Karen Mcallister's Location
Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
About Karen Mcallister
I’m an experienced design practitioner and throughout my long and varied career, I have consistently made my impact count through a focus on delivering outcomes over output, prioritising understanding user needs over solutionising, and spearheading collaboration. Although I have often found myself working on sticky, complex problems, in hindsight, these have many times turned out to be moments of transformation at the pulse of cultural, technology and trend shifts. The highlights of the three eras of my career include:Graphic Design & Education: Transforming standards for graphic design education for female students in Saudi Arabia. Art direction, creative problem solving and graphic solutions for a wide variety of clients in both digital and print.Technology & Training: A user-centred roll-out of the main Management Information System still used by the Scottish education sector until today.Fashion/Product Design: Designing trailblazing fashion for underserved markets, and shaping technical clothing solutions that are fit for users/purpose, may they be for babies, breastfeeding mothers or technical garments for oil rig workers.
Karen Mcallister's Current Company Details
International Technical Female College Al Khobar
Design Lecturer
Glasgow, GB
Karen Mcallister Work Experience Details
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Design LecturerInternational Technical Female College Al KhobarGlasgow, Gb
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Graphic DesignerMinistry Of Small Things Mar 2023 - PresentGlasgow, Scotland, United KingdomDesigner of a range of faith based stationery, planners and editable stationery templates.
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Graphic Design Lecturer And Programme ManagerInternational Technical Female College In Madinah Dec 2019 - Jan 2023Al Madinah, Saudi ArabiaLed a strategic, government mandated curriculum transformation that involved moving from teaching theory and tools to an applied, project-based model to increase student readiness for industry ways of working. Drove upskilling and coaching of local teaching staff to support the transformation with a focus on design thinking. Set the standards and definition of good graphic design and typography, mediating the middle east cultural context and the aim to produce capable, industry-ready designers on par with their western counterparts. Assured quality and consistency of curriculum from first day to graduation by every teacher on the programme, while also having active lecturer duties. Increased student achievement rate to 97.5%.Drove engagement with industry partners to create an education interlock that facilitated strategic student placements and curriculum alignment to industry needs.
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DesignerFrom The Garden Room Sep 2020 - Jun 2021Glasgow, Scotland, United KingdomDesigner/Owner for lifestyle brand predominantly fashion based. Created a capsule collection of functional utility garments in natural materials. Garments were designed to go from day to evening, cool to allow the body to breathe. -
Freelance Graphic DesignerKaren Mcallister Jun 1984 - Dec 2020WorldwideWorking with a variety of clients: Biba, Freemans Mail Order, International Design Exchange (Fashion Forecasting), 1647, Marks and Spencer, BHS, JoJo Maman Bebe... Graphic Design, Branding, Website Design, Editorial Design, Illustration, Fashion Design, etc
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Graphic Design Lecturer, Curriculum LeadInternational Technical Female College In Sakaka Jan 2019 - May 2019Sakaka, Al Jawf, Saudi ArabiaBrought in as a subject matter expert in Design, I delivered the college’s graphic design curriculum and led a full curriculum transformation based on the need to reflect shifting industry needs from print to digital in the education of Saudi Arabia’s next generation of female graphic designers.I conducted a full quality review of the current curriculum and final assessment framework. Redefining quality standards, I created a comprehensive overhaul of the question catalogue that formed the theoretical assessment basis, aligning it with the Capstone framework, which is a worldwide qualification standard.
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DesignerFreelance Jan 1990 - Sep 2013Greater London, England, United KingdomIllustration work for well-known industry clients such as Marks & Spencers, Freemans and British Home Stores. Fashion forecasting and graphics for Index (International Design Exchange) and Sevencell Hong Kong. Graphic Design and Fashion Branding for Carhartt and Gio Goi.
