Mayu Nakamura

Information & Interaction Designer

Bridging Japan and the world | Quietly working towards better

About

Tokyo

Skills

Identifying opportunity

Desk Research
Exploratory Research
Competitor Benchmark
Stakeholder Interview
Value Proposition Design & MVP Suggestion
Synthesis

Shaping direction

UX Strategy
Concept Development / Scenario Building
Visual Direction & Communication
Storytelling & Presentation
UX Direction

Modelling for humans and systems

Concept Modelling
Systems Thinking Visualisation
Information Architecture
Interaction Design
Service Design
Rapid Prototyping

Raising the quality bar

Outcome-based Evaluation
User Testing
Heuristic Evaluation

Moving together

Workshop Facilitation
Design Coaching
Responsible Design Practice
Work with Agile Dev Team

Languages

Japanese (Native)
English (Full professional proficiency)

Summary

An interaction and information designer with over 20 years across Japanese and Western design cultures, I work at the strategic level of design; shaping how information is structured and how people make sense of the systems around them. The challenges we face are too complex for any one perspective to solve alone. Cross-cultural depth isn't just my background, it's how I work.

Experience

ustwo

Principal Designer

Mar 2022 - Mar 2026 · Tokyo, Japan

Shifted from delivery to studio leadership; cultivating team culture, client strategy, and design practice in the age of AI. Built a multi-cultural team and established a public voice on ethics in design.

Team empowerment
Studio strategy
Client leadership
Systems thinking
AI integration

Product Design Lead

Mar 2018 - Mar 2022 · Tokyo, Japan

Co-led ustwo Tokyo and delivered product discovery and UX for Japanese manufacturing clients, bridging human-centred design with corporate cultures. Grew from practitioner to team coach as the studio scaled.

Product discovery
UX and Agile in manufacturing
Team coaching
Cross-country user research
Service design

Senior Interaction Designer

Aug 2010 - Mar 2018 · London, United Kingdom

Built UCD practice across agency clients in financial services, entertainment, and enterprise, developing core skills in information architecture and workshop facilitation.

User research & product benchmark
Workshop planning & facilitation
Scenario creation & requirements gathering
Concepting, prototyping & UI specification
Usability evaluation
Agile development

Syzygy

UX Consultant (Internship)

May 2010 - Jul 2010 · London, United Kingdom

Valuable three months learning UX work on the ground, as well as being exposed to British buisiness and creative agency culture.

Sony PCL Inc.

DVD / Blu-ray Disc Authoring Engineer

Jan 2003 - Jan 2008 · Tokyo, Japan

Worked on UI for Japan's earliest Blu-ray titles; developing craft precision and a habit of problem-solving under genuine technological uncertainty.