# Paul Wilshaw

> Product and design leader in design systems, UX, accessibility and AI. Founder, Designed for Humans.

Founder of Designed for Humans, a strategic design and product consultancy covering product strategy, UX, design systems, branding, AI and accessibility. Previously led design and product teams at Barclays, Blue Prism and UKFast/ANS. Winner of 80+ industry awards, speaker at Finovate, Product Tank and FinTECH Talents, and host of the Faster Horses podcast.

This site is an interactive, pixel-art portfolio: visitors explore a village called Willowmere to discover Paul's work. Every page is also reachable directly, as plain HTML (links below). Sitemap: https://paulwilshaw.com/sitemap.xml

The full text of every page, in one file: https://paulwilshaw.com/llms-full.txt

## Pages
- [Home (the Willowmere game)](https://paulwilshaw.com/): Paul Wilshaw, founder of Designed for Humans: product strategy, UX, design systems, accessibility and AI. Explore the portfolio as a pixel-art adventure, plus free Figma resources.
- [About Paul Wilshaw](https://paulwilshaw.com/about): About Paul Wilshaw: Product and design leader in design systems, UX, accessibility and AI. Founder of Designed for Humans, 80+ industry awards, host of the Faster Horses podcast.
- [Portfolio: complex products, made human](https://paulwilshaw.com/portfolio): Case studies from Paul Wilshaw: a shared design language across two brands at UKFast/ANS, building a UX function at Blue Prism, and an innovation lab at Barclays.
- [One shared design language · UKFast / ANS case study](https://paulwilshaw.com/work/ans): Two brands. More than 100 products. No shared design language. After UKFast and ANS merged, teams were working across different technology stacks and…
- [Building a UX function · Blue Prism case study](https://paulwilshaw.com/work/blue-prism): From no UX department to a team of more than 20. Growth through acquisition had left fragmented journeys, different technology stacks and a product that was…
- [Making room for experiments · Barclays case study](https://paulwilshaw.com/work/barclays): Test the idea before committing to the build. Long release cycles meant opportunities could move on before features reached customers. The business needed a…
- [CV](https://paulwilshaw.com/cv): Paul Wilshaw's CV: 10 roles across Designed for Humans, UKFast/ANS, Blue Prism and Barclays, with speaking, community work and skills.
- [Apps and Figma plugins](https://paulwilshaw.com/apps): Apps and Figma plugins by Paul Wilshaw for designers, engineers and AI: Design Systems for Humans, Design Systems for Humans for Figma, Icon Foundry — Designed for Humans.
- [Free Figma resources](https://paulwilshaw.com/resources): Free Figma and FigJam templates by Paul Wilshaw: icon sets, usability surveys, release phases and workshops.
- [AI, with a human in charge](https://paulwilshaw.com/ai): How Paul Wilshaw works with AI: making this game with Figma Weave and Claude Code, a Figma widget for Azure DevOps, a UAT skill, a design-system MCP server and more.
- [Making Willowmere · AI projects](https://paulwilshaw.com/ai/willowmere): A pixel-art portfolio game in two and a half weeks, with Figma Weave for the art and Claude Code for the build.
- [UX Tickets · AI projects](https://paulwilshaw.com/ai/ux-tickets): Azure DevOps tasks on the Figma canvas: tick a task and the real ticket closes, without leaving Figma.
- [UAT · AI projects](https://paulwilshaw.com/ai/uat): Checks a live page against its Figma design at every breakpoint, then a person reviews the report.
- [Design Systems for Humans · AI projects](https://paulwilshaw.com/ai/dsfh): A design system with its own MCP server, so AI coding tools build with the real tokens and components.
- [Icon and Type Foundry · AI projects](https://paulwilshaw.com/ai/foundries): Icon fonts and installable typefaces, built from your Figma drawings.
- [Skills · AI projects](https://paulwilshaw.com/ai/skills): Ways of working written down once, so Claude follows the same standards every time.
- [Contact Paul Wilshaw](https://paulwilshaw.com/contact): Get in touch with Paul Wilshaw about product strategy, UX, design systems, accessibility or AI, or find him on LinkedIn.
- [Design-system challenge](https://paulwilshaw.com/quest): Three teams built three different buttons. Build a shared component that people can read, understand and comfortably tap: a small design-system challenge from Paul Wilshaw.
- [Privacy and cookies](https://paulwilshaw.com/privacy): What paulwilshaw.com stores on your device or sends elsewhere, and why: cookieless analytics by default, and a cookie only if you say yes.
- [What are semantic colours?](https://paulwilshaw.com/research-articles/what-are-semantic-colours): What semantic colours are, why each should do one job in your design system, and how to test them in real screens.
- [Making a case for digital accessibility](https://paulwilshaw.com/research-articles/5-simple-steps-to-solve-digital-accessibility): Why accessibility makes sense for people and for business, five quick fixes anyone can make, and over 50 colour contrast tools.
- [Making hackathons more inclusive](https://paulwilshaw.com/research-articles/making-hackathons-more-inclusive): A plan for a hackathon that welcomes people who are usually left out: framing the problem, removing barriers and rewarding learning over winning.
- [Idea Graveyard](https://paulwilshaw.com/graveyard): Habits worth retiring in product design, and what takes their place: lessons from Paul Wilshaw's Idea Graveyard.

