simon osborne

Principal Product Designer & UX Researcher

I help teams build products people enjoy using, while delivering real business value.

That sounds obvious. It's harder than it looks. I bring 15+ years of research-led design experience across fintech, enterprise software and life sciences, working both in-house and as a contractor.

Grounded in UX principles, evolving with AI.

Explore 10 case studies spanning different decades, challenges and teams. Each shows how I uncover the right problem, test the thinking and design solutions that make a meaningful difference.

Explore my stories
Simon Osborne
Orgvue

Orgvue

Permanent · 2022 – Present

Orgvue transforms people and business data into engaging visualisations, enhancing organisational design and workforce planning. As a Principal Product / UX Designer and Researcher, my role involves understanding user needs and business objectives, guiding projects through complex challenges, and fostering collaboration and strategic thinking to create innovative solutions that drive satisfaction and success.

New case study coming soon

Future case study

Orgvue

ADP

ADP

Contract · 2019 – 2022

ADP is an American provider of human resources management software. This contract was to assist in the research and design of ADP's global payroll applications to make UX improvements and UI enhancements to the call reduction initiative (2019-2020), and desktop and mobile modernisation strategy and implementation initiative (2020-2022).

Experian

Experian

Contract · 2018 – 2019

Experian, the largest credit rating agency in the UK, engaged me in a contract role to lead and deliver user research and design for their marketplace (comparison) initiative. By applying design thinking and lean UX methodologies, I worked collaboratively with the client to validate and refine new experiences, ensuring successful outcomes.

Aviva

Aviva

Contract · 2017 – 2018

Aviva, one of the UK’s largest and most trusted insurance and financial services providers, brought me on as a contractor for my expertise in user research and design. Collaborating closely with the client’s scrum teams, I delivered innovative and measurable solutions that ultimately enables customers to manage their products through journeys, seamlessly online.

Abcam

Abcam

Permanent · 2015 – 2017

Abcam, a global leader in the supply of life science research tools based in Cambridge, entrusted me with a lead UX and Product Design role. This position encompassed process strategy, design thinking methodologies, interactive prototype design, project management, and both quantitative and qualitative research. It required addressing complex challenges across key journeys while seamlessly aligning business objectives with user needs.

Earlier UX projects

2006 – 2015

These case studies are from my early years in UX, when I was still learning the trade. They helped shape the way I work today, not just as a designer, but as a researcher too.

Web design

From 2008

My move into UX happened gradually. Around 2007, while at Generator, I began bringing UX methods into my design process. As websites became more complex and responsive, my focus shifted from designing pages to understanding how people used them, and designing around their needs.

CMS Theme CMS Theme CMS Theme

Visual Design

From 1996

Before the world wide web was a thing, I began working in print design around the same time England got to the semi final of the 90's European Cup. Since then I have created many commercially viable and eye-popping designs across many sectors.

Visual Design Visual Design Visual Design Visual Design Visual Design Visual Design Visual Design Visual Design

Services

AI now spans the entire product design and UX research workflow, while human judgement and validation remain central. It improves efficiency, accuracy and productivity to deliver better outcomes.

Discover

Uncover behaviours, needs, pain points and opportunities.

Define

Make sense of the evidence and focus on the problems worth solving.

Design & build

Explore, prototype and build solutions through rapid, AI-assisted iteration.

Validate

Test with users, analyse what we learn and improve the experience.

Measure

Track outcomes, learn what changed and identify where to improve next.

Testimonials

Get in touch

Tap into the benefits of Product Design and UX to improve usability, engagement, efficiency, satisfaction and conversion.

Location

Peterborough, UK

Telephone

07932 764 383

Email

simon@simono.co.uk

© 2026 Simon Osborne

Testimonials

Social Niche

Perm: 2011 - 2014

Overview

I worked for Social Niche, a startup dedicated to helping businesses create niche community websites. Our mission was to connect people with shared passions through tailored online platforms. One of our most successful projects grew into a vibrant community of around 30,000 members, all united by their love of horses.

Discovery

The process began by thoroughly examining the client’s business objectives, goals, challenges, budgets, timelines, and user needs. I facilitated workshops and conducted audits to evaluate content structure and the dynamics of each community marketplace. Drawing on these insights, I developed personas to drive a personalised user experience, mapped out user journeys to pinpoint key touchpoints, and designed user flows to establish the project’s size, scope, and architecture. Additionally, I prepared estimates, quotes, and preliminary proposals for client approval before proceeding with design work.

Trot On preliminary documents

Client example: Trot On preliminary documents

Pre-design documentation and clear communication are essential for the successful initiation of projects. By establishing well-defined goals from the outset, we ensure alignment and set a strong foundation for the design process.

Find A Cabbie disrupter analysis

Client example: Find A Cabbie disrupter analysis

Understanding the client's marketplace starts with analysing the competition or industry disrupters, examining their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to identify key insights and strategic advantages.

