Lead designer with 10+ years experience in crafting innovative brand and UX/UI solutions for global design initiatives. Enhancing user experiences and driving brand visibility across diverse sectors, including finance, telecoms and health. Expertise in developing comprehensive UI component libraries, conducting user testing, and mentoring junior designers in a team. Committed to fostering collaborative environments and delivering impactful designs that align with business objectives.…

Darren Howat

Lead designer with 10+ years experience in crafting innovative brand and UX/UI solutions for global design initiatives. Enhancing user experiences and driving brand visibility across diverse sectors, including finance, telecoms and health. Expertise in developing comprehensive UI component libraries, conducting user testing, and mentoring junior designers in a team. Committed to fostering collaborative environments and delivering impactful designs that align with business objectives.…

Available to hire

Lead designer with 10+ years experience in crafting innovative brand and
UX/UI solutions for global design initiatives. Enhancing user experiences and driving brand visibility across diverse sectors, including finance, telecoms and health. Expertise in developing comprehensive UI component libraries, conducting user testing, and mentoring junior designers in a team. Committed to fostering collaborative environments and delivering impactful designs that align with business objectives.

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Language

English
Fluent
Italian
Advanced

Work Experience

Senior UX/UI Designer at European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
September 1, 2022 - Present
Senior member of the global UX team, driving enhancements to Monarch, the principal software product used across the bank. Led the UI component library development and collaborated with the tech team on implementation on the UI server. Led end-to-end discovery and design of Green assessment and monitoring journeys reflecting the bank's net-zero commitments.
Lead UI Designer at Medivet
February 1, 2020 - August 1, 2022
Lead UI designer at the UK's largest veterinary healthcare provider. Designed an appointment booking portal and a new database software for use across 500+ practices; collaborated with content designers, product owners and developers in an agile team; sketched and prototyped user flows and wireframes; created design style guides for future client-facing web products.
Senior UI Designer at RSA Insurance
June 1, 2019 - December 1, 2019
Directed the digital transformation of RSA’s insurance products; created and implemented UI design and UX patterns as part of a component library, icon suite and digital style guide for use by developers. Sketched and prototyped user flows, iterated designs based on user testing; performed service design of IDD regulations across products.
Lead Product Designer at McDonald Butler
December 1, 2018 - May 1, 2019
Lead designer in a small creative team within a digital transformation agency, delivering UX/UI components for B2B marketing products; streamlined engaging content with multimedia approaches and mentored junior designers.
Senior UI Designer at Accenture Digital
September 1, 2018 - December 1, 2018
Sole UX/UI designer for FCA conference materials; concept generation and prototypes; created interactive literature including microsites and interactive documents within tight timelines.
Lead Designer at Nex Group (formerly ICAP Group)
December 1, 2017 - July 1, 2018
Global fintech brand identity design; worked within Thinkfarm on marketing, digital products, and print; created white papers, icon sets, and style guides; designed analytics and data visualization for Nex software.
Senior UI Designer at British Telecom
October 1, 2016 - July 1, 2017
Design of BT’s new products aligned with brand identity; agile redesign of BT.com; expanded design system, style guidelines and data visualization; led design workflow with stakeholders and development teams.
Senior UI Designer at Vodafone Group
December 1, 2014 - April 1, 2016
Redesign of Vodafone.com and Vodafone app within an agile team; created UI components for web and app; data visualization and iconography across digital products; managed design progress with global stakeholders.
Lead UI/UX Designer at Tribus Creative
December 1, 2013 - April 1, 2018
Lead UI/UX designer on agile web and app products for clients including luxury hotels; built UX/UI components, mentored the team and managed client relationships; produced marketing and booking products.
Senior UI Designer at TBWA World Health
September 1, 2012 - December 1, 2013
Integrated marketing campaigns for healthcare and pharmaceutical brands; design of digital campaigns and assets.
UI Designer at Google Creative Lab
January 1, 2012 - May 1, 2012
Concept development and component design for digital acquisition products; ran design workshops and reviews; contributed to a small cross-functional team within Google.
Lead Product Designer at European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
September 1, 2022 - December 1, 2025
Create end-to-end UX/UI assets to enhance EBRD’s principal software for infrastructure and investment projects. Led discovery and design of Green assessment and monitoring journeys reflecting net-zero commitments. Oversaw the creation of a UI component library used across the team. Collaborated with the tech team to ensure seamless implementation on the UI server. Accelerated design sprints by 1.5x by establishing a design system and streamlined cross-team workflows. Mentored junior designers on Figma best practices and qualitative research methods, significantly improving delivery speed and quality.
Lead Product Designer at Medivet
February 1, 2020 - August 1, 2022
Led design of a new booking portal accessible to 500+ practices; uptake for new bookings increased by 23% within the first month. Oversaw design of UX/UI components for a nationwide database software. Worked in a fast-paced production environment with sprint-based workflows.
Senior UI Designer at Royal & Sun Alliance (RSA) Insurance
June 1, 2019 - December 1, 2019
Oversaw complete digital transformation of RSA’s insurance products. Redesign of navigation architecture reducing task times; measurable increases in conversion and NPS in account areas. Implemented a new brand identity across UI components; created a suite of patterns, icon family, and digital style guide. Engaged in service design related to IDD regulations.
Lead Brand and Data Designer at Nex Group (formerly ICAP Group)
December 1, 2017 - July 1, 2018
Global fintech brand identity design, working as part of a small team within the Thinkfarm agency. Designed marketing and brand components for video, digital products and print. Created white papers for Nex financial services and external agencies. Designed icon set and style guide for digital and print use. Created analytics, statistics and data sets for use within Nex financial software.
Senior UI Designer at British Telecom (BT)
October 1, 2016 - July 1, 2017
Design of BT’s new consumer products to align with the rollout of a new brand identity. Created a modular design system and used an enterprise CMS to host the storefront. Managed design workflow with stakeholders, marketing and development teams. Enabled A/B testing and optimization program through Adobe Target.
Brand and Visual Designer at Brand Advocate
January 1, 2012 - May 1, 2012
Senior designer developing brand and marketing assets for clients including Akzo Nobel, Star Alliance and The Times; collaborated within a tight team on branding and multimedia projects.

