Contract work
A senior design strategist who also builds with AI. Twenty five years of research, design and leading teams.
Right now I am Senior Service Designer at the Department for Education
UK based, remote first, on site where the work needs it.
2001 in digital since
25+ projects led and delivered
6 sectors, government to startups
A design strategist who also builds with AI
I can jump into any role, stay in my lane or cut across several (which is usually what happens).
Design strategist
Goal-based navigation replacing five separate websites at Co-operatives UK. Design sprints that validated product-market fit at Walgreens, with Future Foundry.
View case studiesUser researcher
45 interviews in six to eight weeks at Ofgem, on an alpha that passed assessment. Five prototypes with over fifty customers in six weeks at Beauty Pie.
View case studiesService designer
Trauma-informed journey mapping at Manchester NHS, with clinicians and service users in the same room. A blueprint that shaped tender strategy at the Ministry of Justice.
View case studiesAI vibe coder, prototyper and app developer
Developed multiple product and team op apps for DfE, designed released personal iOS and web apps.
View case studiesSector experience
Central government Health Retail Energy Charity Early-stage startups
Working alongside innovation strategists and insight leaders, Danny has been crucial in identifying and architecting a number of disruptive new digital and retail propositions for our most senior clients.
What makes me a different consultant
Most contracts buy one discipline. While I understand my role in a team, I focus on the outcome and will carry out whatever tasks that requires. Twenty five years across several disciplines means I can see the whole system rather than my slice of it.
What comes with it
- Advising leadership. I build relationships upwards as well as sideways, and I say what I see.
- Coaching and mentoring. Researchers and designers in the team, on live work rather than in a training session.
- Modelling the practice. Showing a team what good looks like is faster than describing it.
Case studies from the seat
All case studies
Ofgem Heat networks regulation
Passed assessment, changed the service's language and shifted how the regulator segmented its users.
User research · via Made Tech
Read case study
Beauty Pie Membership conversion
44 percent uplift in new member conversion.
Product and research
Read case study
Manchester NHS Sexual health service
Clinicians came out with deeper understanding and empathy for service users, and service users felt heard.
Service design
Read case studyIn other people's words
Danny is by far the best consultant in his category that I have ever worked with. Truly great digital experts, for me, have been hard to come by. Danny is different. He is principled, rolls up his sleeves, has a plan, sticks to it, is flexible, but knows his science, and OWNS the deliverable as if he’s a part of your business. I would have him back in a heartbeat.
Danny is a passionate, intelligent, and hardworking team member with a wide range of UCD expertise. The excellent work he did to set up a large, diverse user panel at DfT will have a long term impact, helping us and the client carry out quality research for a long time to come. Thank you Danny!
Danny was exactly what our early-stage startup needed. He brought a hands-on, strategic, and detail-oriented approach to product and design, with a genuine investment in our success, particularly in the critical area of women's health and menopause solutions.
Danny is a joy to work with - he is a highly skilled UX professional who is passionate about bringing the best of that discipline to drive consumer-centric transformation - he is tenacious, compassionate and has a relentless drive to make things happen.
I have learnt so much from working alongside Danny at DOT PROJECT as have the incredible charities we support. Danny has taken on so many new challenges with such focus, commitment, energy, but most importantly empathy.
Danny is an energetic and passionate UX leader. He has a tenacious attitude and won’t accept the status quo when there is opportunity to do things better. He is a positive agent for change, brings people with him and is a great manager widely respected by his team.
Danny introduced innovative ways of working, demonstrated solid and imaginative design thinking and built a good rapport with our clients.
Danny brought fantastic and such valuable insight to the Fitflop Digital re-platform. His approach to understanding the required customer experience and interpreting it through our digital platform has been first class.
Danny was instrumental in helping to push the product development process forward. It was impressive to see how he was able to introduce and embed a range of innovative tools and methodologies. I would highly recommend him for guidance, coaching and leadership with product design teams.
Working alongside innovation strategists and insight leaders, Danny has been crucial in identifying and architecting a number of disruptive new digital and retail propositions for our most senior clients.
Danny was instrumental in shaping our health app, contributing to both graphic design and user experience. Over a year, he refined our UI, improved usability through user testing, and helped create a visually engaging product. His creativity, attention to detail, and collaborative approach made a real impact. I highly recommend him to anyone looking for a designer who combines aesthetics with user insight.
I have worked on several projects with Danny now and would highly recommend him for large, complex, goal driven UX projects. He has a great ability to work alongside the client, develop a rapport, gather requirements, keep the design focused and deliver results.
Danny is extremely bright and versatile and was able to turn his hand to almost anything. He always championed excellence in user experience and produced high quality detailed documentation suitable for technical specs. Design savvy and technically competent he's a very useful guy to have around.
Danny has a clear talent for user centric design and customer experience, founded on a genuine interest in consumer needs. He is an articulate and sensitive communicator. Danny's motivation and infectious enthusiasm were unrelenting during his time in my team. A real find!
I never thought someone who is used to working in a corporate environment would be able to engage 40 teenage girls for 2 days in a fun and interactive way, teaching them ideation, UX, prototyping tools and programming using Scrum and Agile. Our hackathon would not have been the success that it was without Danny.
Reading
Research has not shrunk, it has moved. And I can prototype myself, and develop it into production, so testing does not wait for a development sprint.
What AI changed about this, and what it did notWhat I'm a good fit for
I am a good fit for
Teams with a mandate to change something, where the work can actually land. Public services, regulated settings and organisations where the answer has to survive scrutiny. Groups that need to agree before anything can proceed, and teams that want the capability left behind rather than a dependency.
I am straight about the trade-offs. The first eighty to ninety percent goes remarkably fast. The last ten to twenty percent, the layout and the fiddly detail, is still slow and still needs a person who cares about it.
Common questions
What roles do you take on?
User research, service design, strategic design and product design. I usually join in one of those seats and bring in the others where the team needs them.
How long are your contracts?
There is no typical length. It depends on the work.
Do you work inside or outside IR35?
Both. I work inside and outside IR35.
What is your day rate?
It depends on the nature of the work. Tell me about the role and we can talk it through.
What security clearance do you hold?
I hold BPSS clearance.
Do you work remotely?
Yes. I am based in Devon and work remotely, with occasional travel when the work needs it.
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