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Tools

Tools I use.
Stage by stage.

Observe

Understanding what users actually do, not what we think they do.

What I like to use

Google Analytics

Tracks how users actually move through a product, where they , and which paths to . It’s the baseline for understanding behaviour at scale and spotting where things are breaking down.

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FullStory

Captures detailed user along with technical , making it easier to understand both and underlying issues, especially in more complex products.

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Microsoft Clarity

Adds a visual layer through and , making it easy to see confusion, hesitation, and in real user behaviour rather than guessing from data alone.

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Mixpanel

Event-based product analytics that helps break down journeys, , , and in more depth than standard reporting.

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Hotjar

Combines , recordings, and tools into one place. Good for quickly validating and getting a directional view of what users are doing.

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Amplitude

Product analytics built for understanding behavioural at scale, especially across journeys, cohorts, and usage.

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Crazy Egg

Focuses on visual and , helping highlight what users are actually engaging with versus what was intended.

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Smartlook

Combines , , and , making it a useful middle ground between analytics and visual behaviour tools.

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Understand

Getting to the why behind , not just the numbers.

What I like to use

Typeform

Flexible survey tool that makes it easy to collect structured without creating for users, especially in live products.

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What else is out there

Dovetail

Helps organise and analyse , making it easier to turn interviews and into clear, usable .

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SurveyMonkey

More traditional survey , suited for larger-scale and more formal collection.

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Qualtrics

Enterprise and survey with strong for large-scale feedback, segmentation, and analysis.

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Hotjar

Useful for in-product and intercept as well as and recordings, making it a practical bridge between behaviour and direct user input.

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Sprig

In-product tool for and collection, useful when you need quick insight from live users in context.

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Gong

Conversation intelligence that helps teams analyse sales and support calls at scale to surface recurring themes and customer language.

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Structure

Turning into clear journeys and usable flows.

What I like to use

Figma

Used to design flows, wireframes, and , turning into something tangible that can be tested, refined, and shared.

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What else is out there

Overflow

Specialised tool for presenting clearly, making it easier to communicate journeys and to others.

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FigJam

Supports early-stage thinking, mapping, and collaboration, helping teams align before moving into more detailed design work.

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Mural

Collaborative visual workspace for workshops, mapping, and team across journeys, , and ideas.

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Lucidchart

More structured diagramming tool, often used for , , and technical flows that need and consistency.

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Draw.io

Practical diagramming tool for flows, , and structures when speed and matter more than polish.

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Miro

Designed for workshops and collaborative , particularly useful for mapping journeys and aligning multiple .

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Axure RP

Powerful tool for building detailed flows and logic-heavy , especially when need more depth.

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Test

Validating ideas before they become expensive mistakes.

What I like to use

Codex

Useful for quickly exploring implementation options, pressure-testing flows, and accelerating when ideas need to move from concept into working product.

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What else is out there

Maze

Enables rapid testing of with clear metrics, helping validate ideas quickly without needing full .

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Claude Code

Useful for working through implementation detail, structuring technical thinking, and accelerating when product ideas need to be tested in code.

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Lookback

Supports moderated , allowing deeper exploration through live and follow-up questions.

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Figma

Helpful for turning ideas into that can be tested quickly, shared easily, and refined before development effort increases.

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PlaybookUX

Combines and interviews, offering flexibility depending on the type and depth of needed.

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UsabilityHub

Supports quick validation methods like first-click and , useful for early-stage directional .

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UserTesting

Provides access to a broad user base and recorded , making it easier to scale and gather diverse .

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Optimise

Improving through continuous .

What I like to use

Hotjar

Useful for spotting , hesitation, and missed opportunities through recordings, , and on-page .

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What else is out there

VWO

Experimentation that supports alongside behavioural , helping teams optimise with confidence.

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Mixpanel

Strong for event-based analysis, , and when you need to understand where optimisation work will have the biggest impact.

