Problem, solved.

Development of various consumer services (mobile apps) and mobile operating systems (mobile OS) between 2003 and 2008.

The Background

During my five years in Paris as a Usability Expert R&D and UX Research Manager, I was both leading and hands-on in shaping the user experience of emerging mobile and PC services. I managed a multidisciplinary team of usability experts, developers, and designers, while personally conducting research, building prototypes, and crafting interaction models.

Our work sat at the intersection of innovation and practicality, partnering closely with Orange Mobile and Web business units to explore and define the digital experiences of tomorrow. The team’s mission was to anticipate how people would use technology in the future and translate those insights into real, testable solutions.

The Problem

At that time, mobile interfaces were often complex, inconsistent, or ill-adapted to real user needs—especially for seniors, tech novices, or users with accessibility challenges.

Despite technological advances, the experience layer wasn’t evolving at the same pace. Screens were tiny, interaction models were clunky, and product teams needed help creating simple yet powerful solutions that could scale across millions of devices.

There was also a growing gap between what business stakeholders envisioned and what users actually needed in their daily lives. Orange needed a way to close that gap through grounded, user-led innovation that could move fast and adapt to real-world usage.

The Solution

To address these challenges, I initiated and led several major projects where I also designed and tested interaction flows, icon systems, and information architecture in an empirical manner.

With Navel, we imagined and prototyped a full-featured mobile OS on a tiny 128×128 pixel screen—a radical interface ahead of its time that prefigured today’s Apple watch.
With SimplePhone, I focused on intuitive interaction and high-quality core functionality (calling and texting), rejecting the idea that simplicity had to mean low-end. I even conducted diary studies and interviews with target elderly users to guide each iteration.
For Orange’s first iPhone Mobile TV app, I prototyped navigation models and interactive mockups, ensuring an intuitive experience for early smartphone users.
And in OMSE (Orange Mobile Service Experience), amongst many other mobile servcies, I led an overhaul of the Homescreen for Orange-branded phones, incorporating insights from extensive field research and usability testing. We radically simplified the interface and created modular, adaptive content components that launched across 60 million devices.

Across all projects, I ensured we involved users early and often—observing, iterating, and refining.

The Benefits

These initiatives produced measurable and lasting impact.

Navel showcased how user-centered design could stretch the potential of constrained form factors and earned interest as a precursor to wearable UX.
SimplePhone proved that simplicity could be a premium experience, inspiring Orange to explore more inclusive product lines.
The Mobile TV app gave Orange a foothold on iOS at a crucial time, contributing to positive early app store reviews and increased engagement.
Most notably, OMSE’s Homescreen was adopted by 60 million users globally, receiving excellent feedback for its clarity, speed, and usability, proving that thoughtful UX could deliver at massive scale.

Internally, our success established a model for embedding user research into product development and helped secure future investment in UX capabilities across the organization. My hands-on role helped bridge strategy and implementation, ensuring that innovation was both visionary and grounded in the reality of user behavior.

Digital
problem
solver…

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