about
A highly creative, motivated, and experienced Product Design Lead.
Hi, I'm Liam 👋
I enjoy pushing the boundaries of creativity & innovation and crafting exceptional digital experiences that inspire and delight.
With over 15 years of design experience working with some of the world's biggest brands and leading some truly amazing design teams.
With a proven track record working on initiatives that have generated over £100M+ for brands, I enjoy mentoring designers and tackling complex user and business needs. I am passionate about improving design craft and creating beautiful & impactful design.
Experience
Gymshark 5+ years
Product Design Lead (Aug 2022 - Present)
As a Product Design Lead at Gymshark, my primary responsibility is to lead the design process for the Shopping journeys, working on themes and tackling core user problems. This involves working directly with my team and with other cross-functional teams including product management, engineering, and marketing ensuring quality and consistency between other teams in everything we do.
In my role, I am responsible for overseeing the Shop design team and the Content Management design team giving them the resources and support they need to deliver high-quality exciting experiences. I also make sure the team works with the Insight team to conduct user research, create wireframes and prototypes, and test and iterate on designs to guarantee they meet the needs of our customers.
In addition to leading the design process, I am also responsible for checking that all designs align to the Shop team KPIs, product sprint cycle, and timelines, as well as communicating our overall design vision and direction to stakeholders across the organisation.
I like to also stay up-to-date on industry trends and best practices, and continuously seek out opportunities to improve our design process and outcomes striving for innovation and creating exciting new experiences to help Unite our Conditioning Community.
Senior Designer (Aug 2019 - Aug 2022)
As a senior product designer at Gymshark, I was responsible for the design of a range of digital experiences in this role, including the core e-commerce website, Campaign pages, and internal custom CMS software. I worked closely with the product management team to understand the business objectives and user needs for each project, and then used my expertise in user-centred design and working with the insight teams to create intuitive and engaging user experiences.
One of my main focuses at Gymshark as a Senior Designer was the constant optimisation of core shopping user journeys and experiences. I often took the lead along with other designers and progressed through the design thinking process. I got involved in every aspect from helping with workshops and setting the scene to prototyping and testing various design concepts. We worked closely with the development team to ensure that the final product met the needs of both the business and the users. We saw huge success redesigning key journeys and features always resulting in a significant increase in online sales and customer satisfaction all whilst keeping the brand at the core of everything we output.
In addition to my design responsibilities, I also served as a mentor to other designers on the team and contributed to the development of our design process and best practices. Overall, my experience at Gymshark as a Senior Designer has allowed me to grow as a designer and a leader.
Virgin Media 4+ years
Design Lead (2017 - 2019)
I led and managed the Existing Customer Creative team at Virgin Media overseeing UX, UI, and Copywriters. As part of this lead role, I worked across the New Customer and Existing Customer journeys ensuring that pre-purchase and post-purchase journeys were considered equally.
My responsibilities involved creating and maintaining Design guidelines and Pattern libraries as well as managing over 12 direct reports. I also hired and successfully mentored multiple UX/UI designers and copywriters. A large part of this role was also to work with other teams around the business educating them on UX best practices, Design Thinking Process, UXR, Accessibility (AA) requirements and promoting the latest design industry tools & trends.
Another key part of the role was ensuring all designs the team created aligned with our overall brand team vision & principles ensuring they remained consistent across all products and experiences.
Senior UX/UI Designer (2016 - 2017)
As part of my new Senior UX Design role, I got to work in the New Customer team, I was focused on conversion rate optimisation and finding customer pain points with the existing journeys. I worked directly with key stakeholders to design new experiences, journeys and CRO solutions to improve the overall UX and hit business targets.
I worked closely with the Analytics, Research, and A/B testing teams to interview and engage with users, gain a greater understanding of their needs, and iterate designs to drive engagement and overall conversion. Another large part of this role was to work with the Engineering teams to document new components and CMS requirements and as part of this task, I designed over 25 new Design System components and redesigned over 35 different pages across our core user journeys, all delivering significant business value measured using A/B test methodologies.
Digital Designer - Trading Team (2015 - 2016)
In my first year at Virgin Media, I worked in the Digital Studio Trading team helping deliver exciting new marketing and brand propositions across the website.
Working closely with the Head of the Studio and other designers I helped deliver campaign landing pages, price and product updates and new TV content imagery at a fast pace and to a very high standard. Using my experience working with content stakeholders like Netflix, Disney & Sky I created various templates and processes to help speed up the content population process and communicated our digital-first requirements to external marketing agencies such as RAPP and BBH.
Reflection Marketing 5+ years
Graphic Designer (2010 - 2015)
I worked for Reflection Marketing for over 5 years, starting at the agency in 2010 as a Junior Designer I was privileged to have been mentored by a Creative Director with over 20 years of experience in the industry. Working my way up to Mid-Weight Designer I worked to tight deadlines and set budgets it was often my job to work within these restraints to come up with the best possible design solutions for each client.
