Global Design Director @ Fierce™, Fearless™

I’m an Industrial Designer turned UX Designer, turned Service Designer, turned (accidental) leader. 

Since moving into the digital space over a decade ago, I’ve seen the same patterns repeat: 
Design teams are being asked to deliver more impact and faster; but often without the levers to make it happen. 

Now as Managing Director at Fearless, I work with senior Design and business leaders to help navigate some of these challenges and embed Design as a genuine strategic capability. 

We help organisations: 

- Embed Service Design and DesignOps as a strategic capability
- Build and scale in-house design teams that deliver measurable business impact
- Design operating models that connect design, delivery and strategy
- Prove the value of Design through operational outcomes (as well as beautiful outputs!)

Our agency + talent services model blends the depth of a large consultancy with the agility of a boutique partner. 

We act as an extension of our clients’ teams - helping them move fast, think big and of course deliver meaningful change. 

If you’re navigating cost-cutting, change fatigue or the constant push to “do more with less,” you’re not alone. 

There are always smarter, lower-risk ways to build momentum (and Design can be the lever that gets you there). 

I’m always happy to share what’s working or swap notes with other leaders facing similar challenges; feel free to reach out.

—— 

Proud to lead a team that truly lives its name: authentically Fearless 😎

The Design industry has had bad UX  😬

Some observations:

•  The mindset of here are a set of holes, find the one your peg fits into rather than shaping your own has been very common
•  The assumption that progression is linear / upwards need to be broken
•  There’s a lack of GOOD ‘formal’ training across the FULL lifecycle of a career
•  Hiring processes are often hell-ish
•  Many are rewarded for working harder rather than smarter often leading to burnout (do more with less doesn't help!)
•  Too many unfair or unrealistic expectations of both candidates and companies

Let's hope that 2026 brings some more positive change

----

Thoughts?


#Design #ThingsAreABitBroken

Laura Baker

Talks about #design, #culture, and #leadership

Managing Director @ Fearless™

I mostly can’t talk publicly about the work we do. 
But now and then, something really feels worth pausing for.

I’m really proud to share that Fearless is partnering with Socialheads - supporting some of the most persistent challenges in youth support services.

From the outside, this work is often framed as complex, underfunded or ‘hard to fix’. From the inside, it’s human. Systemic.

And deeply shaped by how services are designed (or not) around the people they’re meant to support.

At Fearless, our mission has always been about designing a better world, not just better products or experiences.

This partnership feels like a genuine extension of that

What made this partnership feel right wasn’t just the mission alignment though. It was a shared belief in the power of co-creation

Socialheads has built to date by partnering with young people, support workers, residential and care homes and supported accommodation - not just designing for them but with them.

And as I usually babble on about here, it’s really the only way change in complex systems actually sticks

We’re incredibly excited and honoured to support them on the next stage of their journey 🤝

—

If you know young people, practitioners, residential or care settings (or even someone who knows someone) who could help be a part of shaping this work, please share, tag or DM me.

This is the kind of work that reminds me why (good) Design really matters!

‼️ Available Service Designers ... a fun role for you ‼️

Contract details:
-  6 month contract
-  Senior / lead level
-  Start ASAP
-  Day rate: ~£550
-  Mostly remote but may require a few days in a London office (UK only)
-  Must have insurance / complex financial / consumer duty experience

Work details:
-  Complete outstanding Phase 1 customer journey maps across the client’s products and build on these in Phase 2 to create more detailed, actionable artefacts
-  Embed FCA Consumer Duty requirements and address the needs of vulnerable customers, while supporting cross-functional collaboration to inform solution development and continuous improvement


If this all sounds like something for you - please message Jake Harber
If this all sounds like someone you know - please tag away
If this all sounds like someone that might be in your network - please comment / share


Thank you as always LinkedIn :)

10 prompts to help show a journey instead of a process with your #portfolio

(You can tell me which are your favourite!)

Was recently speaking with a junior designer on getting into the industry and crafting their folio.

It’s a tough market out there for juniors but to be blunt one of the biggest problems may face is their case studies all look / read the same way.

It is hard to stand out when every role posted gets 300+ applications within hours.

One piece of advice was to write their case studies differently.

Not to give a generic step by step breakdown of your process

But instead start with answering some “more interesting” prompts and build from there


Prompts such as:

1.  The biggest challenge I had was…
2.  We found a gap in our knowledge around…
3.  We unexpectedly learnt…
4.  Our first iteration didn’t work because…
5.  I am most proud of…
6.  I was really surprised by…
7.  The key impact we had was…
8.  We had to adapt because….
9.  My biggest takeaway was…
10.  We had to take a step back because…


Not all of those things will be relevant or should be in there - you’re not writing a novel.

But ultimately you want to show your thinking on top of just how you execute.


👉 Give recruiters and hiring managers something that will hold their interest for the 60ish seconds you have it!



#Design #Hiring #Talent

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