Test an editorial-modernist system on the About page
About me / editorial test
I help organisations build better relationships with the people
they serve.
I’m Tom Eldridge. My work sits at the intersection of design and
strategy, with a focus on making services more sustainable, more
people-focused, and more workable in the real world. This page
treats that story as an editorial narrative rather than a standard
profile section.
Most of my projects begin by getting close to how people
actually experience a service. That means listening carefully,
mapping what is happening across channels, understanding the
organisational constraints, and then helping teams move from
observation into something more concrete.
My background combines service design, user research, and
strategic thinking. In practice, that often looks like
workshops, fieldwork, prototyping, facilitation, and making
ideas tangible enough to test with the people they are meant to
help.
Design becomes useful when it can make a system more
understandable, more workable, and more humane.
Research
Field interviews, observation, synthesis, service mapping,
behavioural insight.
Strategy
Framing the right opportunity, defining direction,
clarifying what matters most.
Delivery
Prototyping, workshops, alignment, and practical
recommendations teams can act on.
Section two
Where that perspective comes from
I studied Political Science at the London School of Economics.
It might not sound like a typical route into design, but it
shaped the way I think: in systems, in incentives, and in the
relationships between institutions and everyday life.
That perspective still runs through the work. I am interested in
how strategy becomes visible in a lived experience, and how
design can help organisations make better decisions about the
people they serve.
Systems view
Look beyond the screen, because services are shaped by
policy, process, culture, and tools as much as interfaces.
Real-world testing
Prototype early, put ideas in front of people, and let
evidence improve the direction.
Collaborative design
Better outcomes come from working closely with the teams
responsible for making change happen.
Practical optimism
Design should be ambitious enough to matter and grounded
enough to be implemented.
Section three
Life beyond design
Outside work, I’m a runner and triathlete who found both sports
later than expected. I’m also very loyal to coffee rituals,
currently led by an AeroPress, and to the family and friends who
make all the useful things in life possible.
Helping organisations improve services through research,
strategy, and design.
Looking for the point where better understanding can lead to
better decisions.
Running, coffee, close reading, and asking whether the thing
works for the people using it.