Our experience team is growing: meet the newest members

They’re bringing along heaps of experience, talent and their unique perspectives on fish and chips!

This week we sat down with the newest members of the experience team. 

From UX to copywriting, Fraser and Ilse share their backgrounds, past roles and what drew them to the agency world – including their opinions on whether or not curry sauce on fish and chips should be allowed. Caution: strong views ahead… 

Hi Fraser and Ilse – it’s great to have you on board! Tell us a little bit about yourselves.

Fraser: I’ve been working in copywriting for over 25 years; my experience includes creating compelling content for clients including many national and international brands. 

I’ve previously worked for advertising, digital and education marketing agencies in Nottingham, Manchester and London.

Ilse: I started my career as an analyst, working on anything from customer experience to web analytics and customer behaviour. I’m a curious person, so I’ve always enjoyed digging into data to uncover opportunities. 

One of my old managers introduced me to the world of UX where I get to uncover those opportunities and use my creativity to design a solution for them. For me, it’s really the best of both worlds. I’ve worked mostly in-house across a range of sectors including retail, banking, fashion and eCommerce. 

So, after living it up in the big cities, what brought you to Hallam?

F: Along with the opportunity to do some great work for some great clients, I was attracted to Hallam’s forward-looking approach, unified way of working and belief that people and the planet are just as important as profits.

I: This may sound cheesy, but the main thing that attracted me to Hallam was the vibe. I actually enjoyed the interviews! Everyone made me feel included straight away and there was a level of candour when answering my questions that I haven’t experienced anywhere else.

Ilse, as a UX Designer, what does your role entail?

I: It’s incredibly varied, but my main job is always to improve the websites of our clients. 

They can be smaller tasks like running UX audits to identify opportunities or resolving user pain points to bigger projects like consulting on a website redesign and shaping the new layout and user experience to match their users’ needs and expectations. 

Fraser, over on the copywriting side of things, what does your role involve?

F: On a day-to-day basis, I work collaboratively with designers and the experience team to ensure copy always works in harmony with their output. I could be working on copy for an ad campaign for a B2B client one morning and then writing website copy for a B2C client in the afternoon. 

So, quite a variety then. What do you both enjoy the most about working here?

F: Just like everyone else at Hallam, I have the freedom to choose where to work. I enjoy this uncommon level of flexibility and, although working from home on most days, I enjoy meeting up with the team both in and out of Hallam’s Nottingham office. 

I: I love the variety and the fact that, even after five years in UX, I still feel like I’m learning new things every day because it’s always evolving as a discipline. 

At Hallam, we take our debates surrounding the world’s biggest issues very seriously. This week, we’ve turned our attention to fish and chips which, our Head of Experience, Francis, has dubbed, ‘The Haddock Scale’. Where do you both sit on this and what’s your fish and chip strategy?!

F: Vinegar belongs on fish only. On the odd occasion, I drink champagne with fish and chips and add just a dash of lemon. I would also say yes to gravy, but wouldn’t contemplate putting it anywhere near fish. Just wrong. With a pie, certainly.

I: I’m from the Netherlands and wasn’t introduced to fish and chips until my mid-twenties, so my opinions on this should really be taken with a grain of salt (as should the chips). I like a squeeze of lemon on my fish and mayo with my chips – on the side! 

Do you also have strong opinions on what goes with your fish and chips? We’re hiring. Check out our vacancies here.