Nejal Patel. London, UK
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Over 8 years of human-centered expertise in delivering value to users and businesses.

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I've helped businesses grow, innovate and optimise in a variety of domains:

B2B SaaS apps for hospitality, healthcare and Artificial Intelligence services.
Proprietary apps, web and native for health insurance, mining, banking and investment.
Consumer apps, web and native for hospitality, shopping services.

And this experience has helped nurture my ability and develop my enthusiasm to understand and create within complex ecosystems.

Priniciples

Create products your users will want to use.

  • Know your users
    Start with user needs. Treat second-hand information about users with caution. Focus on user outcomes and design with data.

  • Consistency
    Avoid uniformity, but be consistent. Re-use well-tested design patterns. Use ubiquitous language to create familiarity.

  • Aesthetics
    Accessibility is not a bolt-on feature. First impressions do matter. Take the extra time to delight your users.

  • Clarity
    Create structure and hierarchy. Give users responses to the actions they take. Make decisions easy by avoiding paradox of choice.

  • Effectiveness
    Your design should work everywhere; responsive is not only screen size. Leverage technology to help users.

Team Philosophy

Involve users early and often. Learn from them and iterate.

Establish empathy together as a team

Understand your users together as a team. Doing so eventually weaves benefits into the product at every level. increasing your team’s exposure to users will increase the user’s experience of the product.

Collectively define & agree on problems

Take time to understand and clearly define your user’s problems. Feeding the team solutions will only lead to demoralisation; people like being empowered and having a chance to be creative. Let the team stretch their skills, and give them time to truly understand the problem space.

Group ideation

Good ideas can come from anyone. Waiting for one member of the team to create the best idea will take time, and will be biased towards their experience. It doesn’t have to take long, there are exercises designed to generate lots of ideas quickly.

Prototype & test with real users

Fake it until you can make it. Spend the minimum amount of time to create the closest to the real thing. You’re looking for feedback on the idea, not whether your design looks finished. Test with real representative users.

Iterate, iterate & iterate

It isn’t enough to run through a design process once. Use data, learn from your users, learn from your team, and iterate. Your process will mature and you’ll be able to run through it easier and faster on each time.

Selected work

Optimising workforce management: reduced churn and increased margins by enhancing performance visibility

Over the a 12 month period, cloudfactory experienced a 25% drop in client retention primarily due to declining worker performance. This trend was particularly noticeable in projects that required high accuracy and fast turnaround times.

B2B / Webapp / SaaS
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Enhancing client retention: improved quality transparency and performance tracking to reduce churn

We saw a 25% decline in retention rates over the last 12 months, particularly among clients in their second wave of projects. This drop is significant among clients who request rework as it did not meet the initial quality levels benchmarked which ultimately meant a slower speed of delivery.

B2B / Web app / SaaS
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Optimising workforce allocation: Enhancing quality and efficiency with smart matching

A data-driven approach to maximising margins and enhancing user experience. Working end-to-end shaping the way candidates are found and selected for client AI projects.

Web App / SaaS / B2B
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Transforming user onboarding: how CloudFactory increased completion rates by 55% and cut ramp-up time by 80%

CloudFactory's user onboarding process was highly manual, relying on Google Forms and online calls. This led to low completion rates (60%) and poor engagement (30%). New users found the process tedious, unstructured, and unclear, delaying productivity and leading to a 25% retention rate over 60 days.

Web App / SaaS / B2B
Take a look

Testimonials

Simon Davies - VP Platform Development at Cloudfactory
I had the pleasure of working with Nejal for a number of years and I can only report positively about our time together. His ability to guide teams through discovery, running structured and effective workshops and ensuring inclusivity of all stakeholders is a testament to his temperament, his toolkit of skills and competencies and his natural, affable style. His design product is of a high standard and his experience at agencies means he’s highly effective and efficient at delivery. We could always count on Nejal to deliver when it matters.

“Neej” is deeply value-driven and customer-focused, always ensuring the end-user remains at the heart of every decision.

If you’re looking for a Senior Product Designer who can produce outstanding results and elevate your product process, I cannot recommend Nejal highly enough. (Hoping to work with you again, Neej…)
Sarwagya Pandey - Technical Product Manager at Cloudfactory
Nejal is an exceptional product designer who excels in his field. His talent for UX design is unparalleled, consistently producing not only elegant but highly user-friendly designs that resonate with our users. Neej is a joy to work with, always friendly and approachable. His curiosity and eagerness to learn new things are truly inspiring. He asks insightful questions that often lead to innovative solutions and improvements. His dedication to understanding the user's perspective is evident in every project he tackles.

