Instructor Profile: Oli Puttick

Oli has been teaching the Product Design (inc UX & UI) course at Experience Haus since 2021, and has been working in Senior Product Designer roles at companies such as Seafrog.

Tell us a little about yourself and your current work outside of Experience Haus? 

I relocated to London from Australia in 2019 and have been working as a Senior Product Designer at a small travel startup called Seafrog since.

During my short career, I’ve been lucky enough to collaborate with early stage startups, agencies and big established corporates across a range of industries including Fintech, education, hospitality, travel, real estate, gaming, settlement, music, insurance and many more.

Outside of my design work, you’ll probably find me falling off a skateboard, digging into a Murakami novel or shooting film on a camera that’s a bit of an ancient relic!

Did you have a specific goal you wanted to achieve before you started teaching at Experience Haus? Do you think your time here so far has kept you on the right track?

What drew me to Experience Haus was the opportunity to collaborate with people at the beginning of their journey in the industry. There’s something invigorating about taking what you’ve learnt over the years, and sharing it in a classroom environment where your ideas can be built upon and even challenged. Also, the bonus part of being an instructor is that you’re learning just as much as you’re teaching!

What is your teaching philosophy?

Get feedback early, get feedback often. When people first start out in the industry, they’re usually cautious of charing their work as they want it to be perfect (me included!) However, the best part of design is its collaborative nature, critiquing your work in a group environment is one of the most effective ways to make it better.

What do you enjoy most about teaching at Experience Haus?

Reflecting on what I’ve learnt and passing on the best bits. When I first started out, I made plenty of mistakes (some necessary and some not). However, I’ve been extremely fortunate during my career to have access to great mentors that really helped me grow and develop. It’s only fair that I return the favour.

male-product-design-instructor-sitting-in-studio

How would you describe your dream classroom?

My laptop connects to the television screen/projector on the first attempt and everyone does their homework!

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Most likely working remotely! Life happens, kids arrive and priorities change. Spending an extortionate amount of money to have the big city on your doorstep stops making sense all of a sudden. Until then though, I’ll be doing my best to see and do everything London has got to offer.

How do you keep up to date with your industry and the courses you teach?

Email newsletters, they’ve seen a resurgence for good reason! I’m subscribed to way too many but I’ll skim the headlines once a week to see if there is anything major I should be aware of. UX Collective, Spotify Design, Dense Discovery, Sifted, Benedict Evans and a16z all have great newsletters that are worth checking out. Asides from that, a few well curated design influencers on LinkedIn should keep you in the know – shout out to Pablo Stanley!

Get in touch with Oli

linkedin.com/in/oliver-puttick/

Posted on : Tuesday September 14, 2021