Hey, I’m Simon. A dad, a Geordie, and a designer who helps B2B SaaS companies turn confusing products into experiences people actually enjoy using.

I’ve worked on 30+ products, collaborating closely with founders, product managers, and engineers to fix the UX problems that cost customers and revenue.

I don’t do long research reports or get hung up on processes for the sake of it.

My approach is flexible and pragmatic: we figure out what the problem is, wireframe solutions, iterate to high-fidelity prototypes, and launch fast.Always keeping the user front and centre.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

- 25% uplift in paid conversions + 2X ACV (SendX)- 30% revenue increase (SiteGuru)
- Upsold existing clients + converted new customers (RealTyme)
- Faster launch to win early customers (Ring4)

I love the variety of projects I get to work on: from payroll to email marketing software. And I love seeing founders and teams get excited about their product again.

It’s rewarding to know that the work I do not only improves the product but rejuvenates the entire team.

When I’m not designing, you’ll find me in Newcastle with my family, following football (I’m a recovering Manchester United fan), testing new tech, or spotting great, and sometimes terrible, UX in the wild.

If you want to fix your UX and create a product that actually converts and retains customers, DM for a chat.

Simon McCade

I’ve built a little something to help founders see exactly how much they could make from UX:

I've spoken to over 300 founders in the last 5+ years. They know UX makes money… but struggle to pin down how much.

So I built a simple ROI Calculator [it's in the comments]

It pulls from real project data I’ve gathered over the years, and lets you plug in the numbers that actually matter:

▪️Trial to paid conversions
▪️Retention + churn reduction
▪️Account upgrades + expansions
▪️Even things like support load and dev time saved

Pop in a few figures and it’ll show you the impact UX can actually have, without needing a maths degree or a 40-tab spreadsheet. 

(Trust me, I’ve tried both. Only one of them ends with me still having hair.)

Why did I build it?

Because if I want founders to understand the value product designers bring to the table, I should show it in their language: revenue, retention, runway.

Give it a whirl.

I help B2B SaaS companies convert & retain more customers through better product design.

UX design for early-stage vs for growth stage products.
Why the work feels so different:

There are two very different types of UX project. 
Both can be brilliant in their own way.

When I’m brought into an established SaaS product that already has paying customers and clear product market fit, the work feels grounded. 

There’s real data, real feedback and usually a clear sense of where the value is. 

You can add a huge amount here because every improvement ripples out to users who already rely on it. It’s steady and it’s satisfying.

Working on an MVP is a different energy entirely. 

You’re shaping something from thin air and you’re working closely with a founder who has a vision but no market proof yet. 

When they’re properly backed and have the budget to do it well, these projects can be exciting. 

You get to lay the foundations and steer the whole experience from day one.
Seeing a founder light up when their idea finally takes shape is always a lovely moment.

But I’ll be honest, MVPs can be hard work. 
Lots of unknowns. 
Scope that changes weekly. 

And without solid funding, the budget can become a bit of a battle. 

Starting from ground zero does mean fewer constraints between design and dev though, which can be a real breath of fresh air.

Both types of project stretch different muscles. Both can be rewarding. The important thing is knowing which one you’re walking into and making sure the setup is right from the start.

__

Hey, I'm Simon!
I'll help you fix your UX, so trial users convert and customers stick.
Follow me, Simon McCade, for regular design tips
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Canva’s done an incredible job democratising design, but this dashboard is crying out for a spring clean. Cut the clutter, bring back the personality, and give users more control.

It’s busy, repetitive, and oddly impersonal for a brand that prides itself on creativity and clarity. 

Here’s where it could do with a serious tidy-up. 👇 

𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱.
If Canva wants teams to collaborate, why hide the button in grey? Make it loud and proud.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗻’𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗸.
For a tool that’s all about speed and flow, one button for everything is a pain. Split it out so users can jump straight into the right type of design.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰.
What will you design today? is fine, but where’s the warmth? A simple greeting with a name would make it feel like Canva actually knows who I am.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲’𝘀 𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘀.
Doc? Sheet? What do they actually do? A few hover tooltips would fix that in minutes.

𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗱 𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗼𝘂𝘁.
Why can’t I reorder the top design types? It’s 2025 people work differently, let them customise it.

𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘃𝘀. 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀.
I shouldn’t have to squint to work out what’s mine and what’s shared. It’s confusing and slows people down.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗯𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗻’𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀.
A static question mark buried in the corner isn’t helping anyone. Make it contextual, make it useful, or remove it entirely.

Canva’s a great product, no question. It’s slick, it’s powerful, and it’s made design accessible to millions. 
But let’s be honest: the dashboard feels like it’s been designed by committee.

It’s not about changing what Canva is, it’s about helping it live up to its own promise of being beautifully simple.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments: 👇 
__

Hey, I'm Simon!
I'll help you fix your UX, so trial users convert and customers stick.
Follow me, Simon McCade, for regular design tips
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Most SaaS founders assume self-serve onboarding is the dream. 
But sometimes the fastest way to ship is to ditch the dream:

Concierge onboarding first. Self-serve later.

With concierge onboarding, they can:
▪️Personally help early adopters get set up
▪️Hear friction points live, instead of guessing
▪️Build real relationships with their first user
▪️Ship something functional without burning the team out

Why?
Because when you’re improving a product against the clock, scope is your enemy.
But learning isn’t. 

Self-serve will come, when we’ve got the insights to design it properly.

Sometimes the smartest UX move is the most human one:

__

Hey, I'm Simon!
I'll help you fix your UX, so trial users convert and customers stick.
Follow me, Simon McCade, for regular design tips
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Everyone thinks good design comes AFTER growth. But, in my experience, good design CREATES growth. This client is the perfect example of that:

A few years back, RealTyme got in touch. 

They’d built a secure communication platform used by some of the most security-conscious organisations in the world. Governments, global enterprises, defence teams. 

But as the platform grew, so did the challenge of keeping everything clear, consistent, and easy to use. 

It’s something I see quite often, a great product that’s evolved quickly, and now needs to bring the design up to the same level as the tech.

So we took it one step at a time. Over three and a half years, I worked closely with their team to:

🔸Redesign the product experience end-to-end
🔸Establish a new visual language so everything felt consistent
🔸Build a design system to help their engineers move faster and more confidently
🔸Gradually shift the product from being sales-led to product-led

None of it happened overnight. But bit by bit, the experience started to feel purposeful, cleaner, and more connected.

The result was a product that not only looked better, but worked better. 

Users could get started faster, support requests dropped, and RealTyme saw a real commercial impact. Happier customers, stronger retention, and more conversions.

As their CEO, Onur, said afterwards:
'We not only gained competitive advantage but also increased customer satisfaction which started to pay off commercially by upselling through existing clients and converting new ones.'
__

Hey, I'm Simon!

I'll help you fix your UX, so trial users convert and customers stick.
Follow me, Simon McCade, for regular design tips
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I’ve never seen a discount fix a value problem in SaaS. 
Yet every November we give it another go... 🙄 

Every year around this time I see the same thing happen across SaaS. 

Big Black Friday discounts like this one from Adobe start flying about and for a moment it all feels a bit frantic. 

I get why teams do it. It brings people in the door quickly and it gives the numbers a short term lift. The trouble is what happens next.

When someone signs up because of a heavy discount, their expectations rarely match what the product is actually worth. Retention becomes harder. The relationship starts off on the wrong foot. 

One SaaS company that seems to understand this better than most is Notion. 

They never run Black Friday sales. They hold the line on their pricing because they know the value they deliver and they stick to it. 

For SaaS founders this is worth thinking about. When you start cutting money off the price, even with the best intentions, you might be training customers to wait for the next offer rather than building a stable long term relationship. 

Holding your ground on price can feel uncomfortable in the moment but it often pays off in the quality of the users you attract and keep.

