simon osborne

Product Designer & UX Researcher

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

15+ years in research-led design across fintech, enterprise software and life sciences.

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

I started designing websites back when desktop was king and we weren’t all glued to our phones. Around 2007, while at Generator, I began bringing UX methods into my design process. As my work expanded into mobile and responsive websites, my focus shifted towards understanding how people used them, and designing around their needs.

Multi-media design

From 1996

My career began in print, around the time England reached the Euro ’96 semi-finals. From magazine covers and brochures, I moved into multimedia, creating interactive experiences, games, Flash banners and sites. Projects spanned different industries, combining design and storytelling, with room to experiment and try things out.

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

Have a product challenge in mind or a role you think I’d be a good fit for? I’d love to hear from you.

Location

Peterborough, UK

Telephone

07932 764 383

Email

simon@simono.co.uk

Testimonials

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.