My work is delivered with years of experience and a passionate attitude for designing outstanding end to end user experiences.

ABOUT me.

Originally a graphic designer at heart, my journey began in that field. Over the course of my nearly two-decade design career, significant transformations have occurred. As designers, we've adapted to the evolving demands and prerequisites for achieving exceptional design in the contemporary landscape. With user preferences and business requirements perpetually shifting and escalating, I've embraced change and grown alongside it. Consequently, my conception of the essential elements for creating products users love and share with others has evolved.

How I think.

The set of skills that propelled my past success differs significantly from the one I employ today. The user experiences I currently craft diverge greatly from those of the past. I leverage the lessons acquired throughout my journey, integrating them into my design process to navigate the demands of today's design landscape. On a contrasting note, I believe that certain soft skills, such as genuine empathy, effective communication, enthusiasm, intuition, and the ability to work amidst ambiguity and uncertainty, constitute aspects of my skill set that transcend traditional learning from books.

My process.

Approaching design from a user concentric UX/UI perspective, my methodology has evolved with an enhanced skill set. I engage in storytelling and idea articulation by initially delving into user insights, utilizing both qualitative and quantitative data and persona representations. This information, coupled with intuition, forms the foundation for hypothesizing user stories and journeys. Subsequently, I continuously leverage these narratives to craft wireframed flows that illustrate how users navigate through products or features. The process involves a dynamic cycle of iteration and refinement as I progress towards a comprehensive solution.

In the realm of UX/UI design, prototyping and closely observing participants as they navigate through these design flows constitute a captivating facet of User Research. This presents a unique opportunity to gain insights into user behavior within the synthesized outcomes of my work. Beyond serving as a validation tool for hypotheses and design flows, this approach proves highly effective in elucidating and communicating ideas to others. The iterative nature of this process ensures that I am consistently enhancing my work towards an optimal user-centric solution.

My Brand & values

Be fun | Think big | Ask questions | embrace change | Make mistakes |be EXPERIMENTAL | BE INNOVATIVE | Be perfect | integrity | leadership | Empathy | Listening | Trustworthy | Genuine

Everything I do is for the benefit of my users and customers.
Always remember to smile, have a good time and laugh a lot, as there is no problem that is too big to solve.

Other people's BRANDS

Some fantastic brands that I have been so fortunate to work with throughout my design career.

from my colleagues

I really appreciate the amount of creativity that John brings to the table. During difficult brainstorming sessions, John is always able to weave together an idea and paint an experience that everyone can understand. Whenever I hit a wall in my creative thinking I know that I can turn to John and he is able to help create an interesting way to solve the problem I am facing (especially when it comes to navigation, user flow, and image/content display).

—Dick Larimer—

John is a talented designer who has a great command of the tools. He's very personable and a joy to work with. What impressed me the most about Jon is his honest assessment of his own skills. If he says he can get something done, you can be sure he will do it well. With his unique mix of skills, both conceptually creative and technically knowledgeable, I would recommend John to anyone.

—Stefanie Matsudaira—

My favorite quote:

currently: Rakuten, Tokyo

Senior UX Design Manager - Design Team Manager - global inbound travel

 PREVIOUSLY: Transmethod, Japan

UX expert - consultant

 Previously: Microsoft office, Japan

Product design lead - UX designer - Productivity

 PREVIOUSLY: MICROSOFT MSN, Redmond

Product design lead - UX/UI designer - monetization

 Things I like

My second favorite quote:

Contact info

john@johnhepburn.com | +81 080 9092 9807 | +1 425 296 0557

1-6-1 Harumi, Chuo-Ku
Tokyo, Japan
104-0053