__

Hey, I'm Simon!
I'll help you fix your UX, so trial users convert and customers stick.
Follow me, Simon McCade, for regular design tips
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Founders often come to me feeling stuck. They’ve reached the  ‘Something feels off but we can’t put our finger on it’ stage. Design has become a bottleneck. Here’s why:

The front-end engineers are doing their best to make it look good and make it work, but design isn’t really in their wheelhouse. 

Things slow down. Progress stalls.

If you’re running a SaaS, but growth is slowing, design isn’t just about polish. It’s a growth lever.

And by the time I get involved, it’s usually reached the ‘stuck’ stage.

Here’s what I’ve learned after 12 years of helping teams through this:

📌 Early design decisions compound. 
What starts as a quick fix can turn into design debt that’s hard to unravel later.

📌 Founders put off design for too long. 
It feels non-essential at first, but once you’ve got users, design is growth. 

It’s what reduces friction, shortens time-to-value and helps turn trial users into paying customers.

📌 Calm comes from clarity. 

Once we map out the product experience, founders go from feeling “stuck” to feeling in control again.

Make your product easier to use, quicker to learn, and it’ll start doing more of the heavy lifting for you.
__

Curious if you’ve felt that same “bottleneck” moment?
What helped you move past it?

Hey, I'm Simon!
I'll help you fix your UX, so trial users convert and customers stick.
Follow me, Simon McCade, for regular design tips
📌 Repost if you found this useful
📌 DM me for a chat

UX 80/20

• Develop product vision, strategy, and roadmap, aligned with the organization's goals and user needs, industry trends, and market dynamics to inform strategic decisions
• Create strategies that prioritize user experience, ensuring product designs are intuitive, engaging, and resonate with the target audience.
• Foster collaboration between design, and development teams, promoting a cohesive approach to bring the digital vision to life.
• Defining key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of the product, conducting expert reviews, heuristic evaluations, and data to refine strategies and improve digital experiences.
• Encourage a culture of innovation within the teams, exploring new ideas and approaches to continually elevate the digital product and UX design landscape.

Digital Strategist, UX Design

• Management consultant on Digital Product Design, and Development for optimal Customer Experience
• Startup advisor on technology, digital initiatives, MVP development

Product Design Consultant

Sendoso

Achievements:
• Redesigned Salesforce plugin using Salesforce Design System (aka Lightning Design System)
• Simplified UXD for product integration with Salesforce, Oracle, Outreach, Hubspot, SurveyMonkey, Marketo
• Participated in moderated usability sessions with the User Research team (UxR), data analysis, customer journey mapping and incorporating user feedback into the designs for a greater customer engagement
• Designed and built prototypes for bulk CSV upload feature with edge cases, marketplace concept
• Collaborating with product, design, marketing, and engineering teams in bringing automation to campaigns, personalization with product integrations during onboarding for quicker account setup and retention

Responsibilities:
• Improve product retention by easing out third-party app integrations
• Introduce process automation wherever possible to save time and costs
• Mentoring other designers on world-class user experience best practices
• Monitoring product metrics as an indication of usability and success

Company background:
Sendoso is a gift-sending SaaS platform for companies to improve customer experience and build loyalty with brands (customer retention) through corporate gifting strategies. Being one of the "Top Five Products of 2022" for consecutive years on G2, Sendoso successfully raised $100 million in series C funding in Sept. 2021.

Senior Product Designer

Upwork

Management consultancy on product and UX design, sketching ideas, prototyping, and helping build MVP.

• Planning: Researching customers, competitor analysis, gap analysis
• Design: concept design and prototyping
• Communication with developers on product features, quality assurance, and timely delivery

User Experience Consultant

Three Heads

Achievements:
• Designed a Lo-Fi prototype of the business idea that was converted to MVP
• UX design and service blueprints for booking & scheduling, order management (OMS), inventory management (WMS), customer management
• Iterated the design in two sprints to meet user feedback after usability testing

Responsibilities:
• Project planning, team building, resource allocation, building the product roadmap
• UX design, user research, prototyping ideas
• Building UI component library and design system for consistency
• Cross-functional team collaboration with product, marketing, design, and engineering

Company background:
A startup where we were building a B2C SaaS car marketplace that links car owners to top-rated car mechanics with the flexibility to repair cars at home or office, without seeing the garage. The future plans were to introduce B2B aspects for car services and car parts.

