About me

My name is Martin Walker and I am a university student at the University of Strathclyde who will graduate with an MSc in Sustainable Engineering - Engineering Design in the autumn of 2010 and current hold an honours degree in Product Design and Development from the University of the West of Scotland.

The purpose of my Masters was to understand and apply my knowledge of ‘provotypes' - provocative prototypes that are used within the design industry to challenge the preconceptions of a design to a user and to understand the reactions of the user to that product and how they interact with the design. From this provocation, the product or design is then analysed and adapted to best suit the need of the user and the criteria it has to fill. As I have experience in Product Design, which has been tailored to human centred design and with my Masters year focused on user interaction towards prototyping, I feel that I am an ideal candidate for your position. I have numerous experiences in working within design teams to solve a problem as well as working individually to solve problems based on interaction or human centred design. As well as having first hand interaction experience by creating ‘provotypes' and using these as experiments, I interviewed an number of different designers who aiding me in understanding how and why to use ‘provotypes'. By interviewing a worker who works with prototypes and interaction products, I was able to provide an argument for the inclusion of ‘provotypes' within the design methodology and how it aids the user of the technique in understanding user interaction and how they are provoked to interact and react with the design.

The processes that I undertook would be valuable in the interaction design industry as every product that is created has to for fill a consumer purpose. Interaction design is focused on designing a product - computer program or physical design that is user friendly and can be used simply and easily. I have experience in both these areas and I feel that I can be a huge asset to your company. By project leading many of my Masters projects I have experience of controlling a group to not only bring work in on time but to provide work that solves the problem and solves it in an innovative and for filling way.

Through my University courses I have gained the following skills:

Creating designs which are innovative and original;

Understanding the commercial applications of the designs;

Working well within a team;

Effective communication;

Project managing a team to achieve the goals that have been set.

I consider that I am a conscientious, hardworking individual who is a good communicator and is able to analyse problems effectively. I would be an asset to your company and with current mobile phone designs becoming more interactive and the potential to be used more as accessories than phones, the need of designers with user interaction experience will be increasing. The skills that I have as an Interaction designer as well as a product design engineer able me to analyse problems from a commercial standpoint as well as trying to find a technical solution. With added project manager experience, I am the ideal candidate for this position and will be an integral part of your company moving forward.

Having undertaken my Masters after a Product Design degree and extensively examining prototypes and user interaction for my Masters dissertation, I feel that I can not only create new innovative products that for fill a need (which I have a track record of) but to also apply my recently accumulated knowledge of user interaction to create products which can benefit the user and are easier to use and enjoyable for the user to operate.

I have a portfolio of work however this is too large to upload onto his web site. if you would to examine my previous work, feel free to get in contact with me.