## Case studies
### [One shared design language](https://paulwilshaw.com/work/ans) · UKFast / ANS, 2021–2023 · Head of UX Design
- Challenge: After UKFast and ANS merged, teams were working across different technology stacks and rebuilding similar interfaces from scratch.
- What Paul did: I built a collaborative design system with 1,000+ components, 900+ custom icons and 300+ illustrations. I introduced user research and a shared roadmap framework so product, engineering, sales and marketing could see what was being built, why and when.
- What changed: The system gained adoption across the business. Teams stopped duplicating interface work, product consistency improved, and research helped reduce the risk of building the wrong thing.

### [Building a UX function](https://paulwilshaw.com/work/blue-prism) · Blue Prism, 2019–2021 · Head of UX and UI
- Challenge: Growth through acquisition had left fragmented journeys, different technology stacks and a product that was difficult for new customers to learn.
- What Paul did: I built a team of product designers, researchers and UI developers, and created an accessible design system. We brought product and engineering together to simplify journeys and support the transition towards a cloud-based platform.
- What changed: The design system shipped and was adopted by engineering. Simpler journeys reduced onboarding time, complaints and reliance on specialist consultants, while shared processes helped teams make decisions earlier.

### [Making room for experiments](https://paulwilshaw.com/work/barclays) · Barclays, 2017–2019 · Head of Creative Technology and Innovation
- Challenge: Long release cycles meant opportunities could move on before features reached customers. The business needed a way to test feasibility and customer needs earlier.
- What Paul did: My team built working prototypes in two-week sprints. We explored emerging technology and tested ideas with customers, including experiments in mobile cheque scanning. Workshops and demonstrations brought senior stakeholders into the process.
- What changed: Leadership could make investment decisions using evidence. Experiments that did not reach production still provided learning and removed risk before a much larger investment.

## AI projects
### [Making Willowmere](https://paulwilshaw.com/ai/willowmere) · This site
A pixel-art portfolio game in two and a half weeks, with Figma Weave for the art and Claude Code for the build.
Willowmere was built between 19 September and 5 October 2026: 272 commits, 228 of them written with Claude Code. Paul wrote the story, designed the world and made every call on how it looks and reads. The Manchester buildings started as photos and sketches, turned into pixel art by a Figma Weave flow and a Claude skill that cleans each image up (at most 16 colours, a one-pixel outline, signs redrawn in a pixel font) and sizes it against Paul's character.

### [UX Tickets](https://paulwilshaw.com/ai/ux-tickets) · Figma widget
Azure DevOps tasks on the Figma canvas: tick a task and the real ticket closes, without leaving Figma.
UX Tickets is a Figma and FigJam widget that puts a User Story's tasks next to the design. Ticking a task closes the real Azure DevOps task with a comment saying who did it; the story moves across the board from chips on the widget; comments, renames and new tasks happen without opening Azure DevOps. Each designer's access token stays on their own machine.