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Amplitude

Strong product analytics for understanding , , and journey performance when optimisation decisions need deeper evidence.

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Optimizely

Enterprise experimentation for testing, personalisation, and structured when changes need stronger validation.

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Convert

Privacy-focused testing , often used where compliance and control are a priority.

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FullStory

Detailed and behavioural analysis tool that helps connect opportunities to real user .

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Explore

Looking beyond the immediate problem. Drawing from , references, and that have already solved similar challenges.

What I like to use

Awwwards

Showcases high-end digital design and . Useful for inspiration, but more importantly for understanding where expectations are heading.

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What else is out there

Mobbin

A curated of real product screens and flows, useful for quickly understanding how common are solved across different apps and .

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Pinterest

Broad and fast-moving source of visual inspiration across multiple disciplines, not limited to digital products.

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Land-book

A collection of landing page designs that helps identify , , and visual approaches across industries.

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Behance

More detailed case studies and design work, often showing as well as final output. Good for deeper inspiration.

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Godly

Curated web inspiration with a stronger quality filter, useful when you want sharper references rather than endless volume.

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Dribbble

Large volume of visual concepts and UI ideas. Useful for quick inspiration, but quality and practicality can vary significantly.

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SiteInspire

Well-curated gallery of modern website design, useful for spotting , , and visual direction across industries.

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Lapa Ninja

Large collection of landing page references that helps with structure, content , and visual approaches for -focused pages.

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Page Flows

Useful for studying complete and screen sequences across real products rather than isolated single screens.

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Build

UI and component used to consistent interfaces faster. These are less about design thinking and more about getting robust, repeatable UI into production without rebuilding everything from scratch.

What I like to use

MUI

Component I use when speed, , and matter. Strong for structured product work where you need reliable building blocks without losing too much flexibility.

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What else is out there

Chakra UI

Component-based focused on speed and . Useful for quick , though I generally prefer the structure and flexibility of MUI.

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Bootstrap

Long-standing UI that helps teams move quickly, especially for standard and admin-style . Useful, but it can feel generic if it is not customised properly.

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Ant Design

Comprehensive component aimed at enterprise products. Strong for complex , though visually it can feel opinionated out of the box.

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Tailwind CSS

Utility-first that gives more visual control at implementation level. Powerful in the right hands, but it needs discipline or things get messy fast.

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Frontend

The layer used to the actual product experience. This is where structure, , state, and performance come together in a working interface.

What I like to use

React

Core for building modular, reusable . Flexible enough for complex products and widely supported across modern stacks.

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What else is out there

Vue

with a gentler learning curve and strong experience. A solid choice, especially for smaller teams or lighter applications.

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Next.js

I use for building production-ready React applications with routing, structure, and handled properly from the start.

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Nuxt

built on Vue that adds routing, structure, and application-level in a similar way to Next.js.

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Svelte

Lightweight that can produce very fast with less code. Interesting, but not as common in larger product environments.

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Angular

Full with strong conventions and enterprise adoption. Powerful, but heavier than I would usually want for most product work.

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Backend

The and that power the product behind the scenes. This is where is handled, logic runs, and integrations are managed to support the frontend experience.

What I like to use

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Core for running , handling data, and scaling applications. Reliable, flexible, and fits well with modern product architectures.

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Cloud Functions

Used for running logic without managing servers. Ideal for handling events, , and lightweight processing.

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Firestore

NoSQL database for storing and syncing in real time. Works well for products that need speed and flexibility without heavy schema .

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Supabase

Open-source alternative to Firebase with a more structured, SQL-based approach. Useful when you want more control over your .

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Firebase

-as-a- that simplifies authentication, databases, and hosting. Good for rapid builds, but can become limiting at scale.

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AWS

Comprehensive with a huge range of . Extremely powerful, but often more complex than needed for most product work.

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Node.js

Runtime for building using JavaScript. Flexible and widely used, especially in full- JavaScript environments.

