Mike is available for hire
Hire MikeMike Douglas
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Location
London, United Kingdom
Toptal Member Since
April 6, 2020
Mike has been an independent design lead for 20 years—joining the biggest brands and smartest services to design digital products and experiences people love and keep coming back for. He is also a decisive leader who brings brutal honesty, bags of energy, and absolute precision to every project, driving teams to success, always with zero fuss.
Portfolio
Work Experience
Design Lead (Freelance)
2019 - 2023
Spotify
- Established Spotify as the go-to destination for live events—providing personalized discovery for fans and financial security for creators and venues.
- Led the design of Spotify's wearables' presence across smartwatches and wireless headphones. Clients include Apple, Google, Samsung, Bose, Garmin and Fitbit.
- Designed unique mobile integrations for Samsung's flagship Galaxy range while driving Spotify's initiatives within the gaming industry with partners like Microsoft, Xbox, and Nordeus.
Technologies: Figma, Sketch, Principle, InVision, Adobe CC, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Apple Keynote
Design Lead (Freelance)
2022 - 2022
OneFootball
- Managed a small team as the freelance design lead.
- Delivered a strategic cross-platform design vision.
- Amplified the excitement and emotion of the beautiful game to unlock new value for fans, creators, and the business.
Technologies: Figma, Sketch, Principle, InVision, Adobe CC, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Apple Keynote
Design Director (Freelance)
2019 - 2019
Typeform
- Provided design direction and leadership support for Typeform, the rapidly scaling online form and survey specialists, while I was based in Barcelona for four months.
- Led various critical initiatives, enabling the team to rethink and redesign core areas of the product experience to help customers better engage with their audience and get more value from the data they collect.
- Improved quality, accountability, and pace throughout the team through the abovementioned efforts and the strategic changes to the process, culture, and craft.
Technologies: Apple Keynote, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Principle, Sketch, Figma
Design Lead (Freelance)
2018 - 2018
VRBO (owned by Expedia Group)
- Collaborated with Expedia Group to kickstart the product refresh and rebrand of their holiday rentals platform VRBO.
- Optimized their new brand identity for the mobile environment and set new execution standards across their key website landing pages in collaboration with in-house designers, engineers, and marketers.
- Helped define and deliver a visual design system, principles, and a complete UI pattern library.
Technologies: Apple Keynote, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Principle, Sketch, Figma
Design Lead (Freelance)
2017 - 2018
Net-A-Porter
- Elevated design value and quality throughout Net-A-Porter Group to deliver luxurious, unified experiences across its brands.
- Delivered a comprehensive design system and an entirely redefined consumer experience for Net-A-Porter and Mr Porter by strengthening and scaling the design team and setting a new tone for best practices.
- Worked closely with the newly formed research team and explored the future of online luxury retail by creating and validating several strategic design visions that combined data, business goals, and user needs with evolving technologies.
Technologies: Apple Keynote, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Principle, Sketch, Figma, InVision, Adobe CC, Adobe InDesign
Design Lead - Consultant
2015 - 2017
Spotify
- Improved the user experience and brand awareness of Spotify Connect, the technology that makes it easy to listen out loud on all your devices.
- Developed cross-platform consistency, improve discoverability, and brought cohesion to communications, which resulted in increased engagement, improved retention, and enhanced integration with Connect in the users' domestic lives.
- Improved the discoverability of Connect across platforms and identified moments in the experience where we could use timely educational messaging to increase the understanding of the proposition.
Technologies: Apple Keynote, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Principle, Sketch
Design Lead - Consultant
2015 - 2015
Kahoot!
- Completed a brand refresh and product redesign for Kahoot, a game-based learning platform with 60 million active users in over 180 countries.
- Established and scaled the company's first design team, enabling us to instantly breathe life into Kahoot's brand and communications and transform their existing product MVP into a more user-centered and professional offering.
- Contributed to the raising of standards throughout the company and the establishment of a more collaborative, design-led approach within the newly-formed product teams.
Technologies: Apple Keynote, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Principle, Sketch
Design Lead - Consultant
2014 - 2015
The Daily Telegraph
- Collaborated with internal design, technology, and editorial teams to reimagine the tablet edition of Britain’s best-selling quality newspaper.
- Overhauled the existing experience, enabling us to craft a fully responsive solution that showcased the full breadth of rich features and supplements seen within the printed newspaper.
- Built a wealth of smart, configurable content templates behind the scenes to give editorial teams more control and flexibility when publishing their work.
- Helped drive leaner working methods within the organization, bringing the product to market in record time and resulting in praise by both readers and staff.
Technologies: Apple Keynote, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Principle, Sketch
Design Lead
2013 - 2014
DICE
- Owned the user experience of the native Android and iOS apps for DICE, a 100% mobile ticketing app that handpicks the best gigs, club nights and festivals to offer face-value tickets with no booking fees.
- Led efforts to define the identity and creative direction of the brand.
- Contributed to DICE's launched in 16 cities worldwide, securing $10 million in series funding and selling tickets for over 900 artists including Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and Kanye West.
Technologies: Apple Keynote, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Principle, Sketch
Design Lead
2012 - 2014
ustwo
- Led the 25-strong visual design team at this hugely successful digital studio, creating products and services for some of the world's best-known brands.
- Designed and delivered high-profile projects from London and New York.
- Built and scaled teams across studios, setting the tone for best practices and cultivating a solid design culture across the company.
Technologies: Apple Keynote, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Principle, Sketch
Senior Designer [Contract]
2011 - 2012
- Collaborated with Mother London and illustrator McBess to design and build the website for The Secret Policeman’s Ball 50th anniversary celebrations.
Technologies: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Principle, Figma, Sketch
Senior Designer [Contract]
2010 - 2011
Amazon
- Set the design ambition and direction of digital-streaming service, Amazon Instant Video.
- Assumed leadership for all design output, working with senior stakeholders and in-house design teams to deliver the application’s first release on Xbox 360.
Technologies: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Principle, Figma, Sketch
Education
2001 - 2004
Bachelor of Science Degree (Hons) in Design for Digital Media
Robert Gordon University - Aberdeen, United Kingdom
1998 - 2000
HND in Graphic Design
North East Scotland College - Aberdeen, United Kingdom
Experience
Tools
Collaboration That Works
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