About
About
I really do like bagels
I really do like bagels
I really do like bagels
I'm Dave. I design products, I'm in Glasgow, and yes there's a story behind the bagels. You'll have to ask me about it.
I’m Dave. I design products, I’m in Glasgow, and yes there’s a story behind the bagels. You’ll have to ask me about it.
I’m Dave. I design products, I’m in Glasgow, and yes there’s a story behind the bagels. You’ll have to ask me about it.
SIXTEEN YEARS IN
SIXTEEN YEARS IN
Sixteen years in, I’ve done the lot. Brand, print, web, then UX, then product. It means I’ve sat in rooms where the argument was about kerning and rooms where it was about retention, and I’ve learned they’re closer than either side wants to admit.
Sixteen years in, I’ve done the lot. Brand, print, web, then UX, then product. It means I’ve sat in rooms where the argument was about kerning and rooms where it was about retention, and I’ve learned they’re closer than either side wants to admit.
Sixteen years in, I’ve done the lot. Brand, print, web, then UX, then product. It means I’ve sat in rooms where the argument was about kerning and rooms where it was about retention, and I’ve learned they’re closer than either side wants to admit.
Right now I’m a Senior Product Designer at Imagine Learning, working on new products for students. Gamification, and building accessibility in from the ground up rather than retrofitting it. I spent fourteen months on the retrofit version, getting Twig to a near perfect VPAT score. It worked. But it’s the expensive way round and you can feel the seams. Designing it in from the start is a completely different exercise and a much better one.
Right now I’m a Senior Product Designer at Imagine Learning, working on new products for students. Gamification, and building accessibility in from the ground up rather than retrofitting it. I spent fourteen months on the retrofit version, getting Twig to a near perfect VPAT score. It worked. But it’s the expensive way round and you can feel the seams. Designing it in from the start is a completely different exercise and a much better one.
BUILT ON THE FLOOR
BUILT ON THE FLOOR
I’m also Director of Judges for an international competition series. That started as a sport role, not a design one. But running judging across a live event floor meant I felt every gap in how those events were organised, and I turned out to be the person in the room who could design the fix. Vibe coding meant I could ship it rather than write a spec and wait. So I built it, and now I stand on the competition floor at 6am in a Berlin arena using my own product with two hundred volunteers who need it to work right now. It has permanently changed how I feel about designing for people I’ll never meet. I’ve met them. They tell me.
I’m also Director of Judges for an international competition series. That started as a sport role, not a design one. But running judging across a live event floor meant I felt every gap in how those events were organised, and I turned out to be the person in the room who could design the fix. Vibe coding meant I could ship it rather than write a spec and wait. So I built it, and now I stand on the competition floor at 6am in a Berlin arena using my own product with two hundred volunteers who need it to work right now. It has permanently changed how I feel about designing for people I’ll never meet. I’ve met them. They tell me.
WORKING WITH ME
WORKING WITH ME
I take design personally. That’s a strength most of the time and a thing I have to manage the rest of it, because letting go of a good solution is genuinely hard when a stakeholder’s priorities sit somewhere else. I’ve got better at it. Mostly by getting better at understanding what they’re actually solving for, which usually turns out to be a real problem I hadn’t seen.
I take design personally. That’s a strength most of the time and a thing I have to manage the rest of it, because letting go of a good solution is genuinely hard when a stakeholder’s priorities sit somewhere else. I’ve got better at it. Mostly by getting better at understanding what they’re actually solving for, which usually turns out to be a real problem I hadn’t seen.
I ask a lot of questions before I open Figma. I’d rather be told I’m wrong in week one than ship something confident and useless in week six. And I can build the thing now, which changes what’s worth arguing about. I’m good in the messy part. The bit before anyone knows what the thing is.
I ask a lot of questions before I open Figma. I’d rather be told I’m wrong in week one than ship something confident and useless in week six. And I can build the thing now, which changes what’s worth arguing about. I’m good in the messy part. The bit before anyone knows what the thing is.
THE REST OF IT
THE REST OF IT
I train at CrossFit Glasgow, mostly before the sun comes up. I drink an unreasonable volume of tea from a cup that is technically a bowl. And I live with Murph, a cockapoo who is a minor celebrity at my gym and on my street, and who makes unscheduled guest appearances on calls. I’m at Imagine Learning and happy there. But if you’re building something and you think I’d fit, I’d like to hear about it.
I train at CrossFit Glasgow, mostly before the sun comes up. I drink an unreasonable volume of tea from a cup that is technically a bowl. And I live with Murph, a cockapoo who is a minor celebrity at my gym and on my street, and who makes unscheduled guest appearances on calls. I’m at Imagine Learning and happy there. But if you’re building something and you think I’d fit, I’d like to hear about it.
Tea, bagels, or a call. Your shout.
Tea, bagels, or a call. Your shout.
Tea, bagels, or a call. Your shout.
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