Putting users at the heart of your business

I create user-centred solutions that drive engagement and growth through building design systems, UX functions, and scaled teams to solve user problems and evolving business needs.

Learn more

The UX and UI projects

  • Screenshot of a laboratory analysis web portal showing sections for sequence data upload, results exploration, and monitoring, with links to pathogen analysis for Mycobacterium, SARS-CoV-2, and Influenza A, along with instructions for credits and how the EIT Pathogen works, and a batch info section for a Mycobacterium analysis.

    GPAS Platform

    Hired to establish the UX function and transform GPAS into the leading genomics platform for detecting and monitoring infectious diseases. I built the team, processes, and design system while driving user growth and adoption across global health agencies.

    View GPAS
  • A comprehensive style guide page displaying icons, buttons, drug icons, pins, avatar placeholders, input fields, and icon buttons with various styles and sizes.

    Creating Design Systems

    This case study explores the creation of a central design system for GPAS, supporting products that detect and monitor infectious diseases. It demonstrates how I structured a flexible, scalable, and consistent UX framework that enables rapid prototyping, iterative development, and smooth collaboration across teams.

    View Design Systems
  • Screenshots of drone safety and zone management maps. The first map shows regulated drone flight areas around London, with color-coded zones indicating high-risk, controlled, and restricted areas. The second map displays zones and the process for creating new or child zones within a city, with various zones highlighted in color.

    Altitude Angel Materials in Action

    Materials guides serve as a single source of truth for how UI elements look, behave, and interact. By documenting components clearly and consistently, they help designers and developers work more efficiently, maintain design coherence, and deliver seamless, accessible user experiences across products.

    View the System
  • Two screenshots of a logistics management software dashboard by Altitude Angel. The top screenshot shows a map with zones marked in pink and green, options for approvals, flights, and awareness, and a menu on the left side. The bottom screenshot displays a list of approval requests with details like names, email addresses, statuses, and timestamps.

    Altitude Angel Building an Ecosystem

    Before introducing the materials guides, work centred on refining Altitude Angel’s existing product suite. The aim was to make the tools intuitive and efficient while supporting complex workflows for pilots, regulators, and airspace managers. Consistent design patterns laid the groundwork for future scalability.

    View the Ecosystem
  • Website homepage of Cornerstone Financial Planning featuring a black and white photo of ancient stone arches overlooking the ocean, with navigation links at the top for About Us, Investments, Retirement Planning, Inheritance Tax, and Protection, and sections describing services like seamless planning and investment advice.

    Cornerstone Financial Planning

    Cornerstone is a simple, purposeful microsite designed to help users quickly find services and contact information. With clear structure, concise copy, and straightforward navigation, it ensures that key details are always easy to locate, delivering a clean and welcoming user experience.

    Explore Cornerstone
  • Digital air traffic control interface showing aircrafts with labels and flight data in a dark mode on a screen, blue border.

    Arrow Air Traffic Control

    Drone Assist is a leading flight-planning app that helps operators identify no-fly zones, avoid ground hazards, and ensure compliance. It streamlines the planning process with smart mapping and digital approvals, improving safety and efficiency for professional and recreational pilots alike.

    View Arrow ATC System
  • Three smartphone screens displaying weather and flight planning apps, with a person holding a phone showing a flight path map outside on a sunny day with a green lawn and trees.

    Drone Assist iOS/Android App

    Drone Assist, a leading drone flight planning app, enables drone operators to identify no-fly areas and avoid potential ground hazards, ensuring safety and compliance. It also facilitates seamless digital approvals integrated into a suite of six products covering both B2C and B2B customers.

    Check out the App
  • E-commerce webpage for Whittard featuring gift options like tea, coffee, chocolate, and hampers, with categories for different gift occasions.

    Whittard of Chelsea

    Exceptional digital design was used to reposition Whittard’s online presence, creating an omnichannel experience that lifted quality and consistency across touchpoints. By understanding customer behaviour and priorities, the design enhanced engagement, strengthened brand perception.

