in 1994, Nigel and his Human-Computer Interaction Group at NPL were engaged by the Inland Revenue (IR) to advise on usability engineering. Over the next couple of years, they conducted 5 usability evaluations in the organisation. I was with the IR team and attended many planning meetings with Nigel and participated in some of the evaluations: during that period, Nigel and his colleagues taught me most of what I know about usability. It was an exciting and exhilarating experience which I have never forgotten.

Nigel was a mentor and confidante as I, at 28 (the year 2000) tried to enter the UX agency world.    He always had time for me.    And through one particularly difficult occasion when a competitor caused me a lot of personal anguish, kept me level headed and gave me direction. I was ready to quit. But his advice was for me to stay strong. In his mild-mannered way he gave me untold strength.    Nigel was at Serco at the time. We often competed for work. But always remained friends.    One particularly favourite trip with Nigel was to UPA, Colorado. Where we all went out to a bar with a buffalo head on the wall. Of course Nigel knew why people were raising their glass and toasting the buffalo. A football team had won a game. He decided to join in. So we all ended up joining in. Steve Krug included! The next morning he was up at 6am walking the trails!   His selfless guidance helped me professionally and personally.    The agency morphed, grew larger and was sold to EY in 2015. I owe Nigel’s steadfast friendship a great deal, for helping me bring my dream to reality for my family & I. 

Catriona Campbell 

Eulogy for Nigel Bevan, Ph.D. 

We would like to send our condolences to the family on the sudden loss of Dr. Nigel Bevan. He was greatly involved in ISO activities, particularly the ISO 9241 series. We will remember him as someone who thrived in his role as a proponent of new ideas and new ways of thinking about existing models. We, the Japanese, UK, German, Canadian and other members, were very fortunate to be able to meet with him for engaging and fruitful discussions in many places around the world, whether in Tokyo or Sapporo or European cities. We the Japanese members often face language difficulties because all ISO documents are written in English and we benefited greatly from his solicitude and support.

  Nigel’s knowledge of usability was vast due to his love of travelling. We will fondly remember the many interesting stories and experiences he shared with us while drinking beers in British style bars after our ISO meetings.

Since Nigel’s impact on ISO TC159 is enormous, we will continue to benefit from his excellent contributions and will gratefully integrate the concepts he was working on before his passing.

We pray for his soul.

ISO TC159 member volunteers in Japan;

Shin’ichi FUKUZUMI, Masaaki KUROSU, Daiji KOBAYASHI, Naotake HIRASAWA, Ayako HASHIZUME, Takaaki HAYAKAWA, Naotsune HOSONO, Hiroyuki MIKI, Yoshihiko NAKANO, Mikie OI, Sakae YAMAMOTO, Masayasu YAMAMOTO,
Yusuke YAZU, Ryoji YOSHITAKE.

This is from a hiking tour of Nigel and me in Rocky Mountain National Park, Denver on 6th of May, 2017 just before CHI. When we took a short rest here, Nigel asked me to take this photo for him.

I first met Nigel when I joined NPL straight from university in the early 1980s and worked for him for some 12 or so years in the HCI field. He was a very interested and committed boss to have over those years, when he acted as a mentor to me. I have good memories of my time at NPL. Nigel also introduced me to the many people he knew in HCI and standards community for which I am still grateful.

I remember that he also championed the cause of women woking at NPL (there were very few of us at that time in a Division which focused on computers and mathematics), sending me on appropriate courses and making sure that people knew that I wasn’t his secretary!

I also recall the social side of being with Nigel, enjoying lunches and dinners where Nigel was never without his trusty wine book, to select the best wine for the table. Sometimes people got a little hungry whilst awaiting his decision.

All in all, Nigel taught me a lot and I will miss meeting him at conferences to catch up and talk about our shared past.

So sorry to hear about Nigel, as despite the passing decades, it seems like only yesteryear that we were working at NPL or travelling to a European city for meetings.

At the end of a long day of meetings we would generally repair to a local restaurant.  Nigel would then consult his little notebook very carefully before ordering the wine, however, when it came to the food, Nigel wouldn't even look at the menu.  Wherever we were, he would just ask the waiter to recommend the best dish and take that!

Nigel was an adventurer, a bon vivant and raconteur who was fun to be with both at work and play.  He had an infectious enthusiasm for Usability research and a keen questioning mind that could bring out the best in those that worked with him.

My thoughts are with his wife and family. I hope they have some comfort from happy memories.

Nigel will be missed by all that knew him.

In March of 2018, he proposed to co-author a book on "Kansei Engineering". Of course I replied "Why not!", 'cause it's a nice timing for connecting Kansei related professionals in Japan and European countries. But the plan was abondoned at the first step -- I truly regret that.