Trot On original website analysis

Client example: Trot On original website analysis

When redesigning Trot On’s website, I began by evaluating existing weaknesses and analysing available site data. This provided critical insights into where enhancements would yield the greatest impact.

Offigo registration user flow

Client example: Offigo personalisation - 1 of 4 registration user flows

Personalisation began at the registration stage, where users selected a specific role - such as member, supplier, bar, or restaurant. This approach enabled the tailored delivery of search results, content, ads, and profiles, fostering connections among like-minded individuals and businesses.

The Technology Partnership proposal

Client example: The Technology Partnership proposal

For larger projects and clients, functionality documents and proof-of-concept proposals were submitted for approval before any development began. This approach ensured alignment among the client and developers regarding project size, scope, and functionality, while enabling accurate estimates of scale and requirements.

Prototypes

I initiated the design process by creating low-fidelity prototypes, focusing on basic layouts and minimal interaction. These prototypes were used primarily to communicate design concepts, share notes, and gather initial feedback. The goal was to quickly iterate on ideas, identify potential issues early, and ensure alignment before progressing to higher-fidelity designs. This stage allowed for a more efficient exploration of key user flows and structural elements, ensuring the design direction was solidified before moving forward.

Trot On prototype

Client example: Trot On

Trot On approached me because their existing website, built by another company, was becoming outdated and was experiencing a decline in user engagement and sign-up conversions. Their goal was to completely rethink and redesign the site to address these issues. My first step was to identify the weak areas in the current design. I quickly discovered that the website had an unprofessional layout, outdated colour scheme, and poor navigation, making it difficult for users to share content or connect with others. This led to higher abandonment rates, preventing the company from meeting its financial goals.

Since the redesign, Trot On has seen a notable increase in new registrations, thanks in part to the introduction of social sharing features and an engaging splash page. Google Analytics has shown a positive return on investment, with increased time spent on the site, more content shares, and higher user-generated uploads, all indicating improved user engagement.

DealWriter usability testing

Client example: DealWriter - Usability testing

For DealWriter, a peer-to-peer crowdfunding community website, I conducted usability testing with a demographically selected user panel. Participants completed predefined tasks while I recorded their actions. I collected feedback on key issues, ease of use ratings, and survey responses.

Hi-Fidelity Designs

Once the prototypes were approved, I advanced them to high-fidelity designs, incorporating more detailed interactions, refined visuals, and a full colour scheme. This phase focused on enhancing the user experience by providing a more realistic representation of the final product, ensuring that both functionality and aesthetics aligned with the project’s goals. The high-fidelity prototypes were designed to provide a clear, polished view of the user interface, allowing for more effective testing and stakeholder feedback before development. These designs also served as a comprehensive guide for the development team, ensuring consistency across the implementation and streamlining the handoff process.

Find A Cabbie high-fidelity design

Client example: Find A Cabbie

Find A Cabbie was a start-up looking to launch a recruitment portal that would enable cab firms to search for and hire local drivers. The client, who owned a cab firm, had firsthand experience in hiring drivers and was well aware of the challenges the industry faced due to the rise of apps like Uber and Hailo. With this in mind, we took inspiration from these new disruptors and developed a fresh approach to the recruitment process, aimed at helping cab firms stay competitive in the evolving market.

Development

Once the design work was tested and finalised, it was handed over to the development team for implementation. We then conducted thorough beta testing on the larger community sites to ensure they were fully optimised before being launched to the public.

During my time at Social Niche, we successfully developed and launched several engaging community websites, each designed to help businesses connect with like-minded individuals, fostering vibrant online communities.

Client review

My experience with Simon has been fantastic" You quickly responded asking in depth the nature of my project! I must say from that first call I realised that Simon was passionate about what he does and most of all what I want to do! Simon has also applied an outstanding amount of care and creativity to my project.

Generator

Perm: 2007 - 2009

Overview

I contributed to the design of a highly emotive sales system that needed to appeal to a diverse customer demographic. The goal was to create an engaging experience for users in the Real Estate and Leisure industries while enhancing the productivity of salespeople. The result was a system that improved lead-to-sale conversion rates and overall efficiency.

Discovery

To lay a solid foundation for the project, I conducted an extensive audit of the existing G2 system and analyzed sales performance data to identify areas for improvement in G3. This involved:

  • Researching customer profiles and personas, including lifestyle and purchasing behavour.
  • Interviewing salespeople to understand their workflows, pain points, and opportunities for improvement.
  • Mapping out end-to-end tour flows and sales journeys to identify key touchpoints.
  • Documenting a comprehensive overview of each screen, highlighting benefits, required assets, user behaviours, emotional triggers, and outputs.

These insights informed the system’s redesign, ensuring it addressed both user and business needs.

Generator Docs

Multiple research methods, including customer questionnaires, performance data analysis, system flow planning, and lifestyle profiling, provided a holistic understanding of user needs and system improvements.

