About us
We are a team of user researchers, UX and service design specialists working with public sector and technology companies to improve the way people experience services. Our goal: better experiences for better lives.
Through research-led discoveries we uncover problems worth solving and use the evidence we gather as a foundation for interaction and service design work.
We focus 100% on research and design which means we regularly partner with in-house development teams or technology suppliers to help design the right system in a way that is easy and efficient for people to use.
Highlights of our work include:
- Designing one of the biggest forms in government in a user-centred way for Cabinet Office
- Designing a cyber-collaboration platform for DCMS
- Running extensive user research to help DVSA pass GDS assessment for the new MOT system
- Running research in job centres across the UK for Policy Lab
- Partnering with Scope to co-create support services for disabled people
User-centred design
User-centred design is fundamental to our work. We involve users throughout the design of a service or system.
There are so many ways a service can unintentionally be made hard to use, confusing or ineffective for the people who need to access it that the chances of getting it right without involving users in the design process are slim to zero. When you consider the number of people accessing public services, you realise that even a small change to the way something works or is communicated, based on user insight, can make a service significantly more usable and useful for hundreds of thousands of people.
User-centred design is essential because it can mean the difference between people using or abandoning a service.
By involving users in the discovery process and throughout the design process we make sure the service is solving the right problems for the organisation and the users. Clear insight into user needs makes it possible to prioritise features and functionality so that budgets can be used effectively. We eliminate the risk of developing complex and expensive functionality that has little value to the users.
Public and commercial services need to work for everyone and testing designs with people with low digital skills or accessibility needs, means we can design services that do this. User centred design means we think about all users, not just people who are confident with technology and have the latest kit.
If you share this mindset, we’d love to connect or hear about some of the challenges you face: hello@macementer.com.
Reasons people hire us
- We are specialists in user experience, research and service design for complex services. We are not a brand or marketing agency. We have a narrow but deep specialism
- We have proven expertise: our services are relied on by organisations serving millions of people, turning over hundreds of millions of pounds in revenue
- We achieve your goals by combining strategic research with experience in design, usability and a sharp eye for aesthetics
- We are 100% independent which means we are agile and easy to work with
A short manifesto
- Start with the usersEmpathy drives action. Digital service design should be led by customer or user needs not by technology, functionality or organisational structure. If you’re only looking at the problem from your own point of view you’re only going to be at best half right.
- Evidence not guess workGather evidence and explore hypotheses about your product or service. Use research-led prototypes and concepts to see what might be possible. Show, don’t tell.
- Seek out inspirationUnderstanding your users and customers will inspire you to improve your services. Inspire your customers through design.
- It needs to be top-notchDo your best to create something fantastic. We’re only on this planet for a short time, let’s make the most of it by delivering work we are hugely proud of.
- Embrace riskBravery and bold thinking up front provides space to iterate and the potential to pivot which mitigates the risk of a mediocre result.
- People are not resourcesPeople are individuals who bring different experiences, skills and perspectives to a project. People enjoy working as part of a respected team on ambitious projects that make a difference. People never stop learning.
- Life is about emotionLet’s engender positive experience through design because people always remember how you make them feel.
- Life is an adventureEmbrace it and see how far it will take you. Work on projects you believe in with people who want to explore, push boundaries and do something worth doing.
Team
Sam designs projects for public sector and commercial clients at Mace & Menter. He has a background in research and interaction design and has led the UX design and audience insight on BIMA and BAFTA award winning projects.
He started his career at an embryonic lastminute.com in 1999 and went on to develop his experience at the BBC for eight years.
Mike is user-centred design consultant who’s led projects with clients including the British Heart Foundation, the Forestry Commission and Citizens Advice.
User experience is the perfect role for Mike as it allows him combine his analytical and creative skills with a love for all things digital.
Yvonne has managed websites and digital projects for organisations including The Samaritans, Nesta, Mind, Save the Children, Cancer Research and Amnesty International.
Having worked for agencies and charities, Yvonne understands what organisations need from an agency, and prides herself on being the clients’ champion, making sure their needs are always at the forefront of every project.
Natalie is a specialist in user centred design. Her expertise is in research, insight and synthesis as well as concepting and prototyping. She previously worked at Ideo in London and Palo Alto.
At Mace & Menter she has delivered design projects for government and in previous roles she’s worked on projects for Nokia and Ikea.
Ant studied Interaction Design at the Royal College of Art and worked for Flow Interactive before co-founding Mace & Menter. He's worked on projects for NHS, eBay, Google and Bristol University.
Kat is a designer who finds people endlessly fascinating. She believes that there aren't many things that a design-thinking approach can't help make better, and is happiest solving really hard problems.
She has extensive experience in service design for health and technology and has also worked on projects taking a human-centred approach to personal finance.
Oliver is a hands on product designer and creative director, experienced in UX, UI and brand strategy.
He was previously design director at Edo.
Verity heads up operations and project management and brings valuable experience of running a growing professional services consultancy.