Stu Ford

Lead Product Designer · London

• Rebuilt the design system in code with Claude Code, generating 30+ components from our Figma library through Figma's MCP server. Worked with our Cloud Engineer to get a GitHub repo provisioned and hosted, so the kit is a single source of truth others build from.
• Built and maintain Boden's product design system: two Figma libraries running on variables, Mobile and Desktop as modes, and UK, US and EU in three languages with locale-specific regulation and accessibility built in. Coached the Graphics & Artwork team to author two further libraries on top of it, so those two are theirs to run.
• Used Claude Code to build Figma plugins for the Web, Email and Social teams, so the work they repeat most is a click rather than a process.
• Mapped and prototyped the Boden × Harper try-before-you-buy service end to end: fifteen customer messages across two brands, plus the cancellation, part-return and failed-payment paths. Boden's first AI-built prototype ran the whole journey across web, email and SMS before production code existed, surfacing 20+ issues that were fixed before a customer met any of them. First week live, with no marketing behind it: conversion +1%, AOV +3.7%, revenue per visit +4.7%, average selling price +7.8%.
• Designed and built the outfitting panel in the coded kit and handed it to our third-party development partner in hours, where a written specification would have taken days. Live A/B test: +3% add to cart, +1.6% conversion.
• Work weekly with our CRO team on designs going into test, and with our analytics partner on what comes back. Now extending that into a new US Experimentation workstream, where I own journey mapping, ideation and competitor analysis.
• Moved a 40-person design and creative function from Adobe XD to Figma, running demos and workshops team by team.

Senior UI Designer (2018–21) · Web Designer, Junior to Senior (2014–18) · Learning Design (2011–14)

• Led a team of eight design contractors through the John Lewis & Partners rebrand, line-managing two direct reports and working with senior management on direction for the web design team.
• Led the visual design of Virtual Sofa, John Lewis's first augmented reality feature and the first in a UK department store. A hack-day proof of concept with ARKit 2, live in four months across 200+ sofas and armchairs, and the foundation two further AR features were built on.
• Ran AR testing in customers' own homes with head-mounted cameras, and checked renders against the real products in store. Wrote the acceptance criteria our 3D file supplier worked to.