Writing & perspective
Not case studies. Not process walkthroughs. These are the things I've had to work out for myself — about what design leadership actually costs, and what twenty years of working across cultures teaches you about your own assumptions.
There is a version of this story that gets told at conferences. A design leader walks into a conservative organisation, wins over the sceptics, ships the design system, and exits to applause. It is a satisfying arc. It is also incomplete.
Most design principles present themselves as universal. User-centred. Accessible. Intuitive. The assumption baked into those words is that the user is roughly like you. Twenty years working across France, the UK, the Netherlands, and beyond taught me that this is mostly fiction.
Based in Manchester, United Kingdom. Reach out about product design leadership via email and I’ll respond as soon as I can.
