I’m a senior product design lead with 12+ years of experience across multi-platform product design, accessibility, design ops and design systems in B2C travel and B2B benefits.
I like building design functions from the ground up. After years of helping teams mature their design practice, I pair hands-on craft with the less glamorous stuff that makes design last: systems thinking, standards, accessibility, culture and leadership.
I also care about whether the work actually performs. I combine conversion-focused UX, A/B testing and analytics with front-end skills of my own, so ideas ship fast and get measured. I’ve led redesigns of content-rich sites, built extensively with headless CMS platforms, created design systems and email templates, and rolled out WCAG accessibility standards.
— Craig
What I do
Visual identity
Design systems
DesignOps
Design strategy
UI & interaction
Prototyping
Accessibility (WCAG)
Conversion-focused UX
A/B testing
Design leadership
Brands I’ve worked with
Unum
Kuoni
EasyJet
Lowcost Travel Group
Canadian Affair
Jellyfish Online Marketing
AddMustard
Unum · Visual identity
Bringing a new visual identity to a high-traffic homepage
A dated visual identity needed updating and implementing across the website, without sacrificing usability or the homepage’s role as a high-traffic navigation hub.
Role
Sole designer, headless CMS build
Scope
Homepage, article page and site components
Sector
B2B benefits
The new homepage: hero, tabbed quick links and bento tiles.
The challenge
I worked on this alone because of the headless CMS knowledge and resource it needed. The job was to translate a new visual identity built for print into production-ready components within the headless CMS.
I also had to balance several marketing messages on a single high-traffic page, as requested.
What the data said
Analytics and heatmaps confirmed the homepage as the primary entry point for multiple audience types. The existing layout couldn’t support the new visual identity and the required volume of messaging without becoming cluttered.
What didn’t work
Initial concepts using a standard hero and card layout couldn’t balance the marketing messages with clear navigation. A carousel was requested, and I pushed back on it because the data showed most users never interact beyond the first slide.
The approach
I prioritised data over assumption. Audience segmentation from analytics informed a tabbed quick-links structure, surfacing the most relevant content for each type of user without overwhelming the page. I traded some creative freedom for clarity and measurable usability.
The solution
I implemented the new visual identity across the homepage using a bento-style layout, to maximise messaging density without sacrificing hierarchy.
I added tabbed quick links organised by audience segment, based directly on the top navigation patterns from analytics and heatmap data.
Tabbed quick links by audience: Adviser, Employer, Employee.
The outcome
85%of the site was visually upgraded, along with a small number of UX improvements for the user
98%Siteimprove score achieved throughout
A cleaner implementation of the visual identity across the homepage and most of the site. I also built a new article page with customisations in the CMS, adding schema, Open Graph and a share function with metadata.
I added motion and improved the usability of components across the site.
News and articles slider with motion.
What I’d do next
A/B test the tab labels and ordering, based on continued homepage analytics.
Explore personalisation to serve audience-relevant content automatically, rather than relying on manual tab selection.
Complete the visual update across 100% of the site.
DesignOps & strategy
Building a design function from the ground up
UX
Strategy
DesignOps
Leadership
A fragmented design function with no system, no process and no credibility. It was costing the business time, money and quality.
Role
Senior Product Design Lead
Team
Three squads, limited design resource
Focus
Operating model, design system, process
The starting point
I was working across three squads with limited design resource, no existing infrastructure, and stakeholders who hadn’t yet bought into the value of design.
There was no design system. Designers worked in silos with inconsistent files, no handover standards and no shared process. Accessibility was an afterthought. Engineering rework was high and design was often bypassed. Design had little visibility at senior level.
What didn’t work
Early attempts to introduce shared components were ignored without governance. Pushing process change without stakeholder buy-in created resistance. I learned that systems need adoption frameworks, not just good components, and a lot of proving the business case and changing culture.
The operating model
I built the operating model first: governance, rituals, file standards and team structure, all before scaling the system. It was slower to start, but it created the conditions for lasting adoption rather than a system nobody used.
How we work together, get work done and create impact. Model: Nielsen Norman Group.
A design system
I founded a design system built on a foundations layer of tokens, typography and colour, feeding into application and marketing component libraries. I also introduced a squad and chapter structure.
A central design system team serving the product squads.
A shared process
I introduced the Triple Diamond design process.