Education

MA Graphic Design at Royal College of Art, London
January 11, 2030 - February 17, 2026
BA (Hons) Graphic Design at Central Saint Martins, London
January 11, 2030 - February 17, 2026

Qualifications

Add your qualifications or awards here.

Industry Experience

Software & Internet, Financial Services, Healthcare, Professional Services, Media & Entertainment, Telecommunications
    uniE621 NEX GROUP BRAND IDENTITY
    NEX is a global financial markets operator and provider of post trade risk mitigation and information services. Working for the award winning branding agency Thinkfarm Ltd, I was fortunate enough to work on the extensive branding project from it’s initial phase through to final detailed implementation across a variety of media. ​ NEX brand has won three Transform Awards: GOLD – Best brand architecture solution SILVER – Best financial services visual identity BRONZE – Best brand implementation project https://www.twine.net/signin/nex…
    uniE621 NEX Group Brand Identity
    https://www.twine.net/signin/nex NEX is a global financial markets operator and provider of post trade risk mitigation and information services. Working for the award winning branding agency Thinkfarm Ltd, I was fortunate enough to work on the extensive branding project from it's initial phase through to final detailed implementation across a variety of media. ​ NEX brand has won three Transform Awards: GOLD – Best brand architecture solution SILVER – Best financial services visual identity BRONZE – Best brand implementation project…
    paper Laax Ski Resort Marketing

    https://www.twine.net/signin/laax

    As the lead designer for all of Laax resort’s digital and brand B2C and B2B marketing resources I was tasked with creating materials for a range of hotel brands, all which come under the Laax mother brand.

    This included projects to create a UX and UI system for ‘the perfect day’ app, which promoted Laax’s large range of summer activities programs on offer.

    Working directly with stakeholders I conducted ideation workshops and from there developed rapid iterations of user flows, low and hi level user journeys and prototypes/interactions, leading to an impactful and easy to use app that helped summer sales rise quickly in the first year.

    In another project for Peaks Place Hotel I designed a marketing and investment campaign to help promote their apartments for sale.