Work Overview

Design & Strategy for complexity (2022-2024)

Cintra: Advancing Payroll & HR Technology
Cintra is a leading Payroll & HR service provider and software company, offering proprietary technology for outsourced payroll and HR solutions. Despite its strong industry presence, Cintra had faced challenges in delivering a fully unified cloud-based platform, with previous efforts to develop an MVP version proving unsuccessful over the past few years, though the potential was evident.

My Role in Cintra’s Transformation
As Lead & Senior Product Designer, I played a key role in addressing these challenges, facilitating the transition from legacy systems to a unified SaaS cloud platform. My focus was on enhancing efficiency, security, accessibility, and scalability, refining user journeys, and streamlining workflows.

Beyond solving existing usability issues, I identified new opportunities that led to the development of innovative service offerings, helping Cintra better serve clients and differentiate itself in the market. A major milestone was the successful launch of a groundbreaking payroll management product in October 2024, designed for single and grouped payrolls—strengthening Cintra’s ability to retain and attract high-profile clients.

Results and Impact

Quantifiable Achievements

The redesign and new processes had a significant impact on both the product and its users.

Accelerated Design Delivery – Enabled faster design iterations, ensuring a high volume of high-quality outputs within shorter timeframes.
Enhanced Onboarding & Efficiency – Reduced time spent on onboarding new users by up to 50%, resulting in higher user adoption rates.
Development Time Reduction – Improved development workflows, reducing feature development time by up to 60%, allowing faster releases.
Improved User Satisfaction – Users responded positively to UX improvements, with noticeable increases in satisfaction scores.
Increased Client Interest – Key feature innovations attracted major clients and competitors, enhancing Cintra’s market positioning.
Industry Recognition – Our efforts were recognised with industry awards for innovation and excellence in Payroll technology, reinforcing our leadership in the space and validating our strategic approach.
Successful Product Launches – The project contributed to the largest set of feature releases since Cintra Cloud’s initial launch in 2020.

Qualitative Impact

Beyond measurable results, the redesign led to strategic improvements:

Improved User Experience – Enhanced intuitiveness, efficiency, and ease of use across the platform.
Enhanced Collaboration – Strengthened communication between design and development teams, fostering a more cohesive workflow.
Stronger Design Culture – Encouraged growth, mentorship, and continuous improvement within the design team.
Strategic Influence – Positioned design as a key driver in product strategy and decision-making.

Summary of Key Outcomes

The results and impact of my contributions, spanning released products, new & enhanced features, strategic initiatives, and foundational improvements that drive continuous growth.

Live Reporting – Enabled real-time reporting with cloud-based customisation options, vastly improving user experience.
Cintra Groups – Transformed a base feature into a dynamic product, integrating live data, reports, and custom dashboards.
Lean Payroll – Optimised workflows to reduce bottlenecks, creating a consultancy service that improved payroll processing efficiency.
Cintra Bureau – Developed a multi-tier bureau model with scalable data management, enabling more advanced payroll structures.
Cintra Cloud - Irish Payroll – Designed market-specific components for Ireland, highlighting global scalability potential, even though the project was later cancelled.
Advanced View – Launched an improved data grid system to address user pain points, receiving widespread positive feedback.
Budget Forecasting with AI & ML – Introduced predictive modelling to help clients manage financial planning more effectively.
Structured Design System – Implemented a scalable framework, significantly reducing development time and improving consistency.
Sustainable UX Practices – Advocated for resource-efficient, optimised interfaces and workflows, creating a more sustainable product.
Team Development – Mentored and guided design talent, strengthening the capabilities of the team and fostering collaboration.

Case Studies

Scalable SaaS Through Unified Design (2021-2022)

Kinetic Software is a specialist in the HE Sector in the UK & US, transitioning its established desktop application suite to the cloud as SaaS platforms. I worked within multiple teams of Product Owners, Junior UX, and an Agile Development team to incorporate feedback from existing customers and deliver the best features and functionality, enhancing the overall user experience.

Role & Key Outcomes:

I was the Senior & Lead Product Designer (UX/UI), focused on optimising efficiency and driving innovation. My work encompassed leading the design for legacy migration, managing a new UI framework, and developing strategic UX plans. My contributions led to significant reductions in support tickets and task completion times, alongside the introduction of mobile UI and a UX maturity plan to ensure a future-proof, user-centric platform.

