Erik Baars Email & Phone Number

Auckland, New Zealand

Auckland, New Zealand

Auckland, New Zealand

Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand

Ngāi Tahu Tourism is one of the largest tourism operators in Aotearoa. Hosting more than one million customers a year across 14 iconic businesses including Shotover Jet, Hukafalls Jet, Agrodome, Rainbow Springs and the All Blacks Experience (in development).Responsible for developing, delivering and evolving the strategic direction of digital development for Ngāi Tahu Tourism. Highlighted by deploying a design system on the new Silverstripe 4 platform to allow for a consistent and… Show more Ngāi Tahu Tourism is one of the largest tourism operators in Aotearoa. Hosting more than one million customers a year across 14 iconic businesses including Shotover Jet, Hukafalls Jet, Agrodome, Rainbow Springs and the All Blacks Experience (in development).Responsible for developing, delivering and evolving the strategic direction of digital development for Ngāi Tahu Tourism. Highlighted by deploying a design system on the new Silverstripe 4 platform to allow for a consistent and flexible approach to delivering websites. Essential to this outcome was the ability to influence others across the organisation, at all levels, to promote engagement and collaboration in order to deliver digital projects.ACHIEVEMENTS:• Developed a design system to optimise development of product rollouts• Designed a UI system accommodating 14 ecommerce properties for a new booking process• New site rollouts (on the design-system) reduced Time-to-interactive by over 50% and more than doubled the Mobile Speed Index Show less

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Digial Specialist • UX/UI Design • DeveloperEdventureCo is the largest private vocational and professional education and training platform in the Asia Pacific region.Responsibilities were to ensure their website’s experience was inline with best practise and user experience standards. Defined and designed the new DDLS website from initial scope to UX and UI through to development on chosen CMS inline with the company strategy to ensure flexibility and integration with external… Show more Digial Specialist • UX/UI Design • DeveloperEdventureCo is the largest private vocational and professional education and training platform in the Asia Pacific region.Responsibilities were to ensure their website’s experience was inline with best practise and user experience standards. Defined and designed the new DDLS website from initial scope to UX and UI through to development on chosen CMS inline with the company strategy to ensure flexibility and integration with external applications. Continual improvement through ongoing user testing, understanding Analytics, and utilising feedback from stakeholders and provide marketing and design support to the business.ACHIEVEMENTS:• Designed and developed the new DDLS website - accommodating 2000 scheduled classes and over 700 courses• Achieved year-on-year 50% increase in sales since launch. Show less

Brisbane, Australia

UX/UI Design • Design • Frontend Development • Online MarketingResponsible for creating intuitive user centered design for all ACTE websites and online application processes. Utilising analytics and experiments (primarily through Google Experiments & Optimizely) to iterate designs to ensure optimal usability of landing pages, site pages and user journeys. Key to this role was being abreast of emerging digital trends and identifying possible utilisations to trial alongside existing… Show more UX/UI Design • Design • Frontend Development • Online MarketingResponsible for creating intuitive user centered design for all ACTE websites and online application processes. Utilising analytics and experiments (primarily through Google Experiments & Optimizely) to iterate designs to ensure optimal usability of landing pages, site pages and user journeys. Key to this role was being abreast of emerging digital trends and identifying possible utilisations to trial alongside existing channels to ensure competitive edge. Additionally, a crucial aspect of the role was to build strong relationships with stakeholders to ensure site accuracy.ACHIEVEMENTS:• Designed, developed and project managed the rollout of five new brands in 3 months• Reimagined the user journey and implemented a system which resulted in reducing pipeline drop-off• Designed and developed a series of high achieving ad campaigns Show less

Auckland, New Zealand, Brisbane, Australia

UX/UI Design • Developer • SEO • Adwords Management • Facebook Advertising • DesignResponsible for the design, development, and maintenance of SUPER EPIC’s range of businesses. This involved ensuring each site is optimised correctly through the use of content experiments to maximise ease of use and goal completion. Managing the Adwords and Facebook campaigns allowing a consistent brand journey. Other design work for SUPER EPIC’ ventures including brand development and website design of… Show more UX/UI Design • Developer • SEO • Adwords Management • Facebook Advertising • DesignResponsible for the design, development, and maintenance of SUPER EPIC’s range of businesses. This involved ensuring each site is optimised correctly through the use of content experiments to maximise ease of use and goal completion. Managing the Adwords and Facebook campaigns allowing a consistent brand journey. Other design work for SUPER EPIC’ ventures including brand development and website design of AVA Performance and other brands.ACHIEVEMENTS:• Increased site conversion rate by 24% and page per session by 123%• Management of ad campaigns to ensure business targets were met• Defined and set brand guidelines Show less

