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Early product discovery
I help organisations work out who they’re building for and why, by defining their audience, developing key propositions and running research that separates assumptions from evidence.
Owen Thomas is a Design Director who helps organisations untangle complex problems and find their way through them.
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Ecosia
Helping a search engine navigate growth, AI and identity
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V&A Museum
Rethinking digital for the museum of art and design
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Friends of the Earth
Finding a new voice for a trusted NGO
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OVO Energy
Unlocking a new platform for millions of customers
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Hackaball
Taking a programmable toy from beta to market
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Google iOS
Connecting an internet giant to the next generation
How I work
Research, strategy and design ✲ Brand experience ✽ AI adoption and integration ❉ Team management and growth ✶ Whatever the challenge, the goal is always the same: do work that’s honest, helpful and good.
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From brand to product
I know how brands gets baked into products and how products shape brands on a practical level. This comes in pretty handy when your identity and user experience need to tell the same story (which is most of the time).
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Strategy that ships
When most design teams were still figuring out what AI meant for them, I developed a strategy that led to full AI integration across the product. Frameworks built for actual decisions, not presentations.
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Generalist leadership
Two decades of paradigm shifts — print to web, desktop to mobile, now AI — means I’ve learned to lead through uncertainty without waiting for it to resolve and to work across disciplines without losing depth in any of them.
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Design Director with twenty years experience working on digital products and services, visual identities, branding and design systems.
At Ecosia, I led the design practice and shaped the company’s vision for product and AI. Before that I ran my own consultancy for five years, working with the likes of OVO, Google and Friends of the Earth. This breadth, from brand strategy to product design, agency rigour to in-house ownership, is most useful to organisations working through complex problems.
I know how to approach situations cold, identify opportunities quickly and deliver work with measurable impact. I’m drawn to organisations that serve a broader purpose: climate, energy, culture, public good. If you’re interested in learning more about what I do, I’d welcome the conversation.