About me
My name is Ronan. I’m a Berlin-based senior UI/UX and digital designer with over 15 years of experience designing and shipping products, applications, and digital experiences.
Products & Applications Shipped: >40
I’ve worked in many design disciplines across my career, I would call myself a generalist with a high-end skillset. My recent work has been in complex SaaS environments, where clarity, usability, and structure really matter. Across my career I’ve contributed to - and helped lead - the design of more than 40 shipped products and applications, from early MVPs through to commercially successful platforms.
My approach is grounded in understanding users and advocating for them throughout the design process. I care about how things work, how they’re understood, and how they feel to use. I’m comfortable moving between research, interaction design, visual design, systems thinking, and execution - and between detail-level craft and strategic decision-making.
I’ve led and mentored design teams, built and evolved design systems, facilitated workshops and design sprints, conducted user research, and collaborated closely with product, engineering, and commercial stakeholders. I’m used to communicating design decisions clearly with both technical and non-technical audiences.
In my most recent role, I oversaw a team of designers responsible for the SoniQ Services suite of web and mobile applications, ensuring consistency, collaboration, and quality across platforms.
Outside of client and product work, I stay engaged with the discipline by reading, learning, and paying attention to how digital experiences shift over time. When I’m not designing, you’ll usually find me cooking, hiking, spending time with my family, or working on music for my project blaschkoalley.com.
Experience
UI/UX Design Team Lead, Soniq Services, 2019-2023
Worked in and led a team of 8 designers in the design and development of a modular customer facing SaaS application for facilities management and HR - from concept to MVP to paying customers.
> Spearheaded the UI/UX strategy, driving the overall design direction to align with business objectives and user needs on both web and mobile.
> Coordinated user research, including target market discovery and usability testing, to gather valuable insights and iterate designs for optimal market fit and user experience.
> Collaborated closely with product managers and developers, ensuring seamless implementation of designs while meeting deadlines in the comprehensive roadmap.
> Mentored and coached designers, while fostering a collaborative and growth-oriented team environment and strong team ethic.
Creative Director, BoundaryIO, 2015-2019
>Led the design and development of interactive apps, games and exhibits for museums and visitor spaces, creating engaging and immersive user experiences.
> Collaborated with cross-functional teams, including content creators and developers, to ensure seamless integration of design elements.
> Oversaw the entire design process, from ideation to execution, ensuring adherence to project brand guidelines and project objectives.
> Guided development work according to budget and time constraints
> Awarded ‘Best Use of Technology’ in Scottish Career Awards
Lead UI / UX Designer, WeeWorld, 2020-2015
Here I led a team of designers working on a large online social network/virtual world that was used by younger teens. The network had 50 million registered users. My work involved creating new features for engagement, and platform wide UI / UX
Skills
Strong grounding in user-centred design, spanning research, framing, wireframing, prototyping, usability testing, and iteration
Extensive experience designing complex web and mobile applications, with a clear understanding of interaction patterns, hierarchy, and flow
Equally comfortable working in visual and graphic design contexts, including layout, typography, colour, composition, and art direction across digital and static formats
Proven ability to translate complex ideas - whether functional systems or creative concepts - into clear, cohesive, and engaging visual outcomes
Experience creating and evolving visual identities and design systems, balancing consistency with expression across multiple outputs
Confident working across different levels of fidelity, from conceptual visual exploration through to production-ready assets
Experienced in building, mentoring, and leading design teams, including successfully managing and supporting a team of eight designers
Comfortable working within agile environments, collaborating closely with product, engineering, and commercial stakeholders
Able to read, reason about, and write HTML and CSS where useful, supporting tighter collaboration with engineering and more informed design decisions
Increasingly using AI-assisted workflows to explore, prototype, and deploy fully functional digital experiences
Strong communication and presentation skills, able to explain design decisions clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences
A practical, end-to-end mindset for shaping ideas into credible, market-ready outcomes, balancing user needs, visual quality, and business context
Interests
Alongside my work as a designer, I’ve held a lifelong passion to create music, which i actively pursue through my project Blaschko Alley. It’s a space where I write, record, and produce music, with guitars and sound design playing a central role, and where long-form creative thinking still matters.
I’m also drawn to other forms of design beyond the screen, particularly interior design, material-led work, and building things by hand in wood. These slower, physical processes strongly influence how I think about structure, restraint, and craft in digital work.
Outside of design and music, I’m most at home in natural environments. Time spent in the mountains, wilderness, with family, and travelling helps reset perspective and provides a necessary counterbalance to screen-based work.
Currently listening to: mixes for my second, music release
Currently giving me inspiration: a new book on off-grid cabin design
Cultural thing I’m loving: the work of The Ocean Cleanup