    Check out Whittard

My services

  • Whiteboard with flowchart and notes about data processing and reporting, with blue and red markers, and an eraser on top.

    UX Strategy

    This document outlines the guiding vision for the UX strategy that shapes both my work and the products I design. It serves as a blueprint to inspire and ground every stage of the process, from building innovative platforms to refining subtle details that enhance usability. At its core is a commitment to crafting experiences where the customer remains central to every decision, every design, and every interaction. I believe in making every user experience Useful, Useful and Delightful.

    Read about UX Strategy
  • Group of seven people around a table working on a project with sticky notes, papers, laptops, and water bottles in an office space.

    Service Mapping

    These workshops focus on mapping out the roadmap, products, and services required for a team to deliver effectively. I examine the existing product suite alongside opportunities for future growth, identifying where new services can strengthen the overall offering. Because the work spans multiple user groups, early discussions often reveal differing perspectives among stakeholders. The aim is to create a shared understanding by defining the What, Why, and How that will guide progress and ensure alignment across the business.

    Learn about Service Mapping
  • People working together on a project, organizing yellow sticky notes on a blue table, with pens, notebooks, and a water bottle nearby.

    Validation Testing

    My validation process combines well-structured research questions, prototype testing, and close collaboration with domain experts. The goal is to uncover pain points, validate assumptions, and highlight opportunities for refinement that meet both user needs and business objectives. Beyond immediate insights, the work often reveals patterns that inform future product direction, strengthen reporting logic, and improve the overall quality of design decision-making. These user insights are used to iterate and develop products.

    Read the Case study

  • Anyone would be lucky to have Neil on their team.

    I had the pleasure of working with Neil at EIT, where he led the UX design for a complex portal used to analyse microbial genome sequences. His work consistently stood out for being intuitive, user-friendly, and visually polished — no small feat given the scientific complexity involved.

    Neil has a real talent for making information not only accessible but genuinely easy to engage with, whether in his designs or even in something as simple as a team PowerPoint. He’s also one of the most approachable and collaborative colleagues I’ve worked with — always open to feedback, eager to improve, and genuinely kind.

    Sofia Ferreria - Ellision Institute of Technology.
    Senior Product Manager

  • Neil is a fantastic UI and UX designer

    Neil is a fantastic UI and UX designer who I had the pleasure of working with at Altitude Angel. We collaborated on projects ranging from product beta testing to branding, and his expertise and motivation to deliver the most user-friendly products were always evident. His experience in design and branding was invaluable and called upon on many an occasion. A very valued member of the team who always brightened the office.

    Cosima Wagner - Altitude Angel
    Marketing Manager

  • He’s naturally a very gifted UX/UI designer

    I worked very closely with Neil whilst at Altitude Angel, with him leading on all the design work across multiple products.

    He’s naturally a very gifted UX/UI designer, and really easy to work with. He was happy to be involved in the full end to end process, from ideation through to testing. He has a keen eye for detail and worked well with the engineers to find solutions, not problems.

    Shane Moore
    Altitude Angel, Product Manager

  • Neil has a very can do attitude and is a positive person

    I worked with Neil when he was our in-house graphic designer and I have since recommended his free lance work to other organisations that I have known and worked for. Neil has a very can do attitude and is a positive person which is refreshing and makes him a pleasure to work with. He consistently delivers great work in time and on budget and his designs are slick and on the nail. Can't recommend Neil enough.

    Jo Ward-Dugmore - Head of Culture and Talent, Greycoat Global

A little about me

I am an accomplished UX/UI designer with extensive experience across technology, science, marketing, education, defence, and aerospace. I create user-centred solutions that drive engagement and growth through building design systems, UX functions, and scaled teams to solve user problems and evolving business needs. I'm known for bringing positive energy and delivering agile, end-to-end solutions, specialising in shaping and growing UX capabilities in start-ups and scale-ups and large companies.

Neil-Parkes-UX-UI-Designer

Contact me

If you’d like to collaborate on a project or think I might be a good fit for your team, whether on a contract or full-time basis, I’d love to hear from you. Let’s connect.