Testimonials
Testimonials from clients, colleagues and students.
Students
Select testimonials from students I've mentored on Design Lab's UX: Interaction Design course.
Joanne Crean
Product Manager
"Ben was an outstanding mentor on the user experience design course. He reviewed my work promptly, with great attention to detail. He has an expert eye and gave feedback from a real world perspective, beyond the limits of the assignment instructions. Ben was very generous with his time on our weekly calls and even when he was very busy he gave me 100% attention. Being so experienced, he has lots to share and was really open and enthusiastic about teaching the skills needed to work in UX design. I learned a lot in these 4 weeks!"
Maheru Jahania
Student at University of Michigan
"Ben has been an outstanding mentor for me throughout the UX design course. He guided me through all of my questions and uncertainties and challenged me with each iteration I submitted to him. He helped me develop my skills and further my knowledge beyond the limitations of the course, and I can visually see the progress I made from start to finish because of him. Ben was always willing to share new tools and programs with me and gave me valuable insight on the real-life applications of the work I was doing. I know that my learning experience would not have been nearly as beneficial if I didn’t have him as a mentor."
Clients & colleagues
Select testimonials from clients and work colleagues.
Ben Bashford
Group Director of Experience Design, Critical Mass
"Ben was the first freelance hire I made at a new job. He not only delivered work that was above and beyond the quality expected of him but also actively improved our relationship with a key client. Incredibly professional, diligent and craft-driven, I'd jump at having him back on my team."
Tom Vining
Founder, More Air
"Ben's an exceptional UX designer with impeccable problem solving skills and a super positive vibe, even under pressure. He's worked with us on a number of projects, including very complex web apps which require deep product knowledge along with comprehensive discovery work to identify issues and opportunities for improvements. His solutions are always super logical and well thought out. He's a top designer, very well organised and an excellent communicator with a great temperament. Looking forward to our next collaboration!"
Isatu Dibba Manka
Project Manager, Critical Mass
"I had the pleasure to work with Ben as part of our big website launch for one of our main accounts. He made such a huge impact and clients were really impressed with the thorough thinking across all aspects of a user journey, he was always delivering on time and going beyond the ask. "
Mar Martin Herranz
Head of E-Commerce, Carolina Herrera
"I worked with Ben for Carolinaherrera.com relaunch project and I can say he is such a professional who really understood what we wanted to deliver with our new website bringing his UX expertise into the project. Ben is a very organised person who was delivering always on time. This is crucial when you have such a big project with tight deadlines. Hope we can work together in the future Ben! It's always a pleasure to work with people like Ben."
Rodrigo Alberini
Director of Operations, Feels Like
"I had lots of fun working together with Ben. In between challenging projects and clients, he always kept calm and with good energy, with a solution-oriented mindset - which makes a Producer's life much easier. Ben is that type of UX Designer that you really want to have in your team."
Robert Kidd
Founder McKinlay Kidd
“We first worked with Ben nearly 15 years ago when he designed our new company's very first website. It is a testament to the quality of service and creativity he offers that he is still a valuable business partner.”
Heather McKinlay
Company director and marketing strategist
"Ben has been McKinlay Kidd's web developer since the launch of the company. 15 years' on, the website is still fit for purpose and continues to receive many compliments from users. This is due to Ben building them in appropriate, accessible and easy-to-edit architecture. He is excellent at interpreting a brief from non-tecchies, and is proactive in researching cost-effective solutions. He is very good at problem-solving. I recommend Ben highly."
Oscar Vickerman
Founder
"Ben produced outstanding results whilst working as Lead UX Designer on our project. Great guy and worked well as part of the team."
David Aabo
Social Change Agent using Surf Voluntourism
"Ben has a great ability to organize complex website architecture and processes into simple, straightforward and digestible pieces. He is extremely knowledgeable in his field and an asset to any web team."
Ian Maclean
Partner
"Ben is a hugely knowledgeable Info Architect who has navigated us surely to great outcomes with web site development. Ben is very personable, intelligent and we found he fitted in with our team straight away. He is technically very literate and has clear views on what is the best way forward - he is not shy of expressing these clearly even if this is not the most popular route. I've no reservations in recommending Ben as an IA who will help you develop strong, easy-to-navigate, engaging websites."
Neill Henderson
Senior Manager Marketing
"Ben was responsible for creating the new architecture of our business website. He showed good ability at understanding our business in a short amount of time and making valuable and intelligent suggestions for the improving our website. I would recommend him."
