My approach
# My values, my experience, and my approach to design leadership.
My story
For over two decades, my career has been about bridging the gap between the physical and the digital. It started not with pixels, but with metal. I spent years in industrial design, learning the hard-won, often painful, lessons of turning an idea into a real, tangible object that didn't fall apart when you used it. I even ran my own successful photography business for a while, which taught me a thing or two about the commercial realities of a creative life.
Eventually, the world shifted, and so did I. I was given the challenge of dragging a piece of gym equipment, kicking and screaming, from an ATM-style interface into the modern world of Android touch screens. From that moment on, I was hooked on the properly difficult problems of digital design.
That journey led me to The Hut Group, where I led the User Experience team for the impossibly intricate software that runs a global e-commerce giant. It was a baptism of fire in designing for complex, internal systems where a bad interface doesn't just annoy someone; it costs a fortune.
Now, as the Design Lead at 90POE, I lead the design function for the specialised world of maritime technology. My role is to guide a talented team in creating clear, effective solutions for the high-stakes, "pressure cooker" environment of modern shipping. It’s the culmination of everything I’ve learned, blending a deep understanding of product with a stubborn focus on building the teams and culture required to solve properly difficult problems.
My leadership philosophy
My story means I am a pragmatist, not a purist. I am drawn to the 'properly difficult' problems: the complex, legacy, or just plain weird systems. I thrive on solving them with a minimum of 'design theatre'.
This pragmatism is my leadership style. I’m a Team Architect. My job isn't to be the star designer; my job is to build the team that builds the product. My primary role is to create clarity from chaos. I act as the chief translator, and when necessary the flak-jacket, between design, engineering, and the business.
This philosophy translates directly into how I work:
Clarity over chaos
Product & design strategy
Before any project starts, my job is to kill the ambiguity. I work with product and leadership to forge a clear, common-sense strategy that answers the big questions first: What problem are we actually solving? What does victory look like? How will we measure success in terms that matter to the business? And is everyone pointing in the same direction? It’s about having a proper blueprint before you lay the first brick.
Pragmatism over perfection
Complex B2B & SaaS problem-solving
I specialise in designing for properly complicated, high-stakes industries. My job is to take a fantastically complex operational problem and guide my team to turn it into software that is clear, effective, and doesn't make a ship's captain want to throw it overboard.
Substance over ceremony
Team leadership & culture
My primary focus is designing a team that can do brilliant work, free from pointless ceremony. This means building proper career ladders so talented people have a reason to stay, and establishing sensible rituals so we can have useful arguments instead of endless, soul-destroying meetings.
A playbook over bottleneck
Design operations (DesignOps)
A leader who makes themselves a bottleneck is failing at their one job: to scale the team. That's why I build a central 'Design Hub', a single source of truth for the entire operation. This isn't just a design system; it's the full playbook, documenting our principles, processes, and career ladders. This playbook is the single most important asset for scaling, onboarding new members, and giving everyone the clarity to do their best work.
My career path
90POE | Lead Product Designer
Sass | Maritime Tech
Architected the product design function, scaling the team and establishing the core culture, systems, and career pathways for growth.
2021 - 2025
Glofox | Senior Product Designer
Sass | Fitness Tech
Led greenfield design for new marketing and analytics features, and established the company's foundational design system.
2021
THG | Senior UX Designer
E-commerce | Internal tooling
Directed the design team responsible for the entire operational backbone of the company, from the customer service messaging platform and warehouse logistics software to the internal traders' platform.
2019 - 2021
Pulse Fitness | Senior Product Designer & GUI Architect
B2B2C | Connected Fitness
Architected the company's decade-long digital transformation, leading the end-to-end creation of a connected fitness ecosystem.
2002 - 2019
Featured:
Building a remote design function from the ground up at 90POE
What does it take to turn a group of siloed designers into a high-performing team? A clear plan, a proper system, and a reason to stick around.