The Triple Diamond design process.
Standards and templates
I introduced Figma file standards and handover protocols, with accessibility embedded at component level from day one.
I made a comprehensive collection of UX templates supporting our entire design process: competitor analysis, user mapping and persona templates, a design brief canvas, and slide templates for stakeholder communication.
I also created a “ways of working” digital playbook: a single place for how the design team works, from process and rituals to file standards and handover, so new joiners and partner teams could get up to speed quickly.
The outcome
3product squads using the design system
~50%less engineering rework cost
The design system was adopted across three product squads, with a measurable reduction in engineering rework cost of around 50%. Design maturity rose from limited to emergent.
UX maturity scale. Model: Nielsen Norman Group.
What I’d do next
Progress the design system’s maturity, connecting design and code formally.
Introduce automated accessibility testing.
Expand the component library to cover marketing surfaces and scale toward a multi-product system.
Unum · Portal & headless content
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Kuoni · Contact widget
Connecting holidaymakers with the right travel expert
UX/UI
Users were dropping off before contacting a travel expert, because finding the right one was too complex.
Role
Lead UX designer
Team
Small digital team
Result
+107% callback requests
“Why do I have to find a store or an expert? I’m looking for a holiday.”
A Kuoni user
The starting point
I was the only Lead UX designer in a small digital team, working within existing Kuoni brand and CMS constraints.
The starting point was a subdomain journey that put all the cognitive load on the user, with low lead generation and an unclear information hierarchy.
What didn’t work
Early concepts kept the complexity but reordered it, and still didn’t solve the core problem.
The approach
I shifted to a “done-for-you” discovery model, removing user choices at the cost of some flexibility.
It wasn’t technically feasible to show every store image at the same time without extensive work, so I removed it, as it didn’t affect usability.
Expert matching logic.Early sketches.The journey to “Your recommended expert”.
Testing
I ran a four-way split test. Variation 1 drove a significant increase in callback requests.
Control and Variation 1Variation 2Variation 3Variation 4
+107%callback requests
Localexpert number shown to every user
All four variations had a slight detrimental effect on bookings, revenue and quotes. However, the target of personalising the phone number to a local expert was met.
The outcome
I later scaled the design back closer to the control and increased the size of the phone number, to mitigate the lower revenue.
The final widget.
What I’d do next
Track calls through to bookings, to see whether callbacks actually convert.
Test the placement of the phone number.
Kuoni · Interactive microsite
Turning travel stories into bookings
UX/UI
Interaction design
Storytelling
Kuoni had rich stories from staff and travellers, but no dedicated platform to turn that inspiration into bookings.
Role
Sole designer
Constraints
Existing brand, no dedicated CMS workflow
Result
Press coverage and direct bookings
Over 100 years of Amazing Travel Stories, across devices.
The opportunity
I was the sole designer, building an immersive microsite within Kuoni’s existing brand constraints and without a dedicated content management workflow.
Inspiring travel stories, written by our content team and guest writers, gave travellers a richer, more emotional alternative to standard product pages. They helped drive consideration of high-value itineraries experienced by our staff.
What didn’t work
Standard editorial layouts felt too flat to capture the richness and emotion of the stories, or to distinguish them from the main site. Interaction was a requirement.
The approach
I shifted to an immersive, full-bleed visual approach that put story and emotion ahead of product information. I traded some conversion directness for deeper engagement, weaving booking pathways naturally into the journey rather than leading with them.
The solution
A dedicated microsite bringing staff and traveller stories to life through immersive imagery, rich editorial layouts and interactive storytelling. Each story connected naturally to bookable itineraries, turning inspiration into a clear next step.
Walkthrough of the microsite.
Homepage.Interactive story scene.
The stories
Honeymooner’s LuckRed Rock DawnInto Deeper WaterBurma Means BeautyAgashaA Zest for LifeSimon Reeve: Gentle Giants
The outcome
The microsite was well received in the travel press, driving bookings and brand recognition.
What I’d do next
Add analytics to track story engagement through to booking conversion.
A/B test the placement and framing of booking calls to action within story content, to optimise the journey from inspiration to conversion.
Travel brands
UX, brand and campaign work
A selection of earlier work across digital, print and out-of-home for Kuoni, Lowcost Travel Group and EasyJet Holidays.
