About

For more than 25 years, I've focused on one goal: making complex systems simple, intuitive and accessible for everyone.

Profile

I'm a product designer who works on what gets built and why, not only how it looks. I bring customer evidence into prioritisation, push for success measures agreed before build, and take ideas from brief to something customers use.

UX is how I get there: research, journeys, prototypes and testing with real users, so decisions rest on how people actually behave. I've designed, written front-end code and lived the delivery process, so I scope work that actually ships.

I sit between product, design, engineering and the business, and translate each side for the others. I treat everything as a product with customers: public features, internal tools, even the design system itself. I've managed and mentored UX designers at three companies.

Product
Discovery, problem framing, prioritisation, success measures
UX
Research, journeys, prototypes, usability testing, accessibility
Build
Design systems, AI-assisted design-to-code, front-end

Career

2023–2026
MHR — Senior Product / UX Designer
2020–2023
Blue Light Card — Lead Product / UX Designer
2018–2019
N Brown / JD Williams — UI Front-End Developer / UX Designer
2018–2019
Capital One — UX Designer
2017–2018
Wilko — UI Front-End Developer / UX Designer
2015–2017
Greene King — Email Design & Development
2013–2015
Dixons Carphone — Senior UI/UX Designer Manager
2009–now
JShotter Ltd — Director, UX/UI design, photography & video

What I do

Product discovery
Finding the problem worth solving, shaping what gets built, and agreeing how success will be measured before build.
UX research & strategy
Research-first thinking, information architecture and journey mapping, grounded in real user behaviour.
UI & design systems
Distinctive interfaces and scalable component systems that hold together at any size.
Front-end & back-end
Hand-built, fast, standards-compliant code, from interface to engine.
Accessibility audits
WCAG 2.2 audits, fixes and training: compliance and a better experience for everyone.

Accessibility

Accessibility is the floor, not a final check. I specify it in the design and audit it across the product, to WCAG 2.2 AA.

At design time
Components annotated in Figma with ARIA labels, states and font sizes, so developers build them accessible from the start.
Audits
WCAG 2.2 AA audit tooling and reporting, run across whole products, not page by page.
For stakeholders
Technical audits turned into clear, stakeholder-facing decks, so the fixes get prioritised.
In the design system
Accessibility built in at token and component level, so every screen built from the system inherits it.

Tools I use

AI
Claude, Claude Code, Claude Design, GitHub Copilot, and the Figma MCP connector with Code Connect
Design
Figma, Figma Code Connect, Storybook
Product and delivery
Azure DevOps, Jira, airfocus
Build
HTML and CSS, WordPress, ProcessWire, Supabase, Vercel
Testing and accessibility
Playwright, WCAG 2.2 AA audit tooling

Skills and prompts

I write the instructions that make AI tools work the way a team does: reusable skills and prompts that carry our standards, so the output is checked and consistent rather than a one-off.

Claude skills
A library of skills covering accessibility, regression and unit testing, engineering standards, debugging and pre-flight checks, plus an ask-don't-guess rule so the AI stops and asks rather than inventing.
Working in a queue
A skill that works through an agreed list of build tasks on its own, with approval before it starts, checks at each step, save points and clear stop conditions.
Security
An audit skill for AI-built e-commerce sites, checking payments, admin areas, customer data and exposed keys, with a plain-English report of fixes.
Accessibility prompts
Reusable WCAG 2.2 AA audit prompts: one paired with an automated site crawler, one for auditing a component library that outputs ready-to-import tickets.
Research prompts
A structured interview guide and a UX analytics prompt that picks out themes and sentiment from user feedback.
How I build them
Clear goals, real examples, explicit rules on what not to do, and a test against real work before anyone else relies on them.

Achievements

  • CSS Zen Garden official design #198
  • Children's BAFTA, Your Mother Wouldn't Like It, Central TV
  • National Top 50 and Top 100 music productions
  • Winner, Diesel Nu-Music Awards 2000

Off the clock

I'm a photographer and video producer, and take on commissioned canvas artwork. A photographer's eye for composition and light is exactly what a strong interface needs. See the photo and video work.

What colleagues say

From the product managers, engineers and designers I've worked alongside.

Kate FeatherstoneSenior Product Manager

“He is confident and technically minded, bringing this into his design thinking and considering both the user experience and the technical aspects behind it.”

Richard MaltbySoftware Engineering Manager

“Joe has led design sessions and refinements, using intuitive and engaging techniques to ensure everyone has the opportunity to contribute.”

Joshua GreensladeSenior Software Engineer II

“I particularly admire his capacity for reaching out to others and building a consensus view. He is easy to work with and a strong leader in the UX space.”

Lilly PaceSenior UX Designer

“Joe exhibits refined expertise and efficiency as a designer and is able to seamlessly tie in his technical development experience into his designs and discussions.”

Isabelle OsbornUX Designer

“One of the things I particularly valued was his ability to explain things clearly and break down complex topics into manageable, step by step guidance.”

Matthew BuhagiarSoftware Engineering Manager

“He is well engaged, highly communicative and able to balance requirements with technical capabilities within the teams.”

Robert EuerbySenior Software Engineer

“I have always valued his commitment to creating a consistent, high-quality user experience across the product.”

Hazel JohnsonPrincipal Product Manager

“He listens to the requirements and works with us to identify the UX changes. He follows up quickly and doesn't mind if we need to adjust the designs.”

Mariza SamartziSenior UX Designer

“He is always open to exploring new technologies, particularly AI, and enjoys testing their potential and challenging how they can improve the way we work.”

Stephen RossGraduate Intern

“The UX expertise he brings to discussions is always really valuable and helps us think about the user journey from different perspectives.”

Get in touch

Looking for a product and UX/UI designer for a contract role? I'd like to hear about it.

Start a conversation