With my prior experience in marketplaces and inventory management systems, I was hired as a freelance designer to head the project.

User Experience Manager

Tomini

Achievements:
• Helped digitalizing the organization for resource optimization and improve CX at all touchpoints
• Improved customer experience journey within and outside the org with robust IT systems
• Deployment of shipping ERP software within Tomini Shipping division (office & 10+ ships)
• Researched and built a two-way link (live sync) connecting ships with the office that increased communication
• Facilitating ERP users, writing operational manuals for captains to troubleshoot issues for operational resilience
• Linked up NAS storage with unique IP for 24/7 access to data, cloud computing apps
• Procured, installed, scaled, and managed ICT systems for 150+ users, vendor account management

Responsibilities:
• IT system management, building systems, scaling, and maintaining IT infrastructure for the group
• IT helpdesk on-site and remote management for ships for maximum digital adoption
• Website management, content management, social media management
• Management consultancy on digital initiatives, systems, policies prep for a digital business model

Company background:
Tomini Group runs several businesses including Shipping, Classics cars with a Garage, Transport, and Power Rental.

IT Manager, Digital Experience

Achievements:
• Installed, configured, and maintained network, servers, and NAS storage device (with remote access)
• Installed and maintained CCTV cameras, employee attendance system, and ip telephone exchange
• Researched, and deployed Car Maintenance Software at Tomini Garage to digitalize car maintenance
• Migration to Microsoft Office 365 and Google Workspace
• Data security for users including antivirus programs, scheduled backups, password vault
• Brand identity design, stationery design, social media, and consistency across all channels
• Training, mentoring, and motivating staff for successful adoption of IT systems, software
• Photographed 100+ classic cars with a 360 view to reduce general inquiries

Responsibilities:
• IT system administration (procurement, support, vendor management, and more)
• Improve customer experience and empower employees with digital systems, applications
• Classic car photographer, provide detailed photos for a better decision making

After moving to a bigger office space to centralize business operations, we properly started working on a digital transformation plan, and strategy and followed the roadmap for a smooth digital adaption.

IT Coordinator and Media Specialist

Achievements:
• Designed, built & maintained an online car showroom with 150+ cars
• Scaled the system with a car Inventory System for the sales team and Management Information System
• Writing car listing and content with the sales team
• Optimizing site content for search engines, organic SEO, and keyword research
• Photographed cars to show the maximum details (360 view) for an optimal digital experience
• Built and managed websites for sister companies
• Data analysis for better content optimization, user experience, and user engagement

Webmaster

NGPath - Next Generation Path

Achievements:
• Built and maintained custom-design navigational solutions, location maps

Company background:
Next Generation Path (aka NGPath) is a Dubai-based digital agency providing web and e-commerce solutions to its customers across UAE.

Product Designer

Achievements:
• Designed modern websites for clients

Responsibilities:
• Website design, brand identity design, landing page design
• Sketching ideas, wireframing, and rapid prototypes for websites and mobile apps
• Maintained digital assets library and project documentation

Website Graphic Designer

MBlue Designs

Achievements:
• UX redesign for product innovation, fast loading, mobile-friendly, and standardized development
• Simplified checkout by introducing guest checkout
• Introduced customer-first culture by adding priority customer support that drove additional revenue

Responsibilities:
• Product upgrade – improving user experience, redesigning workflows, learning from product analytics, understanding client's business requirement, and incorporating feedback
• Integrating Twitter Bootstrap for responsive UIs and rapid development
• Collaborated with product, designers, and engineers to maintain timely delivery and quality

Company background:
MBlue Designs is a UK-based digital agency providing customizable B2C SaaS solutions including Content management system (CMS) websites and e-commerce solutions to small businesses.

