Paul Wilshaw

Experience

Founder and Creator, Design Systems for Humans (Present)

An AI design system tool that gives UX, engineering and product one collaborative source of truth, so handover stops costing weeks and piling up design and tech debt.

• Generates full documentation automatically and bakes accessibility into every component.
• A Figma plugin builds the design system for you.
• Turns ten years of leading design systems at scale into a product.

Founder, Designed for Humans (Present)

A strategic design and product consultancy that works as your entire creative department, without the headcount. It brings product strategy, UX, design systems, branding, AI and accessibility together as one service.

• Works with scale-ups, SMEs and enterprises mid-transformation.
• 5-star reviewed on Clutch; top-rated in Manchester for Product Design, UX and Branding.

Advisory Board Member, Blake Mill (Present)

Bringing product, digital and innovation thinking to a brand built on craftsmanship (and bold shirts).

• Introduced digital twins to cut the time from product concept to sales pipeline.
• Helped reshape sales and marketing strategy and set product direction as the brand scales.

Co-Founder, GhostPosts.ai (Jul 2023 – Dec 2025)

An AI start-up whose prompt refinement platform helped newcomers to AI write brilliant social posts, with inclusive, accessible writing habits built into the prompts.

• Gave people a safe space to learn AI tools and build confidence, without needing to be a prompt engineer.

Head of UX Design, ANS Group (formerly UKFast) (Jul 2021 – May 2023)

Brought in to unify two brands, two tech stacks and 100+ products after the UKFast and ANS merger.

• Built a design system adopted across the business: 1,000+ components, 900+ custom icons and 300+ illustrations.
• Made user research a core practice, so teams validated before they built.
• Created a transparency roadmap framework that gave every department line of sight.
• Introduced a pricing strategy that stopped the race to the bottom.
• Replaced out-of-date sales decks with always-live online presentations.

Head of UX and UI, Blue Prism (Jan 2019 – May 2021)

Joined a listed intelligent automation company that had grown through acquisition, leaving fragmented journeys, several tech stacks and no UX function.

• Built the UX department from zero to 20+ designers, researchers and UI developers.
• Created an award-winning, accessible design system that engineering adopted.
• Moved legacy software towards an accessible, cloud-first platform with independent releases.
• Simplified power-user interfaces, cutting onboarding time, complaints and reliance on consultants.

Head of Creative Technology and Innovation, Barclays UK (Feb 2017 – Jan 2019)

Led the function that let the bank test ideas with customers within weeks, before committing to build.

• Delivered working prototypes in two-week sprints, so investment decisions rested on evidence.
• Prototyped cheque scanning; apprentices pitched the Chancellor to change the law on storing cheques.
• Shaped the Digital Wings, Eagle UX and Eagle X programmes.
• Helped Pingit and Barclays Mobile Banking reach an NPS of 80+.

Head of Technology and Design, Order with Fork (May 2016 – Nov 2016)

Joined a funded food-tech start-up that had an idea but no product, brand or architecture.

• Shipped a working app to the App Store in 33 days, and Google Play within 60.
• Created the product architecture, journeys and brand, and led the crowdfunding campaigns.

Lead Creative Consultant, Barclays (Jan 2012 – Jun 2016)

Led 12+ designers and developers internationally on Barclays Mobile Banking, Pingit and Barclaycard across iOS, Android and Windows Phone. All 5-star rated.

• The apps won 68+ awards across Mobile Banking, Pingit and Barclaycard.
• Paired seniors with apprentices on live work; several went on to Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.

Senior Creative Producer, 2ergo group plc (Aug 2011 – Jan 2012)

Designed user journeys, interfaces and HTML5 sites for Pizza Express, Ask, RAC, Phones 4U and HSS.

What people say

• “Paul has been one of the best things to happen to my design career. I knew meeting him for the first time I wanted to work and learn from him… He helps build you up, really strives for collaboration and safe spaces whilst being forward thinking with design principles, systems and processes - he's truly ahead of the game. I couldn't have asked for a better mentor throughout my time at Blue Prism and I really do hope we get to work together again.” Stacey Ray, Lead UX Designer
• “Paul is the best designer and manager I have had the privilege of working with, he is constantly keeping up with new and modern design trends and is always striving to create new and interesting UX and UI with whatever project he is working on. Paul is always pushing anyone he works with to strive to produce the best work possible and has always managed to get the best out of people as well as creating fantastic work himself. It has always been a privilege to work with Paul and I would love to and hope to work with him again in the future.” Si Fisher, Head of Mobile

Speaking and community

• Speaker: Finovate, Product Tank and FinTECH Talents.
• Faster Horses podcast: Host of the podcast, with 10,000+ downloads.
• AI trainer and team coach: Hackathon wins at Microsoft, Google and Meta.
• School governor since 2017: At Grosvenor Road Primary School, championing disadvantaged pupils and SEND, with careers days for children with autism and disabilities and AI sessions for Year 6.