Mayu Nakamura

Information & Interaction Designer

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.

Education

University of the Arts London

MA Interactive Media

Jan 2008 - Jan 2009

Hosei University

BA Intercultural Communication

Jan 1999 - Jan 2002