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Vercel

Lightweight alongside hosting. Useful for simpler use cases and tightly coupled frontend apps.

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AI

AI tools used directly in day-to-day work to generate content, explore ideas, and speed up decision-making. Focused on practical use, not experimentation for the sake of it.

What I like to use

ChatGPT

Used for generating product content, refining copy, structuring ideas, and speeding up thinking. Works best when guided properly rather than treated as a one-click solution.

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DALL·E

Image generation tool integrated into broader . Good for quick visuals, though less flexible than Midjourney for exploration.

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Perplexity

Fast, -driven AI that pulls in real sources. Useful for getting up to speed quickly and validating assumptions without digging through multiple tabs.

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Runway

AI-powered video and media tools, useful for generating and editing visual content quickly.

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Midjourney

Image generation tool used for concept exploration, visual direction, and early-stage creative thinking rather than final assets.

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HeyGen

AI avatar and video generation tool, useful for creating quick presentations or content without full production setup.

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Claude

Strong at structured thinking, longer-form content, and reasoning-heavy tasks. Useful when and depth matter more than speed.

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Gemini

Google’s AI ecosystem, useful when working across documents, , and integrated .

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Icons

Icon used to support , , and interface consistency. Icons should help users understand what something does, not make them stop and think.

What I like to use

Font Awesome

Massive icon with broad coverage. Useful when you need range, though it can feel visually inconsistent depending on what you pick.

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Heroicons

Simple, well-made icon collection used heavily in modern web products. A solid default, especially in Tailwind-based .

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Material Icons

Google’s icon collection built around Material . Useful in the right , especially for more -led interfaces.

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Phosphor Icons

Flexible icon collection with multiple weights and styles. Good when you need a bit more personality without going too far.

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Bootstrap Icons

Straightforward open-source icon set that fits well with practical product and dashboard work without overcomplicating things.

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Tabler Icons

Large open-source icon set with a clean, consistent visual style suitable for product and dashboard work.

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MUI Icons

Material-aligned icon set packaged for MUI projects, useful when you want across components and icons.

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Lucide

Clean, lightweight icon collection that works well in modern without feeling overdesigned.

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Typography

Font and collections used to shape tone, , , and consistency. Typography is not decoration. It directly affects clarity and usability.

What I like to use

Google Fonts

The main font collection I use when I need flexible, web-friendly typography that is easy to implement and widely supported.

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What else is out there

Fontshare

Free font collection with some genuinely strong options for digital products and brand work.

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Adobe Fonts

Strong premium font collection with a broader range of higher-end type choices. Useful when the brand needs something more distinctive.

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Typewolf

Useful as a typography reference point for seeing pairings, , and real-world usage rather than as a font source itself.

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Fonts in Use

Reference for seeing how typefaces are used in real projects, which is often more useful than browsing font lists in isolation.

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Educate

Places worth reading when you want to sharpen judgement, not just collect more opinions. Good for grounding decisions in established thinking, , and evidence.

Nielsen Norman Group

One of the most established UX reference points. Useful for -backed guidance on , patterns, and product decision-making.

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Baymard Institute

Deep ecommerce covering checkout, , , filtering, and product pages. Particularly useful when conversion and usability overlap.

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GOV.UK Design System

A strong example of practical, documented standards. Helpful beyond public sector work because it is grounded in and .

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Material Design

A large design reference for , states, components, and accessibility considerations across digital products.

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Smashing Magazine

Long-running publication covering UX, design, , , and product thinking with a more practical editorial angle.

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A List Apart

Still one of the better archives for thoughtful writing on digital design, content, structure, , and craft.

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LET'S WORK TOGETHER

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UX, research and product leadership for teams tackling complex digital services.

Previous feedback

I had a fantastic experience working with Andy. One of his most impressive achievements during our time at NHS HEE was masterminding a deeply complex information architecture for a new platform that brought together a large number of legacy websites.

Will Parkhouse

Senior Content Designer