Hello, I’m Sam
I’m a user experience designer based in Auckland, New Zealand. I specialise in bringing innovative and complex ideas to life.
Fancy seeing some work?
Have a peek at some of the projects I’ve helped shape over the years.
Designing Design Systems that scale
Many organisations struggle to implement design systems that are adopted and scalable. I partnered with cross-functional teams to define strategy, design reusable components, and integrate governance and tooling, enabling teams to work more efficiently, maintain visual consistency, and embed a culture of scalable design.
When not to build: Validating assumptions through user testing
For Auckland Transport, I validated whether a proposed mobile experience for a complex internal tool should be built at all. Through conceptual prototyping and user testing, we redirected investment toward higher‑value improvements in the existing desktop experience.
Reimagining post booking emails: Flight confirmation & E‑Ticket redesign
Redesigned Air New Zealand’s flight confirmation and e‑ticket emails to improve clarity, mobile accessibility, and consistency across the post‑booking journey. By auditing existing communications, mapping the customer journey, and introducing reusable components into the Unison design system, the work created a scalable foundation for customer‑centric communications.
Other things I’ve been up to
Mentoring at Purple Shirt
Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of mentoring designers across various levels of experience, having a positive impact on their professional journey.
HarrisList
A small project, designing a helpful website to support families with dementia.
TheRundown.NZ
An online resource aimed at addressing the issue of low youth voter turnout in New Zealand for the 2017 general election. A little different this time, with me building both the front and backend. Featuring a live dashboard, live statistics and simplified policy overviews aimed at younger voters.
What others have said
“Thank you so much for your work on this. Your approach is so considered and collaborative, it's been so easy to work with you, and I'm really confident we've gotten the majority of potential gotcha's sorted in the last month which will make build and test so much easier. And thanks as well for your patience! This probably wasn't the job you expected, given how many details we had to work through. Looking forward to working with you again.”
“Today is the last day of Sam’s contract with us. Sam has been contracting with us on and off for close to three years. His work has been instrumental in laying the foundations of the Design Team’s ways of working and creation of Zeus - our new design system. Sam we will miss your awesomely creative yet methodical approach, top-notch deliverables and your gregarious personality. We are sad to see you go.”
“We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Sam on the Foundry documentation. He’s delivered an incredible artifact that will be a valuable resource for us moving forward. Sam has worked independently and methodically through a long list of components, requiring very little nudging and always showing up to check-ins with lots of progress, and great questions. I’ve particularly appreciated the way he has thought strategically about the documentation - for example check in early to confirm a structure before rolling it out. Sam’s a great character - very easy to work with, happy to take direction and not afraid to offer a perspective, gelling well with our small team.”
“Working with Sam, I have greatly strengthened my UX process skills, soft skills and have gained valuable practical advice as we tailored each session to suit my specific goals that I can now take with me and apply to my career.”
“Another great client debrief to finish the week. Props to Sam for the work he has been doing on an AI Career Mentor start up... he got heaps done in 5 days and the client is super stoked, not just with how he progressed the UI, but actually helped her develop the product and proposition.”
“Hi, Just wanted to say thank you for the work you did in January/February on the CV Portal user journey. I know we were a bit vague on exactly what we wanted but you came to the party and delivered without any fuss as you always do.”
Ready to chat?
I’m open to UX and product design roles, consulting, and interesting collaborations. If you’d like to talk about a project or opportunity, feel free to reach out.