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Training & Team ManagerTeleperformance Dec 2010 - Aug 2013Glasgow, Scotland, United KingdomManaged a team of 23 customer service agents in a fast-paced, target-driven environment. Delivered learning and development content and conducted inductions for new customer service agents. -
Instructional Designer, Training ConsultantSeemis Group Llp Jan 2003 - Sep 2009Hamilton, Scotland, United KingdomFulfilled an influential role in the national roll-out of what remains the market leading Management Information System used by the Scottish Education sector. As part of a team of 12, I acted as a brand ambassador who facilitated the on-the-ground technical implementation, personalisation and staff training in “Click and Go” software packages. I engaged with local authorities across Scotland to identify their needs, ensured appropriate software personalisation and laid the foundations for successful adoption through training with appropriate levels of complexity based on digital literacy. Through weekly debriefs with developers, I facilitated continuous user-centred iteration and improvement of the software. -
Instructional Designer And Training SpecialistHavering College Of Further & Higher Education Jul 2001 - Mar 2003London, England, United KingdomDelivered and administered City & Guilds qualifications and received HMI Gold Standard award for one of the administration systems I designed. Designed and tailored development blueprints and roadmaps based on needs analysis, evaluating and purchasing a blend of e-learning and in-person training -
Training ManagerUniversity Of The West Of Scotland Mar 2002 - Nov 2002Hamilton, Scotland, United KingdomDesigned and tailored development blueprints and roadmaps based on needs analysis, evaluating and purchasing a blend of e-learning and in-person training -
Technical TrainerBarking & Dagenham College Jan 2000 - Jun 2001Barking, England, United KingdomTraining and facilitation of City and Guilds Certificate and Diploma courses. -
Technical TrainerYmca Essex Jun 1998 - Dec 1999Romford, England, United KingdomDelivered and administered City & Guilds qualifications. Developed relationships with small and medium enterprises. Designed and tailored development blueprints and roadmaps based on needs analysis, evaluating and designing a blend of computer based in-person training that met local business employment requirements. Achievement rate above benchmark at 91.5% and employability rate of 70%. -
Fashion Designer And Production ManagerBiba Jun 1997 - Dec 1997London, England, United KingdomDesigned the season’s fashion collection, continuing and augmenting the BIBA brand heritage and managed technical production. Researched customer reception and qualified brand impact. Consulted on future brand strategy during the BIBA acquisition by Sevencell Hong Kong.
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Fashion Designer And Production Assistant1647 Ltd May 1996 - Jun 1997Greater London, England, United KingdomEnd-to-end collection design, design refinement, sampling work to production standards, technical pattern cutting, liaising with suppliers and manufacturers, collection archiving.
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Assistant Fashion DesignerJojo Maman Bébé Oct 1996 - May 1997London, Greater London, United KingdomFunctional maternity and baby wear, of which some designs are still on sale in stores today. Designed a line of maternity wear with a particular focus on enabling one-handed opening and closing which involved extensive user research and ergonomic considerations. Designed to ISO standards for baby wear and produced technical drawings with a great level of accuracy to assure quality in overseas production. Liaised with manufacturers and factors, reducing production cost by 12%. -
Designer And Researcher16 Plus By Post May 1993 - May 1997London, Greater London, United KingdomRan my own business based on recognising a gap in the fashion market for high-quality, well-fitted, empowering womenswear for the plus-size market: at the time, this did simply not exist. Based on researching the customer market, the capsule collection was advertised through a catalogue and distributed by mail order. Garments were designed to fit in with existing wardrobes or be assembled into outfits. The brand embodied well-crafted patterns, day to night wearability and making available mature, quality business wear to successful plus size women where there had previously only been loosely fitted, embellished, flimsy garments.
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Business Development Consultant, User Research And Market ResearcherSears Uk Ltd May 1992 - May 1993London, Greater London, United KingdomHi, I’m Karen! I’m a highly experienced design practitioner and throughout my long and varied career, I have consistently made my impact count through a focus on delivering outcomes over output, prioritising understanding user needs over solutionising, and spearheading collaboration. Although I have often found myself working on sticky, complex problems, in hindsight, these have many times turned out to be moments of transformation at the pulse of cultural, technology and trend shifts.The highlights of the three eras of my career include:Graphic Design & Education: Transforming standards for graphic design education for female students in Saudi Arabia.Technology & Training: A user-centred roll-out of the main Management Information System still used by the Scottish education sector until today.Fashion Design: Designing trailblazing fashion for underserved markets, and shaping technical fashion solutions fit for users, may they be breastfeeding mothers, plus size women or oil rig workers. -
Fashion DesignerCarhartt May 1989 - May 1991Dundee, Dundee City, United KingdomDesigned technical and flame-retardant clothing for the Oil Industry. After the Piper Alpha oil rig disaster (the biggest in UK history), a report indicated that 80% of 165 workers could have survived had they worn flame retardant clothing. Collaborating with fabric producer and chemical company Rhone Poulenc, I conducted materials research and testing to design a menswear collection that addressed this critical safety need, resulting in range from skin to outerwear flame retardant garments.Drafted a brand proposal for Carhartt’s C-suite based on fashion trends research driven by HipHop and MTV music culture, proposing a pivot from workwear into urban street wear. Although shot down at the time, this is the market Carhartt dominates in today.
Karen Mcallister Education Details
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Product Design
Frequently Asked Questions about Karen Mcallister
What company does Karen Mcallister work for?
Karen Mcallister works for International Technical Female College Al Khobar
What is Karen Mcallister's role at the current company?
Karen Mcallister's current role is Design Lecturer.
What schools did Karen Mcallister attend?
Karen Mcallister attended The Glasgow School Of Art, The University Of The Arts, City Of Glasgow College, University Of East London, Glasgow Clyde College.
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Karen Mcallister
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Karen McAllister
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