Irish UX design leaders you should be following

We’re celebrating this St. Patrick’s Day by bringing you a list of exciting UX leaders from the Emerald Isle.

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Ireland is one of the biggest tech hubs in Europe with companies like Google, Facebook and Apple all headquartered here. And there’s a lot of homegrown talent too.

Here are 8 Irish UX design leaders to add to your network.

1. Des Traynor

Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Intercom, Des Traynor is one of the most renowned  product professionals in the industry. He’s an in-demand speaker at conferences worldwide and you’ll also find him on the Intercom on Product podcast. Prior to Intercom he co-founded Exceptional and worked in UX design.

Follow: @destraynor

Listen: Intercom on Product

2. Lara Hanlon

Lara Hanlon is currently a Brand Experience Designer at IBM Research. She has delivered talks at TEDx and Why Design and is a contributing writer at 100 Archive, a platform for the Irish design community.

Follow: @lara_hanlon

Watch: Food to Feed the World

3. Brian Herron

Brian Herron is the Principal Designer and Director at Each&Other. He shares his wisdom on the Conversations with Each&Othe‪r podcast‬ and is a member of the Design Enterprise Skillnet steering group. He’s also a member of the UX Design Institute’s Industry Advisory Council helping shape the course content for specialist courses.

Follow: @brianherron

Listen: Discovering What Matters Most with User Interviews 

4. Kathryn Parkes

Originally from an engineering background, Kathryn has over 20 years experience in designing, developing and delivering user-centred experiences. She is currently Senior UX Researcher at Cisco, where she leads both qualitative and quantitative research studies.

Follow: @kathrynparkes

Watch: Interview with Kathryn Parkes

5. Catherine Madden

Catherine Madden is Co-founder and Director of UXDX conference, an event which brings together product, design and development professionals to discuss industry issues. It may have begun in Ireland but UXDX is now a global operation with events across North America, Europe and Asia.

Follow: @catherinemadde

6. Donal O’Mahony

Donal O’Mahony is the Global Head of UX and Product Design at Verizon Connect. He’s also a lecturer in UX at Trinity College, Dublin and regular industry speaker at events such as Google I/O and UXDX.

Follow: @DonalOMahony

Watch: The Highs and Lows of Building a 30-person lean UX team in 1 year

7. Kim Mackenzie-Doyle

Founder of the Big Idea and WhyDesign, Kim Mackenzie-Doyle is a true advocate for greater diversity and social responsibility in design. She’s also founder of Mind Over Matter, an initiative that aims to create awareness of mental health issues in the Irish creative community.

Follow: @KimMacDoy

 

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Read: Viewpoints

8. Tom Cunningham

Tom Cunningham is a Senior Product Designer at Workday. Before joining his current team he worked with global brands like Vodafone, Goodyear and Zurich International. He also hosts Opacity, a podcast about working in design which covers a range of topics from kickstarting your career to the importance of ethics in UX.

Follow: @tomcdesign

Listen: Opacity podcast

Let us know what UX leaders inspire you on social.

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