Anna Thomas Email & Phone Number

Cape Town, Wc, Za

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

As a principal Service Designer within a digital product design team, my primary focus is on strategising, facilitating and designing exceptional customer experiences that considers and meets business goals, user's needs, and technical capabilities. Strategic thinking and collaborative problem-solving using creative techniques are key aspects of my role, enabling my team to deliver innovative solutions that work for our clients.

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

As a creative thinker with a passion for helping SME's discover their unique identity and competitive edge, I have had the privilege of working with a diverse range of clients to facilitate creative workshops that define who they are and how they stand out in the market. I have honed my skills in guiding clients through transformative workshops, where we delve deep into their core values, vision, and mission. Through strategic brainstorming sessions, I help companies to uncover their distinct brand personality, articulate their brand story, and clarify their market positioning.

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

Stepping into the lead for Experience Design has been a natural progression for me that has really allowed me to grow in my leadership skills and take ownership of the end to end delivery of the project, and results. As we continue to design, deliver and activate major CX transformation projects, we are seeing a significant impact on the health of the brands we work with, with our clients feeling more empowered to own their new and innovative experiences, for both customers and employees.This role includes: Taking responsibility for the end-to-end facilitation and delivery of experience transformation projects. Leading a team of service design consultants in developing innovative human-centric concepts, journeys, blueprints, strategies & roadmaps. Facilitate co-creation workshops with stakeholders to identify and explore most impactful, implementable solutions. Manage the development and testing of prototypes.One of my highlights in this role was Brandlove Global winning CX Agency of the Year 2022 award (from ARCET GLOBAL, Customer Centricity World Series https://customercentricityworldseries.com/winners/ )

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

My transition to Brandlove as a Senior Experience Designer gave me the opportunity to co-lead a multi-dimensional CX Transformation project over a year that saw incredible results for a leading financial services provider in SA. My role included:- Manage and direct research streams to develop actionable insights from the results- Identify and prioritise the pain points that causing the most damage to the brand - Redesign the journeys in a collaborative way to have a significant positive impact on customers’ experiences, and align with the business’ strategic objectives- End to end project management, reporting and documentation- Align and manage stakeholders throughout the process

Cape Town Area, South Africa

The change from Account Director to Customer Experience designer was one of my most exciting career transitions. In this new position, I am able to apply all the skills that I have developed in order to drive innovative customer experiences for brands that put users and employees at the centre and align closely with their business goals. While no two days are ever the same in this challenging and exciting field, some of my daily responsibilities include:• Defining the strategic direction and approach to each project • Conducting in-depth research to gain a thorough understanding of the problem• Preparing and facilitating design thinking workshops with clients• Creation and design human-centred customer journeys with a service mindset• Collate, document, design and present high quality artefacts from workshops• Oversee the end-to-end project management and client relationship of each engagement• Combining business goals with user's needs to solve real problems and deliver exceptional customer experiences In a relatively short time, I have garnered multi-disciplinary experience across various industries, having worked with, and developed solutions for financial services providers and luxury goods to retail and B2B. This has given me an in-depth understanding of not only the digital ecosystem, but also how every touch point (digital and physical) need to connect in order to create a great customer and employee experience.

Cape Town Area, South Africa

My year as Senior Key Account Manager at Responsive Digital equipped me with the necessary experience to step into my new role as Group Account Director for the same company. In this position, I was challenged on a daily basis, enabling me to grow and develop various skills, including organisational, interpersonal, presentation and project management skills, in a very short amount of time. My main responsibilities include:• Maintaining and nurturing client relationships with key accounts • Developing new business from existing clients for 3 divisions • Representing the clients’ best interests and driving collaboration across all divisions to achieve the best possible outcome• Feeding insights back to the company to guide innovation, research and development • Identifying and developing new market opportunities • Designing and delivering high-quality research to address client needs • Defining proposal structures and ensuring that these meet client needs in the most effective way • Defining the framework, from proposal to milestones to invoicing• Driving the definition of value-based pricing models and testing these on key clients • Assisting the Traffic Manager with problem-solving, where required • Following project communication between the Traffic Manager and Project Manager • Delivering final presentations/reports/deliverables for projects to clients, and leading face-to-face presentations • Managing client expectations • Mentoring Account Managers and driving team motivation and morale

Woodstock, Cape Town

Having honed my client service skills at aisle B and during my time as a freelancer, the role of Key Account Manager was a natural fit for me. My responsibilities included:• Building and maintaining strong relationships with clients• Managing expectations and communication between clients and the design team• Establishing and enforcing deadlines• Generating and following leads to acquire new business

Cape Town Area, South Africa

After becoming a mum, I decided to trade in my full-time position for more flexible work as a freelancer, which gave me opportunity to balance my passion for design with the demands of raising a young family. As a freelancer, I worked across a range of accounts, with tasks ranging from the conceptualisation and design of packaging, corporate stationery, programmes, publications, training material, illustration and fine art. During this time, I also managed all aspect of the projects, including client relationships and delivery.

Cape Town Area, South Africa

aisle B was birthed out of a collective vision to redefine the way we approached design. As a founding partner in the business, I thoroughly enjoyed building it from scratch and getting stuck in wherever it was needed. Besides the many administrative tasks, which included studio trafficking, accounts, liaising with and managing suppliers, maintaining client relationships and managing staff, the most stimulating and challenging aspects of my job involved making strategic business decisions, interacting with clients at an executive level and assisting in crafting and implementing innovating solutions that would address marketing and communication challenges.As the Creative Director (and Senior Designer), I was responsible for the conceptualisation and implementation of design that would meet marketing objectives and align with carefully considered strategies within predetermined deadlines. In this role, I also gained a thorough knowledge of articulating information, verbal and written communication, and design thinking.

Durban And London

During my time at TNNG I transitioned from mid to senior graphic designer. I was responsible for the conceptualisation and implementation of design solutions that would meet marketing strategies, from concept to completion, within set deadlines. In addition to making strategic decisions, my duties included:• Heading up key projects• Supervising a junior designer and providing guidance on concepts, comps, layouts and final art.• Performing various executive tasks• Interacting with clientsThe role required a thorough understanding of printing procedures, photography, illustration and verbal and written communication, as well as specialised knowledge of the methods and techniques around graphic design and layout.

Durban Area, South Africa

During my time at Gotcha, their sell-through rates went up by more than 80%, which was a major achievement for the team. As a junior graphic designer in the ladies' wear apparel department, my responsibilities included:• Branding across multiple product categories• The creation and recreation of a ‘signature’ hand-writing for the brand• Staying up to date with industry trends and developments• Researching and analysing high-street trends and translating these into mood boards• Working closely with the fashion designer to compile ranges and present these to buyers

Bachelor Of Fine Arts (B.F.A.), Applied Graphics

Stellenbosch University’s Department of Visual Arts is an internationally recognised design school that combines theory.

Journey Architect Program, Cx Design

This interactive 5-day programme covered the foundations of customer experience and human-centred design, giving me an in-depth.

Executive Coaching, Business Administration And Leadership

Over 4 months, Nadine Mayers from Thinking Partner coached us, the partners of Aisle_B, in rediscovering our vision, purpose and identity.

Matric

In addition to being President of Rotary Interact 1999-2000, I also served as Deputy /head Girl during my final year of high school. Other.

Certificate