We are happy to welcome Robin Whittleton to inUse in Malmö.
Tell me a bit about yourself!
– I’m a second-generation programmer; my family always had a PC in the house and I knew from about age 8 or so that I wanted to work with them (before that I wanted to drive a tractor). I did the usual route into development in the late 90s and went to university to study Computer Science, then didn’t use any of it by starting a career in front-end development. Since then I’ve worked for a few medium-sized design agencies before most recently spending two years with GDS working on GOV.UK’s design patterns.
How did you end up in Malmö?
– My wife is Swedish and we’d talked of moving over to here at some point; the time seemed right for both of us for a bit of a new start. We both really like Malmö, and it’s a good midway point between my family (south-east England, direct flights from Copenhagen) and hers (southern Öland).
What made you choose inUse?
– I wanted an agency that cared about the user as well as the business. In my time at GDS it became obvious how bad most websites are for anyone using them who isn’t blessed with a good monitor, fast connection, the latest hardware and 20/20 vision. inUse appealed to me as, more than most agencies, it seems like the user is a priority. Also (and this is no insult to the GOV.UK team, but…) working with talented designers who are allowed to use more than three colours was appealing.
Tell us of a moment, in your career when you had an epiphany?
– A recent one was reading a Microsoft document about inclusive design. There was a diagram showing the difference between permanent, temporary and situational disabilities that really got me thinking about how we as society perceive impairment and what we can do as developers to combat that.
Are you interested in a career at inUse? See available positions.