Gavin Elliott, a senior design leader, shares his personal struggles, sharing his vulnerability, and how he has navigated his own journey with autism while building a long and demanding career in design.
Gavin is currently Chief Design Officer at Scrumconnect, where he leads user-centred design across major government and private-sector programmes, including the £19m MHCLG account. Previously, he was Senior UX Manager at Shopify, overseeing multiple UX teams and helping deliver key product launches such as Domains and Hydrogen 2.0.
Before that, Gavin headed UX at UK Health Security Agency, leading design for the NHS COVID-19 app and related services during the pandemic recovery phase. At Department for Work and Pensions, he progressed from Interaction Designer to Head of Service Design, managing more than 70 designers across 40+ projects, including Universal Credit.
His career also spans Traveljunction, Sky, UserZoom, and Stats Perform, alongside founding Industry Conf. All of this rests on an unexpected early foundation as a British Army mechanic and gaming editor.
Together, we explore topics ranging from AI and the future of design to the more personal realities of the industry, including mental health, vulnerability, and the importance of support. Gavin speaks candidly about the often-overlooked need for personal and professional care, particularly for those early in their careers.
We also discuss how to create environments that genuinely foster growth and what it might take to make the design industry more humane and sustainable for everyone.
Gavin Elliot
Web - https://gavinelliott.co.uk/
LinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavin-elliott-x/
Danny Hearn
Substack - https://deeplyhumandesign.substack.com
Web - https://www.dannyhearn.me
LinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannyhearn/
Chapters
00:00 Have We Reached “Peak Designer”? The Hiring Boom and Slowdown
01:08 Introducing Andy — Designer, Founder, Investor, Pilot, Diver, “Shark Wrangler”
01:42 Origin Story — Geeky Kid, Early Web, and Falling in Love with the Internet
04:35 From Dive Instructor in Asia to Self-Taught Web Designer
07:26 Discovering UX and Helping Bring User Experience Design to the UK
10:34 Meeting Rich and Jeremy, Web Standards, and the Birth of Clearleft
18:43 Inside Clearleft — Culture, Community, and a Different Way to Run an Agency
22:15 Burberry, “Hyper-Alignment,” and How Clearleft Actually Worked Day to Day
32:24 UX London, Leading Design, and the “Accidental Design Leader”
47:16 Broken Web, AI, the Future of Design — S-Curves, Uncertainty, and Learning to Flow
