Hi, I'm Tom

On Project Zanaris, this meant going beyond assumptions about what Old School RuneScape players wanted from user-generated content. I developed detailed personas grounded in player behaviour data and community insights. These weren't just documents; they became shared reference points that shaped everything from feature prioritisation to testing metrics.

For the Jagex Accounts redesign, discovery involved mapping the entire authentication journey across multiple games and platforms, identifying pain points in the legacy system, and understanding where players were getting stuck. This research became the foundation for a design system that could scale across the entire Jagex ecosystem.

I'm a strong advocate for Lean UX practices: rapid iteration, early user feedback, and low-fidelity experimentation before committing to polished design work. I integrate discovery into agile sprints rather than treating it as a separate phase, which keeps the work grounded in real user needs and reduces waste in both design and development cycles.

During the WTW Policy Summary project, I created interactive jagex-project-zanaris that walked global stakeholders through complex insurance workflows—making abstract concepts tangible and testable. This approach was crucial for aligning distributed teams across different time zones and ensuring the design met strict corporate standards.

Testing is where assumptions meet reality. On Project Zanaris, I ran multiple rounds of usability testing with players from different experience levels, measuring everything from task completion rates (100% across all participants) to system usability scores (5.6/7). These sessions didn't just validate the design, they uncovered friction points we could address before launch and provided quantitative evidence to support design decisions with stakeholders.

I favour rapid, iterative testing over lengthy validation phases. Small, frequent tests integrated into the development cycle allow us to adapt quickly and build confidence incrementally.

For Jagex Accounts, I developed a comprehensive design system in Figma that became the single source of truth for designers and developers. This wasn't just a component library – it included interaction patterns, accessibility guidelines, and implementation notes that bridged the gap between design and engineering.

When leading design on the Client-Facing Technology programme at Willis Towers Watson, I established governance processes that maintained brand consistency across global products while still empowering local teams to innovate. This required balancing creative vision with practical constraints, which I achieved by staying close to both the code and the business goals.

I've led cross-functional teams, from managing UX designers and content specialists to running the Web Technology Practice at KCOM. I believe in people-first leadership: coaching rather than directing, and building relationships based on trust and transparency.

I work closely with Product Managers to build product roadmaps, ensuring design insights directly inform strategic decisions. On Project Zanaris, this collaboration helped us prioritise features based on player needs and technical feasibility, delivering value incrementally.

Stakeholder management is central to how I work. I've facilitated design reviews with everyone from C-suite executives to engineers, adapting my approach to each audience. On the Publishing Platform Vision project, I translated complex strategic concepts into high-fidelity jagex-project-zanaris to secure senior leadership buy-in, making the vision tangible and connecting it to business objectives.

Successful stakeholder engagement isn't about just delivering quality work, it's about bringing people along the journey. Whether running workshops or presenting research findings, I focus on building shared understanding while maintaining design integrity. My experience on the Client-Facing Technology programme taught me to navigate complex global organisations, balancing brand consistency with technical feasibility across all levels.

My background in web development means I think about maintainability, performance, and technical constraints alongside aesthetics and usability. I've converted Figma designs to HTML/CSS, debugged CSS layout issues, and integrated third-party tools like Google reCAPTCHA, because sometimes the best way to understand a problem is to get your hands dirty.

I spot opportunities where a small code change could unlock a better user experience. Working closely with developers isn't just about handoff, it's about collaborative problem-solving. When technical constraints emerge, I'm able to quickly iterate on solutions that maintain the design intent while respecting the realities of implementation.

Ultimately, I believe design is about solving problems, not just making things look good. It's about understanding people, testing ideas, iterating based on evidence, and delivering work that makes a real difference, whether that's helping players create content they're proud of on Project Zanaris, making authentication seamless with Jagex Accounts, or simplifying complex insurance workflows for global teams on the WTW Policy Summary project.

I've integrated AI into my workflow to bridge the gap between design and development. I use tools like Figma Make, v0, Lovable, and Bolt to rapidly convert Figma designs into functional prototypes and production code, significantly reducing handoff time. This allows me to validate interactions with real code earlier in the process and work more collaboratively with engineering teams. Understanding both the design intent and the technical implementation means I can leverage AI tools effectively while maintaining quality and accessibility standards.