Joana Flor
Senior Interactive Producer, MPC
"Ben's input on the project was absolutely essential. He is a dream to work with: great attitude and a totally expert in his craft. He makes the UX design process attainable to client and team. Can't rate him enough. I'm looking forward to working back together."
Elina Nilsson
Senior Producer, B-Reel Barcelona
"Ben was a key piece of the team working to launch the Carolina Herrera eCommerce platform. His ability to understand the consumer and providing solid UX work was crucial for the success of the project. It's a pleasure having him on your team and I would love to collaborate with him in the future."
Rhianon Taylor
Producer at Stink Studios
"Great attention to detail and a pleasure to work with - Ben had great suggestions and insights to our project, hope to work with him again in the future."
Andrew Cowley
Growth Strategy and Innovation
"I can recommend Ben very highly. He is very conscientious and attentive to detail around design itself, but also has a bigger-picture view of what we were trying to achieve as a business. Great client communication skills, and also a good guy to have around on the team for long stints on client site."
Nils Bellemans
Digital Designer
"Ben was a great addition to the digital team at Karmarama. Apart from being an all round great guy, I would highly recommend Ben for his expertise in UXD and his openness to listening and considering everyone's opinions. He has a vast understanding of technologies allowing him to have an innovative approach to projects. Ben is an asset to any team and he has left behind a legacy at Karmarama. Really hope I get to work with him again in the near future!."
Anna Agapiou
Digital Design Director
"Ben is a fantastic collaborator and creative thinker. He not only has the experience knowledge and skill set to deliver concise deliverables but he's a pleasure to work with and brings a wealth of technical expertise to the table. This in turn makes it super efficient to arrive at thoughtful solutions. I enjoyed working with ben very much and will always welcome him to my team."
Mike Dorrance
Digital Art Director and Designer
"I worked closely with Ben at Karmarama on a series of projects that benefitted greatly from his involvement. He brings a wealth of insight and enthusiasm to do the best work, turning around crafted prototypes and producing fleshed UX documentation as well as having an eye for optimising and finessing the end user experience, he'll be a valuable asset to any team."
Josh Noble
Digital Delivery Director
"If you need a freelance UX expert Ben is your man, he is both insightful and user centric His previous experience as developer means Ben has a great understanding of what the technical approaches, possibilities and limitations are that need to be considered on a project. Ben is also a lovely guy and good team player who is willing to take on and consider everyone's opinion. He will be the first person I call next time we need some UX help."
Adam McNichol
Managing Partner
"I really love working with Ben. He's an amazingly insightful UXD, bringing clarity, practicality and above all solutions to even the most complex website development projects. His ability to build rapid prototypes puts him way ahead of many of his peers. He's fantastic to work with, personable, experienced and a real team player. I hire Ben again and again when I need someone to bring their A-game."
Gui Guimaraes
Senior Producer
"I had the pleasure to work with Ben on a project for Avios that required an elaborated UX Design work and he completed it flawlessly as expected."
Ted Sterchi
Senior Digital Designer
"Ben is motivated, thorough, and an all-around awesome guy! A pleasure to work with."
Kadri Nieuwmans
Experienced Digital Expert
"Proactive, listening to the customer (both business and end-user), practical and hands-on. Would cooperate again without hesitation, wish there were more colleagues like Ben!"
Shauna Morden
Senior Project Manager
"I highly recommend Ben Ellis as an IA. He is thorough, meticulous and logical in his approach. Ben designs his structure both functionally and technically. He understands how the pieces need to fit together and questions what needs to be questioned. His level of expertise and competence is incredibly difficult to find. He’s also a very bright and pleasant person. I’d work with him again any day on any project."
Liz McMahon
Head of User Experience
"Ben came to work with us on a large exciting project which unfortunately was scaled down shortly after he arrived. He took this with good grace, and bravely took on all the projects we threw at him - from prototyping a responsive checkout design, to wireframing a complex eCRM project, via travelling to Liverpool to carry out usability testing, and running an internal UX prototyping training session. Ben's real skill lies in applying a designer's creativity and obsessive attention to detail onto a solid coding background, producing beautiful and usable prototypes as quickly as he can create wireframes in graffle. He is also a pleasure to work with and I would definitely hire him again."
