Hi, I’m James, a product designer based in London with over 20 years’ experience across agencies, in-house teams and freelance.

I’m at my best on difficult problems. Much of my recent work has been in financial services, for Lloyds Banking Group, Deutsche Bank and MUFG Investor Services, where products carry dense data, complex rules and users who can’t afford to get things wrong. That’s exactly the kind of work I enjoy.

How I work

Complexity is my job, not the user’s. I put the effort in early, untangling requirements, data and edge cases, so that what people see feels obvious. When a screen looks simple, that is usually where most of the work went.

Every decision has a reason. Design should look good, but it also has to earn its place. I want to be able to explain why every layout, component and colour is there, and what it does for the person using it.

Systems, not one-offs. From the Lloyds commercial banking guidelines to the component library behind Meta’s work products and the design system I built at MUFG, I design foundations that teams can build on consistently long after launch.

Close to the build. I work alongside developers, product owners and stakeholders throughout, so designs survive contact with real systems and real deadlines.

Experience

I started out in editorial and graphic design, then spent four years at ASOS during its early growth, art directing shoots and leading a small team on the menswear areas of the site. At Razorfish and AKQA I worked on brands including Amnesty International, Audi, Nike, Volvo and Virgin, before leading the UI on the ground-up redesign of selfridges.com.

Since then I’ve worked with Spark44 on Jaguar and Land Rover, led design for Lloyds commercial banking, worked within Deutsche Bank’s wealth management team and designed for Meta’s work products. Today I’m Senior Associate Director, Product Design at MUFG Investor Services, overseeing design across multiple areas of the business and the standards our teams work to.

Skills

Product design
UX design
UI design
Design systems
App design
Art direction
Graphic design
Typography

Clients

Amnesty International
ASOS
Audi
Bang & Olufsen
British Airways
C&A
Cushman & Wakefield
Deutsche Bank
Jack Wills
Jaguar
Jose Cuervo
Kurt Geiger
Land Rover
Levi’s
Lloyds Banking Group
McDonald’s
Meta
Mr Porter
MUFG Investor Services
Nike
O2
Selfridges
Virgin
Volkswagen
Volvo

Contact:

james@jamesdavie.com