Design Team Lead - E-Commerce, SaaS

Achievements:
• Designed ~30+ CMS and e-commerce websites for clients

Responsibilities: 
• Website UI design, user experience design
• PSD to HTML, front-end development, and collaborating with backend developers
• Assisting junior designers on client projects

Senior Web Designer

Media Solutions

Major accomplishments:
• School Management System for a local school with 500+ students, end-to-end project management including the project spec writing, IT infrastructure upgrade, software deployment, data entry, testing & validation, training staff and change management, post-sale customer support
• Inventory Management System for a car dealership business with a second business of rent-a-car. project involved business analysis, requirement analysis, web app development, data entry, training support staff, and providing post-project support.

Responsibilities:
• A fully client-facing role including new business development, managing appointments, providing IT consultancy and management consultancy to CxOs for digital adoption, improving business processes & productivity, more visibility, and reducing costs with specialized software
• Project management, ensuring all requirements are addressed, quality check, resource management within teams, testing deployment, and debugging before the final delivery
• Account management, contract management, price negotiation, renewals, and project support

Company background:
With a few years of experience in hand, I started my own IT company with my friends where we offered IT consultancy for product design, website design, custom software, and printing solutions to SMEs.

Digital Transformation Advisor

ICMS Education System

Accomplishments:
• Online admission system (new students)
• Online exam result system
• Online customer relationship management system (CRM) to address queries
• Promoted website online with organic SEO

Responsibilities:
• Building and maintaining website, and online content
• Website performance management, site traffic statistics, and analytics, reporting to management

Company background:
ICMS is a group of institutes with 5+ branches (2 schools, 2 colleges, and a university) with over 1,000 students across all campuses. The leadership is always focused to improve customer experience by adapting digital innovation and being sustainable in their digital business models.

As a result, I built Online Admission & Result System. It saved huge on printing costs, dropped paper usage by 80%, and minimized student crowd across all receptions

Liwal Ltd

Accomplishments:
• Built and maintained an online product catalog for Liwal Computers
• Built and launched the website for ESRI GIS Solutions
• Organic SEO, hit 3x traffic within three months from launch for Liwal Computers
• Maintaining group website liwal.com

Responsibilities: 
• Designing website interfaces, writing and designing content on all websites
• Website front-end development
• Search engine optimization for all websites
• Reporting website stats to the management

Company background:
Liwal Ltd with its software development division called Asiasoft. offers a wide range of IT solutions, cloud-based infrastructures, custom-built mobile-ready ERP, CMS, and CRM systems backed by blockchain. They provide digital transformation solutions to government departments and commercial enterprises globally, especially targeting logistics, energy, e-commerce, education, human resources, communications, and health services. They have built a variety of software translation packages for Microsoft desktop applications.

My role was to take care of the online part entirely.

Fix ~20% UX design puzzle for ~80% growth | Cultivating Sustainable Customer Experience and Digital Transformation | Founder UX 80/20

Hi, my name is Waseem, a seasoned user experience designer with over a decade of experience in product design, I bring extensive expertise in driving ease of use to digital products through innovative and user-centered design strategies.

My specialization is leveraging customer experience through data-driven insights to create seamless user experiences for web, mobile, and SaaS apps and complex ERP software design. I'm well-versed in research, competitive analysis, user testing, and product design.

With years of experience working across diverse sectors including automotive, digital agencies, maritime, engineering, education, hospitality, healthcare, legal and finance, non-profits, and start-ups, I helped organizations overcome the complexities of digital transformation and deliver exceptional user experiences with higher adaptability.

I am a team player as well as a go-to person for design projects, adept at team building, mentoring juniors, and fostering confidence and autonomy in workflows. I always love to work on projects where I can add value and have some freedom to inspire and innovate to add value.

I would be thrilled to discuss new opportunities to revamp your customer experience (CX) and digital transformation (UX, service design) initiatives for your product innovation.

Please message me through LinkedIn, and I'll get back to you.

Thanks!

taplio

The Battle

Simon McCade

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