Portfolio
Sophie Rankin
Some of my user research experience freelance and permanently employed 2015-2024
The National Poisons Information Service (NPIS)
Helping health professionals access product ingredients quickly and easily in an emergency, so they can respond to cases of poisoning in patients.
The current database holding this product data is not fit for purpose. I carried out 3 rounds of research with users of the service with methods such as contextual walkthroughs, 1:1 interviews, analytics, usability testing and data analysis.
UKHSA
Coming soon…
Children and Young People’s Mental Health Service (CAMHS)
Supporting children and young people waiting for mental health support from the NHS service CAMHS.
Discovery project carrying out research with staff, young people and their parents to understand the experience of waiting for support and design opportunities.
Alpha project embedding into 3 local services to prototype and test ideas from discovery and build design capability.
NHSX
Coming soon…
Sky Accessibility, Website Refresh
Helping people with disabilities to access Sky’s accessibility services online.
Full research, design and build project in an agile development team. I carried out accessibility testing with participants using JAWS screen-readers, BSL interpreters, colour overlays and other assistive technology.
Full content audit, wireframes and build working with content, design and dev.
Nomensa
Coming soon…
Improving the user experience of Performa for coaches and coachees.
I worked in a multidisciplinary team for 3 months, prioritising and conducting research with users. I led interviews, usability and prototype testing, card sorting and Hotjar data analysis to optimise the experience of the product and wider service.
MindGym
Performa Coaching Platform
Coming soon…
Setting up Research Operations to support delivery at pace in the COVID-19 pandemic.
I carried out a review of digital ways of working across NHSX, led team wellbeing initiatives and conducted research on projects for getting medicines to vulnerable people shielding, helping NHS staff access food in supermarkets and connecting care homes to technology.
NHSX
COVID-19 Pandemic Response
Coming soon…
Online Community
Discovering the best ways of supporting people who have experienced bereavement. We led research exploring use of Sue Ryder’s online community, finding opportunities to support people better.
We carried out interviews with people to learn more about their experiences, what helps them and how the online community and wider service could be optimised to meet their needs.
Interviewing, usability testing, collaborative design and ideation.
Sue Ryder, via a design agency
Coming soon…
High profile digital service for Border Force staff
Setting direction on a high profile digital service with over 28,000 users.
I build a recruitment panel of 500+ participants, led alpha and beta research, overseeing a small team of researchers and designers, improving ways of working and managing the needs of stakeholders.
UK Home Office via Snook
Coming soon…
Establishing the user research profession
Establishing user research and setting up the team from 1 to 4 researchers.
I was the first user researcher hired in UK Government’s Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). I set up the Research Operations, Community of Practice and Delivery on complex services - building trust and capability in user research.
Department of Health
Coming soon…
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse
Nomensa
Ongoing research, design and build activities within an agile development team.
We carried out sensitive interviews and usability testing with survivors of child sexual abuse, to learn about their needs encouraging people to share their story via the Truth Project. Research also covered the needs of lawyers, journalists etc to inform the wider website decisions.
Coming soon…
More coming soon
Organisations I’ve worked with
Some of the organisations I’ve worked with freelance and permanently employed
Thanks to everyone who has hired me or given me the opportunity to work with and learn from you!
"Sophie is the best researcher we’ve ever worked with. She’s meticulous and has an amazing ability to hone in on user and organisation needs in a way that’s holistic and supportive. This means her results really open eyes to what should be done straight away to make a better user experience, but also shows the potential of longer-term changes. Her approach doesn’t just look at tasks to hand, but organisation, communication, culture and people strategy. She hand holds clients through the process and helps them do more themselves. Sophie is also incredibly approachable and easy to work with. She gets the best out of everyone she works with."
Gemma, Managing Director at Hactar
Interested in working together on something similar?
Get in touch
How can we help you?
-
Capability
Building user research capability for researchers and teams. We run training and partnerships, to set up what you need to do good research
-
Delivery
Leading user research projects with teams across charity, government and private sector; to help make products and services more human
-
Community
Bringing together user researchers from across the industry to support each other, share learnings and improve our practice