February Meetup - Meet the design team at Lloyds Banking Group
We’re excited to host our first community meetup of 2025 at Lloyds Banking Group in central Manchester. We have a selection of lightning talks from the Experience Design team.
Natter is a social community based in Manchester, our content and events are designed to help support people working in digital design, or those trying to break into the industry. We believe in the power of conversation and creating an environment where people share knowledge and support one another.
Join us for networking, pizza, drinks, talks and good conversation. Don't miss out, come and natter with us.
Agenda
18:00 - 18:30
Welcome - grab a slice of pizza and a drink
18:30 - 18:45
Welcome from Natter and Lloyds Banking Group
18:45 - 19:00
Beyond the PDF: Ensuring Your Design Work Actually Ships (Dr Philip Bonhard)
Too often, designers pour their expertise into research, design, and polished deliverables—only to see their work stall in a beautifully crafted PDF or Figma Prototype. But the real measure of success isn’t just doing the work—it’s seeing it ship.
In this talk, Dr. Phil Bonhard draws on years of experience across consultancies, agencies, and in-house roles to explore why great design work often fails to make it into the real world. Through practical examples, he’ll highlight common pitfalls and share strategies for ensuring design work moves beyond documentation to drive real impact.
Attendees will walk away with:
- Tools and techniques to ensure their work has meaningful impact
- Strategies to navigate complex business environments and be taken seriously
- Insights on how to grow from designer to design leader
This session is designed for design practitioners of all disciplines, as well as those working alongside designers. If you’ve ever wondered why some of your best work never sees the light of day—or how to change that—this talk is for you.
19:00 - 19:15
BREAK
19:15 - 19:30
Get in, loser. We’re innovating UX Research. (Gio Ferreira)
If you think the innovation and UX research combo is so fetch, this talk is for you! Despite the Mean Girls references, we’ll dive into what it really means to innovate in UX research—covering the challenges, opportunities, and the impact on design, especially in highly regulated industries. And don’t worry, we’re not Plastics—this is a friendly, insightful session with zero gatekeeping.
19:30 - 19:45
Building Kickass Design Teams (Phil Williams - Lead UX Designer, Homes Platform LBG)
Managing people is hard… As your career progresses, we’re often thrust into positions of management and leadership, with no real knowledge of how to build and grow teams.
With over 10 years of design leadership under his belt, Phil will show the frameworks and methodologies he’s used to help structure high performing design teams, that focus on developing skills and helping people achieve their goals.
19:45 - 20:00
Wrap up
