking the user by the hand and helping them understand how to get the most out of their new tool or object. Even in the digital era, many fundamentals of design remain valid:
“In digital devices, we continue to view the visual aesthetics such as layout, spacing, leading in the text, and the interaction of images with the text as part of UI (User Interface).”
Emma uses a variety of approaches to new projects, many of which are closely aligned with graphic design principles. She likes “keeping things tidy” with simple grid systems and layouts; she understands the importance of readability, so typography is crucial; colour plays an important role; and her own experience is something she leans into.
The over-arching mindset of the designer, though, is to stay curious, says Emma. Assume nothing, keep asking questions:
“When approaching a new project, I don’t arrive with any preconceived ideas. I start with an inquisitive mind; use a decision-making framework that helps users to perceive situations and make sense of people’s responses to challenge what approach to take; and ask a lot of questions – even when it feels stupid to ask.”
Questions like:
- What’s the goal of the project? What problem are you addressing?
- What does success look like?
- What’s in scope and out of scope?
- What are the constraints and barriers to success?
- What do we already know?
- Who is working on something similar?
“Designers shouldn’t shy away from asking questions, as well as being proactive in searching for existing evidence/work already done. We don’t want to redesign things for no reason or risk building the wrong thing.”
As an example of the breadth of opportunities for both UX designers and graphic designers, you just have to look at one of Emma’s favourite current projects:
“I’m working with the Department of Education to improve the existing product that allows local authorities and schools to check if pupils are eligible for free school meals.
“It’s interesting on multiple levels – we need to improve the current service to ensure schools and local authorities aren’t hitting the same issues and using third party services. We’re also working alongside Government, making sure the product and technology can adapt to any changes in policy, maximising the number of children in need of school meals who receive them, and ensuring DfE get the data required for future policy considerations.”
Learning to use websites, apps, portable tech and everything in-between that are regularly updated is built into our day-to-day. And gathering feedback on products is commonplace. The same is true of product prototypes – it’s now a vital part of the UXD process, says Emma:
“The way in which we structure projects means we need to identify what is good enough, and stop for short periods. We’ll then look to iterate at a later date when we’ve captured more evidence and user feedback.
“If you don’t put the design out there, how can it be truly user-focused? Rather than iterating based on your assumptions, let the user tell you what the next step is.
“In Government and healthcare-based projects we work using phases called Discovery, Alpha, Beta. You’ll be able to see this on all Government pages, and be able to provide feedback on what you like or don’t like about them.“
The user experience can only become increasingly streamlined, as we blend technology with psychology:
“The future of UX is about seamless, intelligent, and human-centred experiences, creating more intuitive, engaging, and ethical designs,” hopes Emma. “The role of the designer will become more important rather than be redundant, as some scare stories might suggest. I’m really interested in how systems will be able to respond more to our emotions and behaviours, so this is where understanding users will really come into play.”
The course offers plenty of opportunities to develop employability skills on the course – live projects, guest speakers, trips, visits, because ultimately, you’ll want a job at the end of your degree. Emma has a few handy CV-enhancing tips:
“Find mentors in the industry, learn pragmatic UX design approaches, don’t be dogmatic about methodologies,” advises Emma. “They’re the foundation of your knowledge, but you need to be adaptable. It’s about choosing the right approach for the right situation. Get into companies with a strong internal UCD/UX mindset with multidisciplinary. Once you’re confident about your discipline and what others do, being in those companies is a great experience in shaping people’s minds and building out user-centred design.”
There’ll be further twists and turns as your own story unfolds. Edge Hill’s BA (Hons) in Graphic Design could be the start of the next exciting chapter.
Emma Wailes’ Who’s Who of UXD
| Don Norman | “Often called the ‘father of UX’, he coined the term User Experience and wrote The Design of Everyday Things, a foundational book in UX design and one you should have on your bookcase. |
| Jakob Nielsen | “A usability expert and co-founder of Nielsen Norman Group, he is known for creating heuristic principles for usability.” |
| Brenda Laurel | “A UX and game designer who contributed to human-computer interaction (HCI) and interactive storytelling.” |
| Susan Kare | “Designed many of the original Macintosh icons and fonts, setting the foundation for modern UI design.” |
| Susan Weinschenk | “Worked with Disney and Amazon and is a behavioural psychologist known for applying cognitive psychology to UX design, focusing on user behaviour, motivation, and persuasive design.” |
| Dieter Rams | “Devised 10 principles for good design.” |
Find out more about BA (Hons) Graphic Design at Edge Hill University
May 23, 2025