One of his qualities that stands out is his ability to facilitate workshops and design sessions effectively. He engages with users during discovery sessions, ensuring that their feedback and needs are incorporated into the design process. His skill in running workshops has been instrumental in aligning our teams with the users' needs and expectations.A master juggler, managing his time for multiple teams and being present. His ability to multitask and stay organised is commendable, and he never lets the quality of his work slip, no matter how demanding the schedule is.

In summary, Neej is a talented, dedicated, and collaborative product designer who brings immense value to any team. I highly recommend him to any organization looking for a top-notch Product designer who is not only skilled but also a pleasure to work with.
Chris Lock-Wheaton - Head of Platform at CloudFactory
Neej is a phenomenal product designer with a deep understanding of information architecture. He played a pivotal role in shaping the entire IA for our entire AI workforce management platform which we now run all our business from.

His ability to collaborate seamlessly with cross-functional teams, combined with his empathetic approach to user experience, made him an invaluable asset. Neej is a master at facilitating design workshops, bringing out the best in everyone and driving innovative solutions.

A true gem in the product design world!
Martin Dixon - Lead Engineer at CloudFactory
I worked with Nejal for several years in the same team at CloudFactory, and enjoyed every moment. Nejal brings such insight, a methodical approach, beautiful designs and an incredible attitude; and elevates the team's quality through his work. He is naturally inquisitive and collaborative, seeking out answers to important questions before putting pen to paper on a design. In a group setting, he collates people's thoughts and ideas in a structured and beautiful way to bring the most out of group discussion. And finally, his designs are really top quality, bringing a real level of polish to any product he works on.

I would not hesitate to recommend Nejal to anyone and would love to work with him again in the future.
Asmita Dhital - Director of Workforce at CloudFactory
I had the pleasure of working with Neej, a talented and dedicated senior product designer. He consistently demonstrated a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of user-centered design, making a significant impact on quality and user experience. His collaborative nature and strong communication skills made him a trusted partner in cross-functional projects, where he seamlessly translated ideas into practical designs. His passion for continuous improvement and innovation, his team spirit and his genuine desire to help others set him apart. A true professional, a gem of a person and a tremendous asset to any team.

I HIGHLY recommend Neej to any team.
Dominic Atkinson - Chief Operating Office at Flyt (Flypay)
Nejal's flexibility with continually changing priorities has been a core strength while at Flypay. He used a logical approach to design which provided a solid base from which the organisation could rapidly iterate on product requirements being defined by customers and product owners.

Nejal has a great work ethic, with demonstrable resilience when tackling ambiguity. I recommend him as a thoughtful and considered UX designer who delivers according to the brief he is given.
Mandip Giri - Senior Software Engineer at Cloudfactory
I've had the pleasure of working with Neej (we called him Neej with love) at CloudFactory, and I can't say enough good things about his talent and dedication. Neej is incredibly creative, always bringing fresh and innovative ideas that take our products to the next level. His sense of user experience is outstanding—he has this unique ability to see through the user’s eyes, catching nuances that others often overlook and transforming them into designs that truly resonate.

Beyond his technical skills, Neej is genuinely humble and an absolute joy to collaborate with. He approaches each project with an open mind, actively listens to feedback, and works tirelessly to make sure everything comes together seamlessly. It’s rare to find someone who combines such a high level of design expertise with such a warm, team-oriented attitude. Any team would be lucky to have Neej on board!
Prakash Regmi - Lead Quality Assurance at Cloudfactory
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Nejal at CloudFactory where he worked as a Senior Product Designer. He had lead numerous design sessions with various stakeholders. He listens to feedback, asks for it early, and ensures his work aligns with project goals. His ability to think ahead allows him to create solutions that are effective both now and in the long term. Nejal has worked across multiple projects and teams, consistently demonstrating his strength as a true team player.

Personally, I’ve gained valuable insights from him on how to better consider the user experience. Nejal is dedicated, open, and a valuable team member, and I highly recommend him.
Sunil Poudel - Lead Software Engineer at Cloudfactory
I had the privilege of collaborating with Nejal at CloudFactory, where he excelled as a Senior Product Designer. His exceptional skills in user experience design and his collaborative approach have consistently impressed me.

Nejal is a highly effective communicator who actively seeks and incorporates feedback from users and business stakeholders. He has a keen eye for detail and a strong understanding of user needs, which enables him to create intuitive and visually appealing designs. His ability to think critically and solve complex design problems has been instrumental in the success of numerous projects for our internal users and external workers, from designing performance sections where that can be viewed and set up based on client configuration to configuring and displaying workers' pay in the platform.

Beyond his technical skills, Nejal is a pleasure to work with. His positive attitude and willingness to go the extra mile make him a valuable asset to any team. I have personally benefited from his mentorship and guidance, learning valuable insights into user-centered design principles.

Nejal is a talented and dedicated product designer. He is a true professional who consistently delivers high-quality work. I highly recommend him to any team and company.

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