For most of my teenage years and 20s, I toured the world as a drummer, playing for various artists across Europe, China, The United States & Canada. I've performed live on British television, BBC World Service, BBC Radio, PBS, and numerous music festivals across the globe, including the main stage at Floyd Fest in the United States and Rockness in my native Scotland. I've worked for Disney and shared the stage with Elton John. My drumming has also appeared in various commercials worldwide. In the studio, I've worked with producers such as Matty Benbrook (Faithless), Steve Chrisanthau (Corrine Bailey Rae), Alex James (Blur), and David Kosten ( Coldplay, REM).
Aside from playing drums for other artists, I'm an award-winning songwriter and spoken word performer. Virtually, I appeared alongside Rosanne Cash, John Oates, and many more in the peoplesupportingartists.com 2020 telethon to help raise money for independent artists affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. I have read my work in New York, Tennessee, and Texas. In addition, you can hear my poetry on the 2021 album "What Plans?" By Nashville songwriter Anthony Da Costa.
I grew up in Scotland and relocated to the United States in 2014. I discovered my passion for research and design in the New York startup scene. I proudly graduated from the prestigious TechStars accelerator program. During my time in the TechStars accelerator, I conceived the world's first fully online music festival. I was instrumental in helping a small startup grow its reach in the global music community.
In the winter of 2016, I moved to Nashville, TN, and pursued an interest in software development for a few years. The highlight of my software development career was creating an Oprah-themed Twitterbot that caught the eye of the fine people at redepper creative agency, who swiftly took me under their wing.
At redpepper, I was part of the UX team that worked closely with clients such as Deloitte and Verizon. I was responsible for turning insights into interactive prototypes that would inform our clients' numerous applications and services. I regularly led Google Design Sprints, design workshops, and user research initiatives. I even contributed to a few creative advertising projects for Redbull, Slack, and the Georgia Department of Tourism.
In 2018 my career took me to Asurion, a Fortune 500 insurance company with headquarters in Nashville. In my first year, I oversaw an 11-month long project where my team and I created a bespoke complaints management system for our network of agents across the US and Canada. I Also helped deliver Verizon's national Same-Day-Delivery program and wrote and designed email campaigns for AT&T that brought in over 1 million new customers by year-end.
In my last two years at Asurion, I helped build the Research & Strategic Insights team, leading qualitative research efforts. I regularly developed and ran co-creation labs and in-depth interviews to gain insights that would inform product strategy from multiple teams across the product org. My work at Asurion also touched on physical product design as I was involved in the research and creation of a self-service kiosks for Sprint Mobile and the complete redesign of UbreakiFix franchise locations across the United States. In addition to my project work, I regularly gave presentations to the entire design team to upskill them in research best practices and workshop facilitation.
As a consultant, I've enjoyed working closely with Canon USA to help them bring their AMLOS project to life. A unique software solution to improve collaboration between teams working in a hybrid environment. The product successfully launched at CES 2022 with help from Hollywood actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt and his online collaborative media platform HitRecord. I was the lead UX designer on the project. I worked closely with the team to bring to life an intuitive experience that raises the bar for video conferencing.
Since February 2021, I have been working as a Senior Consultant to the innovation org at Nationwide, a Fortune 100 insurance company based in Columbus, Ohio. At Nationwide, my role focuses on guiding teams through the human-centered design process and building the proper research into the product development lifecycle.
I've played many roles across the years. Still, I'm realizing more and more that my passion is for people, understanding how they live, how they work, and what motivates them. Technology that provides actual value has limitless potential, and ensuring teams build products on a foundation of solid, actionable insights is where I enjoy focusing most.
Download my resume here.
Email me: theblairmcmillan [at] gmail.com