Helping you shape and deliver impactful digital products and services
I partner with forward-thinking leaders to transform design challenges into business opportunities.
As a strategic design leader and problem solver, I help transform complexity into clarity. I leverage systems thinking to uncover patterns and connect seemingly disparate elements into robust solutions.
For leadership teams and purpose-driven startups, I can help to deliver:
Strategic Vision Alignment
Visualising complex ideas to achieve clarity and consensus among stakeholders.
Problem-Solution Fit
Ensuring your product addresses the right challenges for the right audience.
Lean Execution
Building iteratively to gather insights quickly and minimise costly pivots.
Opportunity Discovery
Identifying untapped potential that drives business growth.
Experience Excellence
Crafting compelling product experiences that authentically represent your vision.
Business-User Harmony
Designing solutions that balance commercial objectives with genuine user needs.
Team Elevation
Cultivating collaborative environments where design talent thrives and delivers exceptional outcomes.
From product vision to experience strategy to comprehensive service design, I specialise in guiding organisations through complexity to discover breakthrough opportunities.
Are you ready to transform your design challenges into opportunities?
Let’s connect and explore how strategic design can drive your vision forward.
What people say about working with Dereck
“Dereck is a great UX leader and one of the most dependable people you could possibly want to work with. He’s both a seasoned and experienced individual contributor who can unpack complex UX challenges and propose sensible solutions but also a thoughtful manager who cares about coaching his reports to be their best. He’s adaptable, willing to turn his hand to new challenges and a reassuring and supportive presence through times of change.”
Matt Walton – Chief Product Officer
“Dereck is a wonderful design leader. He is customer-centric and also business savvy, visionary yet pragmatic, persistent and persuasive while still being open and collaborative, and genuinely a nice guy who wants everyone to be their best and is always ready to roll his sleeves up and do the right thing for the company. He is well-liked and respected across departments, and I’d highly recommend him if you need a steady hand to bring best practices to your org.”
Will Barden – Product director
“Dereck is one of my favourite people I’ve ever worked with. His unfailingly positive disposition, his deep Design discipline expertise, and his pragmatism and drive to do the right thing for users of the product he is working on making him an incredibly valuable and insightful person to have on your team.
He is a great manager. He is present with his team and takes responsibility for pushing for advocacy of both their voices and the voice of Design at every level of the organisation. You can learn a lot from every conversation with Dereck, and I highly recommend him as a competent, disciplined, and compassionate Design leader.”
Anna Bowers – Head of Delivery
Latest thoughts
Judging books by their covers… February 2025
March has rolled in, so I’m a few days behind with my monthly cover design review. I’ve gathered a mixed selection of journals, fiction, and nonfiction publications.
Judging books by their covers… January 2025
It’s been a while since I compiled a selection of publication covers that caught my eye. Now that we’re into 2025, I feel that it might be a good time to restart the habit. My love for cover designs goes back to my college days and years in publishing. I haven’t designed a commercial publication cover for quite a while, and I’d like to change that this year.
How much experience is too much experience?
Some senior roles ask for 6–10 years of experience, yet candidates with double or even triple that often hear, “You have too much experience.” Why?