About

I didn’t start in design.

My first career was in recruitment. For several years I watched how organisations make decisions: who gets heard, who gets overlooked, and how trust is built in rooms where authority isn’t evenly distributed.

At the time it felt like business experience. Looking back, it was an early education in systems and human behaviour - the foundations of design.

In February 2018 I started my first permanent UX role at Paddy Power Betfair. I didn’t come from a traditional design background. What drew me to the field was simpler than that: the belief that products should make sense to the people using them.

Eight years later I'm operating as Lead Product Designer at JD Sports.

My work focuses on the systems that sit underneath large digital products - authentication, navigation structures, payment integrations, and localisation across multiple markets. These are rarely the most visible parts of a product, but they are often the parts that determine whether the experience feels coherent or fragmented.

Most of my time is spent before design begins.

More recently, I've been building AI into how I work - using it as a thinking tool rather than a shortcut. In practice that means using Claude to synthesise research, stress-test assumptions, and surface complexity earlier in the process. I've started bringing that into how my team works too, through shared workflows and prompt frameworks that raise the floor for everyone, not just the individual.

This exploration also led me to write an AI-assisted book examining how designers can use artificial intelligence as a thinking partner rather than a production tool - a reflection of the same philosophy I apply in my day-to-day work.

I work with teams to clarify problems, challenge assumptions, and expose complexity early. The goal is simple: better decisions before pixels appear.

The interfaces still matter. But in my experience, strong interfaces are usually the by-product of strong thinking.

I’ve worked across teams that include engineers, product managers, trading leadership, payment partners, brand specialists, and operations. Different priorities are inevitable in environments like this. Good design work often comes from helping those perspectives align around a shared understanding of the problem.

Outside of delivery, I’m interested in the development of designers - particularly those who arrived in the field through non-traditional routes. The industry often treats unconventional backgrounds as something to explain away. In practice they can be a source of strength.

In June 2025 I became a dad. That moment shifted my perspective on work. I think more now about longevity - the systems we build, the people we mentor, and the impact that lasts longer than a release cycle.

I write occasionally at richardilott.com/thoughts about design, decision-making, and the work behind the work.