### [UAT](https://paulwilshaw.com/ai/uat) · Claude skill
Checks a live page against its Figma design at every breakpoint, then a person reviews the report.
The UAT skill reads a Figma frame's real values, tests the build in Chrome at 393, 768 and 1440 px (full-page screenshots, measured layout and 15 interactive states), judges each item within ±4 px with exact copy and colour, and grades issues from Breaking to Low. A reviewer accepts the report before it goes into the ticket. It works to WCAG 2.1 AA.

### [Design Systems for Humans](https://paulwilshaw.com/ai/dsfh) · Web app · MCP
A design system with its own MCP server, so AI coding tools build with the real tokens and components.
Design Systems for Humans has an MCP server, so AI coding tools can ask for its design tokens, component docs, accessibility guidelines and approved compositions, check code for compliance, validate tokens, generate CSS variables and sync with Figma.

### [Icon and Type Foundry](https://paulwilshaw.com/ai/foundries) · Figma plugins
Icon fonts and installable typefaces, built from your Figma drawings.
Icon Foundry exports icons from Figma and builds the icon font (WOFF2, WOFF and TTF, the CSS, a code-point list and a searchable preview page). Type Foundry turns letters drawn in Figma into an installable typeface, entirely offline.

### [Skills](https://paulwilshaw.com/ai/skills) · Claude skills
Ways of working written down once, so Claude follows the same standards every time.
Besides the Weave and UAT skills, Paul has written Claude skills for UX User Stories, Azure DevOps tickets and a seven-step design system workflow for building accessible UI against his design system's MCP server.

## 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.

## 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.

## Apps and Figma plugins
- [Design Systems for Humans](https://systems.designedforhumans.tech): An AI design system tool: one source of truth for designers, engineers and product, with accessibility built in, generated documentation and an MCP server for AI coding tools.
- [Design Systems for Humans for Figma](https://www.figma.com/community/app/1599118824542268787/design-systems-for-humans): The Figma app that builds your design system's variables and components for you.
- [Icon Foundry — Designed for Humans](https://www.figma.com/community/plugin/1667641341513843373/icon-foundry-designed-for-humans): A Figma plugin for creating consistent icon sets.

## Free Figma resources
- [The Value Proposition Canvas](https://www.figma.com/community/file/1561006873165651714/the-value-proposition-canvas-designed-for-humans): Map customer jobs, pains and gains against what your product offers.
- [Transparency and feedback roadmap](https://www.figma.com/community/file/1162332250280117911/transparency-and-feedback-roadmap): A public-facing roadmap that shows customers what's coming and what you heard.
- [Product lifecycle journey mapping](https://www.figma.com/community/file/1302216922511531847/product-lifecycle-journey-mapping): Map every stage of a product's life, from discovery to retirement.
- [A Better Opportunity Canvas](https://www.figma.com/community/file/1302013079704531478/a-better-opportunity-canvas): Frame the problem, the people and the outcome before you design.
- [Ultimate technology icon set](https://www.figma.com/community/file/1174649834315399886/ultimate-technology-icon-set-guidelines-and-how-to-guide): A technology icon set with usage guidelines and a how-to guide.
- [System Usability Score template](https://www.figma.com/community/file/1151166793210370386/system-usability-score-template): Run and score SUS surveys (with UKFast/ANS).
- [Alpha, Beta, Early Access and General Access releases](https://www.figma.com/community/file/1149640096087057670/alpha-beta-early-access-and-general-access-releases-service-design-phases): Service design phases for staged releases (with UKFast/ANS).
- [Problem exploration workshop](https://www.figma.com/community/file/1136583025072466618/problem-exploration-workshop): A workshop for exploring a problem before jumping to solutions (with UKFast/ANS).

## Profiles
- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulwilshaw)
- [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/thepaulwilshaw/)
- [Medium](https://medium.com/@paulwilshaw)
- [Figma Community](https://www.figma.com/@designed4humans)
- [Designed for Humans](https://designedforhumans.tech)

## Expertise
- Design systems
- User experience (UX)
- Accessibility
- Artificial intelligence (AI)
- Product strategy
- Service design
- Figma
- Design leadership