Annabelle Ashton

Annabelle Ashton never stopped pursuing her childhood dream of becoming a designer. In spite of ongoing learning difficulties impacting her reading and writing abilities, she graduated from University of Bournemouth with a first class honours in Graphic Design before eventually landing her role as a Mid-Weight UI Designer for The Times at News UK in April 2021.

Always with a positive attitude, Annabelle throws herself at projects by gathering requirements, interviewing users, conducting user tests and surveys, and expertly managing conflicting stakeholder needs. She works closely with engineers through development into delivery, never losing her zeal to ensure consistency of quality and accuracy in her output. Annabelle is an accessibility champion and takes the strong view that accessibility is everyone’s responsibility, not just for specialists - it should be incorporated at the earliest stages of any design. Annabelle played a vital role in leading the design of The Times & The Sunday Times first breaking and live news experience. Annabelle ensured stakeholders were involved at every stage of the design process while ensuring subscriber insights were at the forefront of solutions. She also applied her design talent to redesign The Times newsletters, breaking an open rate record in the process. Annabelle’s passion for design has seen her go to great lengths inside and outside of the workplace to follow her dreams and achieve her goals. For example she set up an online design-related business selling vintage print designs that attracted the attention of Vogue and Elle magazines.