Andreas Wolters | Zürich-based User Experience Designer | UX, Neuroscience and Machine Learning

About me

AndreasWolters

User Experience Designer

Based in Zürich, Switzerland

Hi there!

Glad to have you here. My name is Andreas — but please call me Andy. I’m an Experience Designer who initially set out to understand the brain. I am currently freelancing at 'die Mobiliar', which should keep me busy for 2018.

Besides that daily business I am keeping myself busy by understanding how my background in Neuroscience and Machine Learning goes together with my craft. Like: how can we use psychological knowledge to design things that work better for each user? How will Machine Learning impact the way we design - and what we design? How do we even approach design when an algorithm decides what to display in the first place?

What can I do?

Concepts & strategy

What problem are we talking about exactly? What knowledge do we have about it already - and which questions need to be answered? We can mull over questions like these, just so we’re headed in the right direction.

Interaction design & testing

It pays off to put something graspable in front of the potential users as early as possible, to see how well it works (or if it works at all!) and what needs to be improved. Early changes are cheap changes.

Analytics & optimisation

The world is agile now. I can help to monitor and analyse the Analytics data to find out how to prioritise what to do next.

User research

How do we find out what users really need? What is it that drives them? Questions like these surely are interesting, but also deliver crucial insights - I can help to answer these question with my psychological background.

What do my clients say?

He's able to think strategically about a project but also adapts to tactical thinking when needed. Andreas' approach to working in cross functional teams is great.
Clare Barnett, then UX Designer at JustGiving

Andreas is a highly competent User Experience consultant, his analytical and dilligent eye was crucial to all of the projects he was involved in. He added significant value.
Andrew Japp, then Business and Client Development Director at Digital White

I've worked with Andy for almost two years and his enthusiasm and motivation made a joy to work with. He is a hard working UX designer and at all times I was impressed with his commitment and dedication to work.
Olesya Gerasimova, then UX Designer at Digital White

Coffee afficionado
Cyclist
Traveller
Photographer
Dog person

CV

- Neuroscience -

Institute of Neuroinformatics

Visiting Researcher
February - October 2017 in Zürich, Switzerland
I was a visiting researcher at the Neuromorphic Cognitive Systems Groups for an 8-month project, in which we examined concept learning capabilities of artificial neural network systems.

Download M.Sc. thesis
Utrecht University Medical Centre

Visiting Researcher
February - October 2016 in Utrecht, Netherlands
I was carrying out a half-year research project using a high-resolution fMRI scanner with the aim of improving the brain-computer interface technology currently used in locked-in syndrome patients (as part of the Utrecht NeuroProsthesis Project).
Universiteit van Amsterdam

M.Sc. Brain and Cognitive Science
since August 2015 in Amsterdam, Netherlands
I have graduated from an M.Sc. with a focus on "Cognitive Science". The focus of teaching was placed on two topic areas; (1) mathematical modelling of brain phenomena and (2) biological underpinnings of brain function.

Grade: 8.2 (cum laude)

Grants received: Travel grant to attend a summer school in Waterloo, Canada

Literature thesis: Artificial neural networks as models of information processing in biological neural networks

Download literature thesis
University of Westminster, London

B.Sc. Cognitive Neuroscience
September 2011 - June 2014 in London, UK
I have received my B.Sc. from this University in Central London; it provided me with a wide overview of ways of understanding areas of the brain.

Grade: First-class honours (1:1)

Awards: I've been awarded with the High Achievers Award twice, as well as being a member of the Dean's List.

Title of thesis: Examining the effects of a four-week condensed Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programme on the unity and diversity of Executive Functions

Download B.Sc. thesis

- UX Design -

Die Mobiliar

Lead UX Specialist
since January 2020, in Bern, Switzerland
I’m currently in a Lead role as part of the UX Design team of the oldest private Swiss insurance company, die Mobiliar, in which I oversee the design domain of insuring & contracts. This domain revolves around administering and purchasing insurance contracts and involves design efforts for both employees and customers.

Senior UX Specialist
October 2017 - December 2019, in Bern, Switzerland
My journey at die Mobiliar started in a Senior role, working on projects ranging from improving the highly-complicated claim management process to developing new digital services for our customers.
DesignLab

Mentor
February 2016 - October 2017, remotely
I acted as a mentor for DesignLab to help the students of the DesignLab to get the best possible start to their UX endeavours.
Mushroom Media

Experience Design Consultant
November 2015 - February 2017, remotely
I was working on a project about sustainability and sustainability reporting for the TV industry.
JustGiving

UX Designer
April - August 2015 in London, UK
I was contracting a second time for JustGiving, the market leader of charitable giving online. During this tenure I headed up a group effort to address concerns around privacy and user control and the impacts this had on the overall user experience.
June - December 2014 in London, UK
I was contracting for JustGiving, the market leader of charitable giving online. My main responsibility during this time was to lead the UX part of an app design (from scratch); I also headed up a redesign of the core of the product, the fundraising page.
Nitro Digital

Experience Design Consultant
April 2014 in London, UK
I worked for Nitro Digital twice on short-term projects to support an ongoing project for a pharmaceutical client. I was involved in the creation of prototypes for testing as well as wireframing and interaction design.
Mushroom Media

Experience Design Consultant
April 2014 in London, UK
I acted as a UX Lead for a project about social responsibility of TV companies. This involved getting an understanding of how the topic of social responsibility is important to TV companies, what these areas of importance are (and why they matter to the TV companies) and how a TV company can be gauged on how well they are doing in the respected area.
Time Out

Experience Design Consultant
July - December 2013 in London, UK
I was hired by the well-known Time Out magazine for a one-week project; the collaboration was then extended and lasted six months. My responsibilities included to work on all channels, being responsible for the UX across the desktop web site, mobile web, and the newly-launched Time Out app. I have lead the efforts to redesign the payment flow for mobile, done conceptual and strategic work for a global responsive platform and carried out interaction design fixes to the company's iPhone app.
RightsTracker

Experience Design Consultant
July - August 2013 in London, UK
I worked with RightsTracker during the summer of 2013 to create a detailed prototype that includes design elements and detailed interactions, which I have created using Axure.
TVEverywhere

Analytics specialist
January - March 2013 in London, UK
This agency brought me in to carry out an extensive Analytics review for one of the leading museums in London.
TurtleMouth

UX Lead and Project Manager
August 2012 - March 2014 in London, UK & remotely
I was made responsible for a bootstrapped start-up project, which has been paused for now. The idea was to give backpackers the power to connect to each other and share the local knowledge they have made in the remote places of the world. My responsibilities has included to do the strategic propositions as well as the UX and design planning, the project management of the design process and the hiring process for the development. The UX contained a very extensive strategy phase to assess the business potential of the business concept.
Digital White

User Experience Designer
April 2011 - June 2013 in London, UK
Digital White is a small digital agency based in Parsons Green, London. I worked on projects for clients such as ISBA, CSI, Pirelli and InvestorBee. Due to the size of the agency I was working on all parts of the design process; my activity ranged from pitching defining strategy to producing interactive prototypes. I later specialised into the strategic side of UX Design and got more involved with the pitching part.