Auckland, New Zealand

Tourism Holdings Limited is New Zealand’s leading tourism company. I was the technical lead and expert in the company CMS. I was responsible for the design and development of the upgrade from Sharepoint 2007 to 2013. I led a team of 5 designers and developers across print and web to ensure consistency of message and style across all advertising mediums. I was the go-between between the IT & design teams. THL is the largest provider of campervan vehicles for rent and sale in Australia and New… Show more Tourism Holdings Limited is New Zealand’s leading tourism company. I was the technical lead and expert in the company CMS. I was responsible for the design and development of the upgrade from Sharepoint 2007 to 2013. I led a team of 5 designers and developers across print and web to ensure consistency of message and style across all advertising mediums. I was the go-between between the IT & design teams. THL is the largest provider of campervan vehicles for rent and sale in Australia and New Zealand under the Maui, Britz, Mighty, Kea and Motek Vehicle Sales brands. In the USA they own and operate the Road Bear RV Rentals and Sales brand. Within New Zealand they operate Kiwi Experience and the Discover Waitomo Group that includes Waitomo Glowworm Caves, Ruakuri Cave, Aranui Cave and The Legendary Black Water Rafting Co.ACHIEVEMENTS:- Project managed the redesign, development and implementation of the upgrade to Sharepoint 2013- Managed the external design and development of thlonline.com- Liaison between internal stake-holders, IT and designers/developers. Show less

Auckland, New Zealand

UX/UI Design • Multimedia DeveloperTourism Holdings Limited is New Zealand’s leading tourism company. I was responsible for the design and development of the front-end of all THL brands websites through critical analysis of analytics, user-testing and input from stake-holders to determine areas for improvement and implementation through an iterative process. I also managed and designed the Facebook competitions through Shortstack and eDM design through Touchpoint and Mailchimp.THL… Show more UX/UI Design • Multimedia DeveloperTourism Holdings Limited is New Zealand’s leading tourism company. I was responsible for the design and development of the front-end of all THL brands websites through critical analysis of analytics, user-testing and input from stake-holders to determine areas for improvement and implementation through an iterative process. I also managed and designed the Facebook competitions through Shortstack and eDM design through Touchpoint and Mailchimp.THL is the largest provider of campervan vehicles for rent and sale in Australia and New Zealand under the Maui, Britz, Mighty, Kea and Motek Vehicle Sales brands. In the USA they own and operate the Road Bear RV Rentals and Sales brand. Within New Zealand they operate Kiwi Experience and the Discover Waitomo Group that includes Waitomo Glowworm Caves, Ruakuri Cave, Aranui Cave and The Legendary Black Water Rafting Co.ACHIEVEMENTS:- Spearheaded and managed the brands website upgrades to responsive & adaptive design resulting in increasing mobile site usage by 25%- Developed and designed the online payment system with responsive & adaptive design (that is now implemented across all six campervan brands) to create a seamless booking process across all devices. Increasing mobile revenue by 225% YOY.- Implemented schema standards across the sites to improve SEO. Show less

Manchester, United Kingdom

Cuckoo Design is a design agency specialising in web development, graphic design and identity work.I am currently responsible for the creation and project management of all digital projects in the agency as well as creating unique collateral for the agencies broad range of corporate clients.

Te Wananga o Aotearoa is a nationwide Tertiary provider with a staff of 800+ providing education to over 20,000 students. It is New Zealand’s largest education institution. I was initially employed as a Multimedia Designer – part of the Media Development Group - providing artwork, design and coding (HTML/CSS) specialties for online education resources. After three years I was promoted to Lead Graphic Designer then Senior Graphic Designer for the entire organisation. In this role I was… Show more Te Wananga o Aotearoa is a nationwide Tertiary provider with a staff of 800+ providing education to over 20,000 students. It is New Zealand’s largest education institution. I was initially employed as a Multimedia Designer – part of the Media Development Group - providing artwork, design and coding (HTML/CSS) specialties for online education resources. After three years I was promoted to Lead Graphic Designer then Senior Graphic Designer for the entire organisation. In this role I was then responsible for the look and feel of all external promotional material (e.g. Prospectus/Brochures/posters/bookmarks etc) and internal projects (e.g. Annual Reports/Alumni programme/Arts awards/publications etc). I set and wrote the company style-guide, employed junior designers and assisted with the maintenance of the company website. Show less

Bachelor Of Mediarts - Honours Degree, Graphic Designer

Bachelor Of Mediarts, Graphic Design, Web Design/Digital Design