Challenge

The primary challenge was designing an emotive user experience that exceeded both owner and guest expectations. The system needed to balance functionality with emotional appeal, catering to diverse user groups such as Baby Boomers, Empty Nesters, Young Couples, and Young Families. Additionally, the design had to align with the sales process, ensuring it created desire over necessity, while streamlining tasks to maximise efficiency and minimise errors.

Tour Flow

User journey maps and system architecture streamlined complex workflows, reducing risks and ensuring a smoother sales process.

Solution

The core focus of the solution was to create a personalised and intuitive user experience that supported the following goals:

  • Personalise customer contacts
  • Personalise assets (language, currency, photos and videos)
  • Personalise experiences (geographic, demographic and behavioural)
  • Identify required modules (existing and new)
  • Provide points and financial logic to demonstrate affordability
  • Captivate desire and adventure
  • Provide credible user stories
  • Demonstrate core vacation features
  • Overcome objections
Background

Design

The design process centred on creating a clean and appealing visual style that emphasised storytelling. Each screen was carefully crafted to guide users through a narrative, helping them emotionally connect with the product and service being sold.

Generator screen design 1 Generator screen design 2 Generator screen design 3 Generator screen design 4 Generator screen design 5 Generator screen design 6 Generator screen design 7 Generator screen design 8 Generator screen design 9 Generator screen design 10 Generator screen design 11 Generator screen design 12

Key steps in the design process included developing multiple design variations in Adobe Illustrator (as modern tools like Sketch or Axure were unavailable in 2007), creating high-fidelity screen designs with detailed annotations for developers, and collaborating closely with the development team to break tasks into manageable sprints for smooth implementation. The designs emphasized clarity, usability, and adaptability to cater to the diverse needs of users.

Testing

The testing phase was integral to the project’s success, involving sales representatives validating the system’s usability and effectiveness in real-world scenarios, while the QA team conducted rigorous testing across functionality, usability, compatibility, and performance. Feedback from these sessions highlighted areas for improvement, such as usability adjustments and debugging, which were addressed prior to release. This iterative process ensured the system was robust, intuitive, and deployment-ready.

Testimonial

I was the lead developer at Generator which is how I got to know Simon. I am delighted to give Simon a reference: It became pretty clear to me that Simon is a very good designer - one of the nicest people I’ve worked with.

Gostashio (POC)

Freelance: 2014

Overview

Gostashio is a startup aiming to disrupt the self-storage industry by introducing a modern, user-friendly way to book storage online, one box at a time. Inspired by US-based peer-to-peer storage platforms, Gostashio sought to help traditional self-storage businesses compete in an increasingly digital market.

Discovery

The project began with a deep dive into the client’s business objectives, challenges, budget, and user needs. Early on, it became clear that my role extended beyond design; I contributed at the planning stage by defining goals, personas, touchpoints, and opportunities. Additionally, I delivered a report summarising the competitive landscape, offering valuable insights to inform the direction of the product.

GoStashio customer experience map

A customer experience map was created to better understand touchpoints, pain points, market opportunities, and user goals. This served as a blueprint for identifying problems and crafting a clear plan of action.

GoStashio competitor research

Proposal

To validate the product’s viability, I conducted market research leveraging multiple sources, including the Self Storage Association (SSA) and competitor analysis. This research reinforced my proposed vision and provided evidence-based recommendations for moving forward.

GoStashio site architecture

Site Architecture

High-level system architecture was developed to define the relationships between user flows, navigation, and the booking process. This provided a solid foundation for structuring the user experience.

Low-Fidelity Wireframes

I started the design process by creating low-fidelity wireframes in Sketch. These focused on key user journeys, screen layout, and content hierarchy, ensuring the booking process was intuitive and streamlined.

GoStashio low-fidelity wireframes

High-Fidelity Designs

Once the low-fidelity designs were approved, I refined them with detailed visuals and styles in Sketch. These designs were then transferred to Proto.io to incorporate gestures, animations, and interactions, making them ready for user testing.

GoStashio high-fidelity design GoStashio high-fidelity design

Usability Testing

Using Lookback, I recorded participants interacting with the prototype to gather insights. Each task was assigned a primary goal, allowing me to measure task completion times, success rates, and errors. Based on feedback, I made design adjustments, such as reducing the steps from search to checkout.

GoStashio final design

Recording and analysing user interactions, whether through moderated or unmoderated studies was a key part of the process. This approach revealed actionable insights that significantly improved the user experience.

The iterative design and testing process resulted in an intuitive platform, poised to help traditional self-storage businesses adapt to the growing demand for online booking. Unfortunately, despite its potential, the proof of concept was unable to progress further due to funding challenges.

Feedback

GoStashio is to Self-Storage what Just-Eat is to Takeaways, what Uber is to private cab hire and what Rightmove is to high street Estate Agents.