KATIE PAIGE - USER EXPERIENCE DESIGNER

At sea, a chart read incorrectly or a warning missed can cost far more than time. As Senior Interaction Designer at the UK Hydrographic Office, I lead the team designing the tools mariners and shore based teams rely on to navigate safely, often in poor weather conditions, at night, or under pressure.

Design is my second career. For over a decade I was an Occupational Therapist where the job was understanding what people needed, often before they could put it into words. The part I loved most was the problem solving, designing treatment plans, adapting homes, tools and routines so people could stay independent, and finding creative ways into therapy when the standard approach didn't fit. Design turned out to be that same work, just on a different scale.

I retrained in 2020 and brought accessibility with me. As an OT I adapted environments so people could do what mattered to them, whatever their abilities. At sea, everyone is temporarily impaired: glare, darkness, motion and fatigue all narrow what a person can see, read and do. So I design for those limits from the start, and since stepping up to lead the team in 2024, I've kept that central to how we work. We test in realistic conditions, checking contrast and legibility at night, dusk and dawn, and spend time with mariners on real vessels with poor connectivity and complicated equipment. Designing for the hardest conditions makes things better for everyone.

Home is rural coastal South Devon, with my family and our pet cat Mia and dog Rae. When we're not mountain biking, snowboarding or climbing, we're usually on the water, which keeps me close to the people I design for.