A bit about me

Designer, problem-solver, and lover of a good coffee

I'm Jamie Houston, a UX and product designer based in Melbourne. I'm passionate about creating intuitive, user-centred experiences where thoughtful design makes complex problems feel simple.

With a Bachelor of Communication Design and 10 years across freelance, in-house, and startup environments, I've built a multi-disciplinary practice that spans product strategy, UX research, UI design, branding, and illustration.

Originally from New Zealand, I now call Melbourne home, where I live with my partner and daughter. Outside of design, you can find me outdoors exploring, discovering new places to eat, and enjoying a good coffee.

Jamie Houston

How I work

Ship early, learn along the way

Perfect is too late. Early feedback keeps things moving and stops us solving the wrong problem. Put it in front of users, learn fast, iterate.

Shape the process around the work

Every project is different. I stay flexible in how I work, choosing an approach that fits the challenge rather than following a fixed process.

Great work happens together

I value collaboration and open thinking. Sharing ideas early and often helps create better, more considered work.

I'll push back respectfully

Honest conversations lead to stronger work. I'll question things thoughtfully and bring solutions, not just criticism.

Balance user needs and business goals

I care about creating experiences that work for people and deliver real value for the business. The best solutions consider both.

Design for everyone

Accessibility isn't a layer, it's the baseline. If it doesn't work for everyone, it doesn't work.

What I'm listening to

♪ Now playing
Porch Light
Noah Kahan · The Great Divide
♪ Now playing
You're Gonna Go Far
Noah Kahan · Stick Season
♪ Now playing
The Night We Met
Lord Huron · I'll Be Your Man
♪ Now playing
The Fate of Ophelia
Taylor Swift · The Tortured Poets Department

Life outside of work

Quick Interview
Common questions recruiters ask.
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I'm a product designer with 10 years across freelance, in-house, and startup environments. My background spans product strategy, UX research, UI design, branding, and illustration so I can carry an idea from a whiteboard conversation all the way to a shipped, on-brand interface.

I'm currently a Product Designer at WORK180 in Melbourne, working end-to-end on the employer-facing platform from discovery and research through to delivery and iteration.

Because I don't just design screens I think about outcomes. I started in visual and brand design, which means I care deeply about craft and polish. I grew into UX and product, which means I care about whether it actually works for people and moves the business.

I'm also fluent with AI-enabled workflows and front-end enough to communicate precisely with engineers. I move fast without dropping quality, and I thrive in teams where design and engineering are genuinely collaborative.

Discovery first I want to understand the problem, the users, and the constraints before I sketch a single screen. That means research, stakeholder conversations, and auditing what already exists.

Then I move fast in low-fidelity: flows, rough wireframes, quick prototypes for testing. High-fidelity comes after we've validated the approach, not before. And I stay involved post-launch data and user feedback inform the next iteration.

As a partner, not a handoff machine. I try to involve engineers early ideally in problem framing so they're invested in the solution, not just implementing a spec.

I'm comfortable reviewing implementations for design fidelity and adjusting specs when engineering constraints make something impractical. I'd rather ship something slightly simpler and well-built than something pixel-perfect and brittle.

The challenge
We identified an opportunity to help young people find the right apprenticeship path with full transparency, while giving employers a way to manage applications on the other side. The tricky part was that it's a two-sided product with very different user needs, and we jumped straight into it as an experiment with almost no runway. I had a week to show a working prototype to a potential client, starting from scratch.

What I did
I ran discovery and scoped the project myself, mapping out both sides of the experience simultaneously. I had to make fast, pragmatic calls about what to explore and what to park, and built the prototype end-to-end to get something tangible in front of stakeholders quickly.

How it evolved
The whole process has been learning while building, taking feedback from research and changing direction based on what we found rather than following a fixed plan. That's been the real design challenge: staying structured enough to make progress while staying loose enough to respond to what we learn.

Where it landed
We're currently in validation with some strong early signals. It hasn't shipped yet but the process itself validated a lot of our assumptions about what both sides of the market actually need.

Range, and where I sit between disciplines. I started in visual and brand design, so I have a strong eye for typography, layout, and polish but I grew into UX, design systems, and front-end, so I can carry an idea from a stakeholder conversation all the way to a built, accessible, on-brand interface.

That blend matters for work that lives between marketing, communications, and product. I'm also a systems thinker who still sweats the pixels.