Adapting and reacting extremely quickly was often challenging but also very rewarding to see the reaction when new projects were launched to large audiences across multiple channels. I worked on multiple projects from Branding, Web Design, Print Design, and POS designs for clients such as – Volkswagen, ŠKODA, Citroën, Hyundai, Oxford University, Bunge, Climate Change Capital, Project Resource, NHS, YMCA, and Staples to name just a few.
During my time at the agency, I was also involved in many client pitches and meetings and communicated key design elements and journeys.
Certificates
Designing for Digital Accessibility & Native Apps
Intopia
Intopia
Being a UX Leader
Nielsen Norman Group
Nielsen Norman Group
Diploma in the Art & Science of Neuro Linguistic Programming
INLPTA - International NLP Trainers Association
INLPTA - International NLP Trainers Association
Unconscious Bias Training
Gymshark
Gymshark
SOFT Skills
Problem-solving
Identifying and solving complex design problems, and being able to clearly articulate the thought process and reasoning behind design decisions.
Identifying and solving complex design problems, and being able to clearly articulate the thought process and reasoning behind design decisions.
Collaboration
Working closely with cross-functional teams, including developers, project managers, and business stakeholders, to ensure that the product meets the needs of all stakeholders.
Working closely with cross-functional teams, including developers, project managers, and business stakeholders, to ensure that the product meets the needs of all stakeholders.
Communication
Effectively communicating design concepts and ideas to both technical and non-technical audiences through various mediums such as presentations, wireframes, and prototypes.
Effectively communicating design concepts and ideas to both technical and non-technical audiences through various mediums such as presentations, wireframes, and prototypes.
AGILE Sprint Processes (SCRUM)
Working within an agile development process, including participating in, T-shirt sizing, Refinements, Sprint planning, Retros and Daily stand-up ceremonies.
Working within an agile development process, including participating in, T-shirt sizing, Refinements, Sprint planning, Retros and Daily stand-up ceremonies.
Team Leadership & People Management
Leading and managing a team of designers, providing guidance, feedback, and support as needed.
Leading and managing a team of designers, providing guidance, feedback, and support as needed.
Mentorship
Providing guidance and mentorship to junior designers and helping them develop their skills and careers.
Providing guidance and mentorship to junior designers and helping them develop their skills and careers.
Stakeholder Management
Communicating with and managing the expectations of stakeholders, including business owners, executives, and customers.
Communicating with and managing the expectations of stakeholders, including business owners, executives, and customers.
Industry Knowledge
Staying up to date with industry trends and best practices, and being able to apply this knowledge to product design decisions.
Staying up to date with industry trends and best practices, and being able to apply this knowledge to product design decisions.
HARD Skills
3D Design
Creating interactive 3D experiences including Scene building, 3D modelling, Animation, Texture mapping and Gamification.
Creating interactive 3D experiences including Scene building, 3D modelling, Animation, Texture mapping and Gamification.
Prototyping
Using tools like InVision, Figma, or Adobe XD to create high-fidelity prototypes that accurately represent the final product.
Using tools like InVision, Figma, or Adobe XD to create high-fidelity prototypes that accurately represent the final product.
User Research
Conducting user interviews, surveys, usability testing, and other research methods to understand user needs and behaviours.
Conducting user interviews, surveys, usability testing, and other research methods to understand user needs and behaviours.
UX/UI Design
Creating user flows, wireframes, and prototypes to define the user experience and ensure that the product is intuitive and user-friendly. Creating visually appealing and functional user interfaces that meet user and business needs.
Creating user flows, wireframes, and prototypes to define the user experience and ensure that the product is intuitive and user-friendly. Creating visually appealing and functional user interfaces that meet user and business needs.
Information Architecture (IA)
Organising and structuring content in a logical and intuitive way to improve user experience and navigation.
Organising and structuring content in a logical and intuitive way to improve user experience and navigation.
Accessible Design
Experience making sure that a product is accessible and meets the needs of users with disabilities and adheres to AA WCAG standards.
Experience making sure that a product is accessible and meets the needs of users with disabilities and adheres to AA WCAG standards.
Responsive Design
Creating designs that are responsive and adapt to different screen sizes and devices including, Mobile, Desktop, Apple Watch and POS screens.
Creating designs that are responsive and adapt to different screen sizes and devices including, Mobile, Desktop, Apple Watch and POS screens.
Branding, Print & Physical OOH
Experience designing for physical and digital across channels, from billboards to full re-brands.
Experience designing for physical and digital across channels, from billboards to full re-brands.
Graphic Design Foundations
Typography, Scale, Space, Hierarchy, Composition
Typography, Scale, Space, Hierarchy, Composition