Welcome !
I’m Matthieu and I’m a UX Designer based in Lille. As such, I perform user research and design (UX/UI).
I have worked as both an employee and as a freelancer in different fields such as innovation, insurance or in the gaming industry.
In my free time, I mainly enjoy miniature painting. I also try Asian and Italian cuisine and I play video games. I also try to keep all my plants in acceptable condition but I quickly understood that in life, you shouldn't ask for too much.
🏆 Main results
Construction of a user research process compatible with significant time constraints within a mobile video game studio. Reduction in time per project of more than 50% compared to an average evaluative type project. More than 50 games tested, including “top chart” games totalling more than 300 million downloads.
Design of multiple questionnaires including a survey tool for mobile games with an excellent response rate of 55%.
Carried out a UX audit on an ambitious and complex SaaS application project. Isolated more than 20+ usability issues then quickly gained design skills in order to create the entire application. More than 300 wireframes produced and an increase in the credibility of the project which resulted in the obtaining of public subsidies (HFID and BPI).
What are my specificities and my specialties?
I have training in Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: I am particularly well prepared to conduct a user research phase with rigor and with any methodology, especially if it is a quantitative method like a survey and analyze it.
I always had an interest in Game Design : I have and continue to work in the video game industry. Many lessons specific to this field can be used in UX design through gamification: onboarding, engagement, retention & acquisition.
I have been bilingual French/English for a very long time, which is an advantage to coordinate efforts with international teams. I was able to use this skill in a professional setting to build relationships and negotiate commercial partnerships.
What about UX / UI ?
I was able to accumulate significant experience in this field within Weeki: I developed more than 300 models to an excellent standard, which made it possible to unlock grants in order to perpetuate the project.
Then, aware that wireframing was not part of my initial training, I put in place a permanent effort on self-training in this area: recently I obtained two certifications on Figma totaling more than 40 hours of content. They covered the entire software, including the most advanced elements and especially put the emphasis on features which allow collaboration and produce work to the highest standard if necessary.
What services can I offer ?
As a UX Designer I am able to offer all services related to this role. More specifically, my experiences and my training have allowed me to gain experience in offering the following services:
Implementation of quantitative user research methods such as surveys and carrying out statistical and data analysis
Wireframe and prototype design on Figma
Design of user journeys including ones targeted at new users (or onboarding)
Improve engagement, retention or acquisition through the implementation of gamification
My Process
Theory
Reality
As illustrated above, practice is often different from reality, with constraints specific to the professional world such as time and budget manifesting themselves quite quickly. It is therefore rare to be able to implement a process without it being questioned. This does not mean that knowing the different methodologies is useless but that you just have to be prepared to either adapt an existing process (which I have already had the opportunity to do) or to change methodology.
My work in UX has always been tackled with the typical double diamond process in mind which already allows a certain amount of flexibility and I have practiced UX in an Agile context. I also have knowledge of UX methodologies influenced by agile such as lean UX or design sprint and I am familiar with the most common agile framework: scrum.
Recommendations
"I had the pleasure of working with Matthieu for 18 months at Dual Cat, where he was in charge of several UX projects. During this time, I was constantly impressed by his ability to work independently and manage partners effectively. Matthieu played a key role in industrializing our testing process by bringing a solid theoretical foundation to our work, with a particular focus on pedagogy. He is passionate about both video games and psychology, which makes him particularly well qualified for user research in this field. In short, if you are looking for a user researcher who can propel your product to success, I highly recommend hiring Matthieu. He is a talented and dedicated professional who is sure to have a positive impact on any team."
Alexandre Aminot, Co-founder, Dual Cat
“Matthieu’s research with PlaytestCloud demonstrates innovation and best practice within Games User Research. He has also provided valuable feedback that our product team have incorporated into new features. From discussing research goals, planning projects, negotiating subscriptions; Matthieu has consistently operated with excellent communication and professionalism.”
Peter Joyes, Senior Business Development Manager, PlaytestCloud
“I had the pleasure of working with Matthieu on a 6-month research project. He is a designer with impressive quantitative research skills. Matthieu’s ability to design and execute the surveys impressed me. That skill often takes years to develop among UX experts. Still today, we discuss how to do better data analysis. As a user research expert, Matthieu earns my highest recommendation.”
Mathieu Dumont, Lead UX Designer, UX-Republic Belgium
“Matthieu completed his Master 2 internship in the Lutin-Gobelins ErgoDesign laboratory at the Gobelins school. His profile corresponded particularly well to the work in progress, both at the theoretical level in cognitive sciences and at the practical level with user tests of the school's student projects. He knew how to put his skills into practice with energy, seriousness and good humor. He was also independent and could acquire new knowledge quickly. Finally, Matthieu adapted to different contexts, on the one hand in terms of educational implementation with our students and on the other hand, on the scientific level with our ongoing experiments.”
Nicolas Esposito, Head of Research, Gobelins Paris
Soft skills
Beyond the basic skills of any good designer (curiosity, empathy, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, to name a few) I have demonstrated the following qualities:
Growth Mentality & Flexibility
During my training in Psychology, I always took care to choose research projects that posed a significant challenge to me. This approach required of me to show enough flexibility and willingness to learn tools that I knew nothing about or to develop specific knowledge and to do so while managing other responsibilities simultaneously.
This turned out to be important as in my career I often had to manage several projects on different fronts and I was able to do it without it affecting the quality of the work delivered. For example, I managed several freelance projects in addition to an employee position and all of these missions were successful.
Autonomy & Initiative
My experiences often took place in contexts where I had to demonstrate a great deal of autonomy. This was fortunate as my university training had prepared me well for this.
Beyond the fact of never having represented a significant cost in management terms, I have often been able to take advantage of these situations to look for alternatives and new ideas which has led me to always bring value to academic or professional projects.
Communication
There is many reasons as to why learning how to communicate is one of the most important skill a person can have :
First of all, as a human being and professional, I believe that we should never stop learning, never mind our age or our level of experience. I also believe that this process is facilitated by simply talking and exchanging ideas with others. Part of that exchange implicates formulating constructive feedback and also receiving it. Learning to do both is a valuable skill for self-growth. Being a Psychology graduate has me in an advantageous position as the relationship between communication and motivation is well established with recent studies giving clear and easily applicable instructions.
Second of all, for a professional in UX it is even more relevant for two aspects :
UX is a changing field so networking and gleaning perspectives from different professionals should always be a top priority.
From a certain point of view, UX is about extracting and transmitting information. For example, learning what to say in an interview and how to say it or learning how to shape and present information in a report that is aimed at a dev team are situations in which proper communication is highly predictive of success.