Tiffany Willis
Account Director
"We found Ben purely by searching out User Experience freelancers - and after reading through the previous work he'd done, got in touch with him. From the very start of the brief to the final output, we've been extremely impressed with his excellent level of knowledge and input throughout. For what was essentially a lot of work, to be done in a short amount of time, he has delivered everything we asked. He kept us updated on his progress, made clear notes and documents, and our clients were very, very impressed the final deliverable. Will definitely use Ben again - and recommend him to others."
Danielle Mullis
UX Designer
"Ben was a great addition to our project team. He was very quick to get up to speed with the project requirements and break them down into tangible deliverables. His insights into the information architecture of the site were invaluable and the prototypes he produced undoubtedly saved us time in the later stages of the project.."
Emma Willis
General Manager
"I hired Ben for a quick turn-around, high-pressure job and he delivered again and again, always with a smile. He is articulate, patient and a very clever architect of digital solutions; able to think outside the box, offer ideas on all kinds of implementation and make constructive criticisms politely and democratically. I wouldn't hesitate to hire Ben again, he's gent and a genuine talent."
Andrew Hearn
Senior Account Director
"Ben worked on a key client project and really impressed with his attention to detail, great people skills and committment to delivering an excellent job. His wireframes are immaculate and HTML is pretty top notch too! I hope to work with Ben again soon."
Will Poskett
Senior Brand Strategist
"Ben was only in with us for two days but made a strong contribution. He was asked to come in on a pretty tight project deadline and turned the work around quickly and on brief. Would work with again without a doubt."
Catriona Gilchrist
Senior User Experience Consultant
"Ben was a pleasure to work with. I really enjoyed the UX prototyping training session he put together and he really inspired me to learn more."
Katrina Pallant
Digital & TV Production
"Ben came on to two big projects for the agency and became a real asset to both myself as a PM on those projects, but also to the IA team with whom he worked very closely with. Ben is knowledgable and really added value to the work we delivered."
Joe Holland
Project Director
"Ben is a great asset on any job. He’s conscientious and dedicated he is always willing to go the extra mile for the job and has a creative approach to problem solving."
Simon Coxon
User Experience Lead
"Ben is a dependable and intelligent thinker with a huge amount of digital expertise. He's diligent and provides solid UX work which is backed up with his knowledge of his field. He's great to work with and made it easy for me to transition into my role whilst retaining Ben as a freelancer. He was very much part of the team and there's a lot of love for Ben at Karmarama. I'll definitely work with him again."
Matthew Williams-Neale
Head of Marketing
"Ben is a fantastic Information Architect to work with. He is a very productive person, has a proactive approach - his conception, skills, knowledge and understanding made the project run smoothly. I can highly recommend working with him."
Ben Copping
Senior Front-end Developer
"I wouldnt hesitate to work with Ben again should the opportunity arrise, Ben really had a through understanding of the entire web production process, and has carved himself a unique position in the industry because of this. Honest hard working and fun."
Mark Evans
Innovation Director
"Ben is a great IA who I worked with at Dare before he came to Pirata, his in depth understanding of technologies means you always get an innovative approach to information design, add to that his ability to deal with clients professionally and the fact he is a genuinely nice person! If I had to find one negative it is that he is often booked up as so many agencies want to work with him!"
Chris Michael
Chief Technology Officer
"Ben is one of that rare breed who understands both the creative and the technical possibilities. He has great ideas and produces outstanding work quickly and without fuss. I'd have no hesitation in recommending Ben's work in this field."
Danny Somekh
Founder of Huddle Creative
"Ben is a pleasure to work with. Extremely bright and personable, Ben has a great understanding of information architecture, technology and design. I'd work with him again without any reservation."
John Gibbard
Director of User Experience
"There are two things you need to be to work at Dare, good and nice. Addressing the former, Ben is a methodical IA whose work unashamedly leans toward the visual design end of the spectrum. His documentation is arguably among the best I've seen. In relation to being nice, Ben's surf-bred, laconic and thoughtful approach to life makes him the perfect example of a healthy work-life balance. Being both good and nice we worked with him more than once and, in similar circumstances, we'd work with him again."
Omaid Hiwaizi
Blockchain Startup and ICO Marketing Strategy Advisor
"Ben was an real creative and technical all rounder as an IA. He massively grew and embraced the move into the planning function in Crayon. I'd wholeheartedly recommend him."