Our digital Lord Trelawne

So Trelawne, how do you say your name and where is it from?

It’s a funny one…to help people remember my name I tell them ‘it’s like Tree-on-a-Lawn, so Treelawn”. Once they have that visual cue I then adjust it to “Tra-lawn” and for the most part that does the trick. As far are where it’s from, its Gaelic, and comes from Cornwall. I’m not from there, my parents just liked the name.

How long have you been in the digital game? And where have YOU come from?

I’ve been working in digital for six years and have seen the landscape evolve quite dramatically over that time. In 2012, especially in NZ, mobile design was really in its infancy and responsive design was only just on the radar, wide adoption didn’t really take place until a few years later. Now, it’s 2018 and we’re talking about AI (artificial intelligence) becoming commonplace on a website in the forms of chatbots and voice user interfaces. It’s a pretty exciting world to work in.

As far as where I’ve come from, before Dow Goodfolk, I worked at Gladeye and before that at Gravitate. Both companies were digital only agencies, and it’s a nice change to be a part of a product’s wider design and branding journey.

What can people look forward to when working with you on their project? Are they in safe hands?

When you don’t live and breathe digital it can be a challenging environment to understand. My role is to help businesses understand digital better, what the opportunities are and how they can be woven into their existing brand and communications strategy. To help them take their story online in a way that’s easy for their customers to digest, engage and connect with. A big part of this is helping people feel safe in a world that they may not fully understand.

What is a great digital experience for you?

In digital it can be easy to get swept up in all the new developments and technical bells and whistles that come into the marketplace every day. And while I delight in some of the amazing things that we can build today, a truly great digital experience is one that works for the user and drives the outcomes you want and need from your website, and isn’t just ‘new for the sake of being new’.

User driven design gives the best outcome for your users because it focuses on what they need first and foremost. A flashy website that distracts the user from the purpose of being there will be entertaining but won’t give them or you what you need. A great digital experience for me is one where the brand is reflected seamlessly through your offline environment into your online one. It provides value to your users and is easy and engaging to use. As soon as you hit the homepage you should know where you are and where you should go next.

You’ve also been proactive in kick-starting a lunchtime camera club here at Dow Goodfolk…what’s that all about and what’s your history with photography?

The lunchtime camera club is a project of mine that I love for number of reasons. Firstly, I love photography and outside of work you can usually find me photographing weddings, families and newborn babies. It’s a great creative outlet and something I’ve been doing for about 3 years. Secondly, it’s a great way to encourage everyday creativity, for myself and for anyone on the team who is keen to participate. Doing something creative but in a different field or different style to what you normally do can help you think differently and sometimes we don’t have the time or the opportunity to create something for the sheer sake of creating it. The goal of the camera club will be to try different types of photography, from street photography to portrait or food photography. As the club progresses there will be challenges, like “how can we make this photo look more like a painting” or “today you can only take photos of something with the colour blue in it.” It sounds kinda silly but something as simple as making you only take photos of something blue, creates a simple challenge that forces you to think differently about what art is.