About
I care about the gap between what a product does and what people think it does.
Twenty years in product design, the last decade in leadership roles across retail credit, insurance, energy and fintech. Currently Principal Product Designer at The Very Group, based in Liverpool. I'm drawn to products where the constraints are real — regulation, legacy systems, commercial pressure — and the job is making something people actually trust anyway.
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Principal Product Designer
The Very Group · Liverpool, UK
Sep 2022 — Present
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Product Design Consultant
Cuvva · London, UK
May 2022 — Sep 2022
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Head of Design
Swoop · London, UK
Oct 2021 — May 2022
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Head of UX, Insurance & Money
Moneysupermarket Group · Manchester, UK
Jan 2019 — Oct 2021
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Senior UX Designer
Moneysupermarket Group · Manchester, UK
Jul 2018 — Dec 2018
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Lead UX Designer
Sykes Holiday Cottages · Cheshire, UK
Oct 2017 — Jun 2018
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UX Manager
Moneysupermarket Group · Ewloe, UK
May 2015 — Oct 2017
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Senior UI Designer (incl. Interim Head of Creative)
Moneysupermarket Group · Ewloe, UK
Apr 2008 — May 2015
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UI Designer / Front-end Developer
Mavada Ltd · UK
Mar 2005 — Mar 2008
Practice
- User Experience Design
- User Interface Design
- Design Leadership
- Design Systems
- Design Sprints
- Conversion Optimisation
Craft
- Interaction Design
- Prototyping
- User Research
- Graphic Design
- Front-end (HTML/CSS/JS)
Leadership
- Team Building & Mentoring
- Stakeholder Management
- Cross-functional Workshops
- Hiring
From LinkedIn recommendations.
“Darren is both a fantastic leader and colleague, exceptionally well-versed in the field of UX & UI. He’s deeply passionate about user-centred design and a user research advocate.”
“Darren has fantastic people skills — he’s incredibly approachable and down to earth which is so important in a leadership role. He really knows how to get the best out of his team.”
“I’ve worked with Darren on a few projects where he and his team stepped in to provide support. Darren, in a single word, was brilliant — never failing to see the bigger picture.”
“He has a thorough understanding of experience design and the ability to craft pixel perfect user interfaces — able to combine creative and technical skills to translate complex requirements into delightful experiences.”