Lead Product Designer · Cambridge, UK
I design complex tools that feel simple to the people who use them.
I'm James. Over ten years of designing tools built around how people actually work. Right now, I'm incorporating AI into workflows where it actually helps and keeping it out of the way where it doesn't.
Selected work
AI product design · Open End Analysis
Turning two weeks of survey coding into two minutes
Savanta's first AI feature. I designed it so the researchers who feared it ended up trusting it, then asking what else it could do.
Mobile product design · YourVue
A survey app that stops wasting people's time
Savanta's first app, launching into a market full of giants. Competitor research found one advantage no rival could copy, and I built the app around it.
Product design · BrandVue
A nine month onboarding, turned into a tool anyone can pick up
A powerful brand tracker almost nobody could use on their own. I led the redesign to hand it back, using AI to explain the data rather than replace the reader.
AI speeds up the work. I keep a hand on the wheel.
AI is just an accelerant. It speeds up the good and the bad. To make it actually useful, I built my own design agent using standard industry frameworks to handle the heavy lifting across every stage of the cycle. I stay in control of the direction because that human judgment is where the actual value comes from.
Design for people, not spreadsheets.
Most tools get built around the data, and leave the user to cope. I work the other way round, from the job someone came to do, so the complexity has to earn its place.
AI accelerates humans decide.
I built a custom design agent using standard industry frameworks to accelerate each stage of the cycle. It keeps me fast, as long as I stay the one deciding.
Cut the noise.
Most of my job is removing noise, not adding polish. Simple isn't basic. It's the harder, more deliberate version of the work.
Accessibility always.
Accessibility shouldn't be an afterthought or a quick audit at the end. My design agent bakes inclusion straight into the workflow, so every decision works for anyone interacting with it.
I'm a product designer with over 10 years building digital products, most of them complex data and research tools made by people who knew the subject inside out. I design for the people using them and the teams building them, across the whole process.
At Savanta I lead a team of designers across four product teams, on a mix of internal tools and the products we sell. I work closely with Product and Engineering, and I'm a real believer in the three amigos approach. If the three of us are aligned and a step ahead, the build runs smoothly whatever lands on it. When it doesn't, that's the first place I look. I put real time into my designers, because their growth is what makes the whole team stronger, and every week we share what we've learned.
Complex problems don't need fancy interfaces. Just tools that make sense for the person using them.
Outside work you'll usually find me cooking, eating, or planning the next trip around something I want to eat when I get there. Food and travel are the perfect combo, and I'll happily build a whole city break around one restaurant.
Let's talk
Got an interesting problem, a role you think fits, or just fancy talking design? I'm always up for it.