Legacy Migration to SaaS: Led the design for migrating the core section of a legacy desktop application to a SaaS platform. This resulted in a 25% increase in user satisfaction and a 30% reduction in support tickets.
New UI Framework: Managed a team of designers to consolidate a new user interface framework, improving task completion times by 50% in key areas. This project improved design consistency and reduced development time, enhancing overall user experience.
Strategic Planning: Prepared a strategic plan to improve user experience research and designs based on analysis and usability research, enhancing the current design and framework to be more modular.
Mapping and Integration: Introduced a series of maps of the current SaaS platforms, illustrating how legacy features would be connected, showing relationships and dependencies.
Design and Development Improvements: Developed ways to improve design and development, ensuring accessibility was integrated from the beginning rather than an afterthought.
Mobile UI Development: Introduced a set of UI for mobile versions of the system for both B2C and B2B users.
UX Maturity Plan: Created a plan for UX maturity, helping UX designers and product owners champion UX with measurable outcomes.

Key Objectives:

Seamlessly migrate a PC-based application to the cloud.
Introduce a compelling new online-only application offering.
Significantly improve existing application workflows and processes.
Drive successful user onboarding to the new platform.
Increase overall user engagement and satisfaction.
Develop and launch an initial B2C mobile version.

The Challenge:

Initial research and testing revealed significant hurdles, including low user satisfaction with the initial cloud onboarding (10%) and a tendency to revert to the desktop application. Heuristic evaluation highlighted platform inconsistencies, while usability tests showed low task success and long completion times. Furthermore, user expectations regarding new designs and functionality were misaligned, leading to a feeling of not being heard. Critically, team expectations were not fully aligned across Development, Sales, and Product, creating internal friction that needed to be addressed to ensure a cohesive and user-focused approach.

Our Approach & Impact:

To address these challenges, a user-centric strategy was implemented, focusing on early and continuous engagement with both users and internal teams, including Development, Sales, and Marketing. This involved ongoing surveys and feedback loops to foster alignment across all stakeholders. The creation and sharing of a comprehensive style guide and an optimised design system ensured consistency.

The impact of these actions was significant: redesigned features achieved nearly 100% onboarding success with actively involved users, generating additional interest from new customers. Furthermore, a proposed and initiated UX Strategy is now helping to align business goals with the expected value for customers and users, paving the way for a more cohesive and user-focused future.

Growth Strategy Leadership for Design & Development (2013-2020)

Consider This is a dynamic Design & Marketing Agency based in London, specialising in the Performing Arts sector, including schools, colleges, venues, and governing bodies. The agency is renowned for its innovative and impactful design solutions, collaborating with high-profile clients across various industries.

Role and Achievements

Starting as a Web Designer and progressing to Department Manager & Co-Creative Director, I led and co-led the creative direction of numerous projects, achieving significant improvements in project outcomes and client satisfaction. I managed departmental operations and directed the development of over 150 websites and 30 web applications. My strategic shift towards SaaS cloud platforms resulted in a 300% increase in revenue. Our efforts consistently won bids for projects valued at ten times the agency's previous average, surpassing targets and leading to regular promotions.

SaaS Platform Development: Implemented a business strategy focusing on SaaS platform development, leading to a 300% revenue increase within two years. Led the design and development of over 30 web applications across various industries.
Design Framework: Developed and implemented a design framework that improved consistency and reduced development time by 70%. Mentored a high-performing design team, consistently exceeding targets.
Client Solutions: Delivered innovative solutions that enhanced client and customer experiences, increasing efficiency and productivity for both staff and customer journeys.
Competitive Bids: Successfully competed for and won high-value project bids, significantly increasing the agency's financial performance.

Client Logos

Freelance Design, Implementation & Strategy (2012-2025)

EV Design Solutions is a freelance partnership dedicated to bridging creativity with realistic, strategic solutions for clients. We specialise in translating visions into tangible designs and implementations, ensuring consistency and functionality throughout for SME.

Role & Key Outcomes

As a co-founder and lead designer, I guided the creative direction and strategic planning of our projects. I leveraged my extensive experience in design and development to steer our team in delivering innovative and reliable solutions that meet our clients' needs.

Brand Transformation for Symitry Ltd: Provided UX and brand transformation services, successfully rebranding the company. This led to new higher-profile clients and opportunities to white-label products.
Consultancy & Product Design Strategy for Practical Software: Worked on a SaaS platform for Accounting & CRM for contractors and umbrella companies to manage payments, timesheets, HR, and Payrolls. Collaborated with the sales team, owner, users, and development team to improve the UX and UI framework.
Third-Party Integration Planning: Planned the integration and customisation of third-party tools like Xero for e-commerce websites and CRM platforms, extending their capabilities without the need for additional builds. This approach ensured a seamless journey for both admins and end-users.
Competitive Bids and Consultancy: Runner-up in a competitive bid against other companies for a new system for a division of Shell Group. Employed Value Proposition and Jobs to be Done frameworks to gain a deep understanding of user needs and market opportunities.