CHRISTOPHER MOOREHEAD

Collaborative & Transformational Design Leader

I am a professional engineer (P Eng) and graphic designer (RGD) with proven expertise in building, enabling, and leading successful design teams, as well as facilitating complex cross-functional product development initiatives.

Until recently, I held the position of Head of User Experience (UX) at Caseware International Inc., a world leader in the development of cloud-based SaaS (Software as a Service) audit and assurance software for accounting firms, corporations and governments. In this role, I functioned as the global UX leader for Caseware International and its distributor network, and was responsible for all aspects of Caseware’s UX competency, including leading the UX Research, Product Design, Design Operations, UX Content (technical writing and documentation), and Localization (translation) teams, as well as setting the UX strategy across Caseware’s product portfolio, aligning UX with all business, product and engineering requirements, and adapting all platforms and products to multiple languages and regions. I also oversaw the operationalization of design at Caseware, including design system development, work prioritization, workflow planning, and the scaling of design for rapid growth.

Prior to Caseware, I held the position of Senior Director, Information Design & Architecture, at multinational accounting, consulting, and professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. At PwC, I led a multi-disciplinary team of information designers, UX designers, digital strategists, and software developers using information design, data visualization, user experience, and structured typography best practices to analyze and interpret data, provide high-level insights, and develop clear, focused solutions to complex business problems. As PwC’s Lead Information Architect, I was responsible for designing and organizing information functionality, hierarchy, and content into systems and structures which facilitate the efficient management of information. I also served as PwC’s Accessibility Lead, ensuring compliance with AODA and WCAG regulations, guidelines, and best practices.

I have been a member of OCAD University’s Faculty of Design since 2011, and most recently taught Visual Analytics & Data Visualization, as well as Wayfinding & Information Systems. In 2024 I joined the faculty at the University of Waterloo’s Stratford School of Interaction Design & Business, where I am an instructor in the Master of Digital Experience Innovation (MDEI) and Global Business & Digital Arts (GBDA) programs teaching core MDEI course Digital Media Solutions 1: Design Principles & Practice and fourth-year GBDA capstone course Cross-Cultural Digital Business 2.

From Engineering to Design

Whenever I explain to anyone exactly what I do for a living, the first question that I’m always asked is: How did an engineer end up in design? An interesting question, indeed.

Before attending design school, I worked for more than 15 years as a mechanical engineer in a number of industry sectors, including automotive, computer hardware manufacturing, government, and consulting. My final purely engineering job was in the aerospace industry in North Carolina, designing and manufacturing air navigation and control surface positioning systems for US Navy fighter and electronic warfare aircraft. I also became an expert at navigating the byzantine intricacies of the US Federal Aviation Regulations — perhaps the most incomprehensible series of documents ever written.

My ongoing interest in graphic design and typography, combined with an intense discomfort with the ethical implications of my role as part of the North American military/industrial complex, eventually led me to the Ontario College of Art & Design (now OCAD University), where I entered the graphic design program in 2004.

During the summer of 2007, while still a student at OCAD, I was accepted into the summer design program at the Basel School of Design, where I had the privilege of studying under the direction of legendary German/Swiss designer and educator Wolfgang Weingart. The program eschewed any use of computer technology — we cut type from specimen sheets with x-acto knives, and set it by hand. When Professor Weingart deemed our designs to be acceptable, we were instructed to tape them down. (To this day, I consider the words “tape it!” to be the highest form of design praise.) I returned from Switzerland with an empty wallet but a new insight into typography, composition, colour, and form.

During my time at OCAD, I became interested in the emerging field of information design and data visualization. I quickly came to realize that, given the vast quantity of digital (and analog) information with which we are flooded on a continuous basis, the ability to depict complex information streams visually in a manner easily understood by the average reader would become the single most important skill that a designer could possess. Simply put: those who can control the visualization of data will rule the world.

I was also fascinated by wayfinding — a specialized area of design focused on assisting people in successful and efficient navigation, both of the built (urban) environment and digital environments such as websites and software user interfaces. Wayfinding and information design seemed like a natural fit for the unusual skill set I had acquired through my engineering and graphic design education and professional practice.

My interest in these areas of practice led me into the field of management consulting at multinational accounting, consulting, and professional services firm Deloitte LLP, in its Advanced Analytics practice group, where I built its very first Information Design team. Later, I moved to Deloitte’s principal competitor PwC, where I built a similar Information Design competency, later expanding the team’s role into the areas of UX design, information architecture, and software development.

In a sense, my job has not changed much from my aerospace days. Although a designer first and foremost, I am still involved in the fields of industrial engineering and navigation — however, I believe the end result of my current work is far more beneficial to society!