Nexer Digital strengthens research and design teams with six new appointments
Human-centred design agency Nexer Digital has welcomed six new starters, strengthening its service design, user research and accessibility expertise.
The appointments will increase the agency’s capacity to support complex client projects, particularly in the public sector, including its latest project with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), while building the specialist skills needed to support further growth.
The new starters will help clients better understand user needs, improve how services work and address barriers to access earlier in the design process.
Richard Telford, Trisha Mehta and Iestyn Haberfield join as senior service designers, alongside Andrew Wiggan as senior user researcher and Petra Eriksson as user researcher and accessibility consultant. Eva-Lena Hagqvist joins as a senior accessibility consultant.
Richard brings around 20 years’ experience in service design and innovation, including work with Livework, the Home Office and IKEA. He is supporting Nexer’s work with Defra on its Livestock Information Service, helping improve how information moves between users, organisations and systems.
Iestyn brings service design experience from Cable & Wireless, Vodafone Group and Companies House. He will also support delivery of Defra’s Landscape Recovery MEL Data Project, adding further public-sector and commercial experience to Nexer’s service design team.
Andrew will lead user research for Defra’s Common Business Capability programme, exploring how the department and its arm’s-length bodies can improve and standardise shared business processes. His work will help teams identify common user needs and use evidence to prioritise service improvements.
Trisha joins from the Department for Education’s internal policy lab, where she applied design and research to education and skills policy challenges. At Nexer, she will help clients turn research into practical service improvements, drawing on her experience of involving users in decision-making and planning for future needs.
Based in Stockholm, Petra brings a decade of digital product experience, including user research roles at iZettle and PayPal. She will help clients integrate research and accessibility throughout product development, while supporting teams to build their own inclusive design skills.
Eva-Lena Hagqvist, a senior accessibility consultant and advisor with related experience in health research and care delivery, also joins to cover the Gothenburg region and support Nexer’s key customer accounts.
Hilary Stephenson, managing director of Nexer Digital, said:
“Our clients are often working with complex services that need to meet very different needs. Helping them make meaningful improvements takes a combination of good research, practical design expertise and an understanding of the organisations delivering those services.”
“Andrew, Richard, Petra, Eva-Lena, Trisha and Iestyn bring valuable experience from government, financial services and global businesses. They will strengthen our ability to help clients understand where services are falling short and turn that insight into changes that work for all users and the teams supporting them.”
“These appointments also give us greater capacity to support existing clients and take on new opportunities. As we grow, we want to keep building the depth of expertise that allows us to deliver thoughtful, inclusive work and lasting value for our clients.”