Contexts / Shad Abbaslou
Open to UK roles
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FILE 005
File 005 · The person behind the files · London

Shad Abbaslou

I'm a designer who builds. Ten years of shipping across healthcare, travel, data platforms and enterprise AI, currently leading design at an AI platform company in London. I work in Figma and in the codebase, usually the same afternoon.

01 · The roles

Four roles, four case files

Not a complete CV — these are the roles with evidence attached. Each link opens the full file, research and all.

Now

Design Lead · enterprise AI platform company, London

Leading design for an ML platform. With the frontend team I built the OI Design System and the AI prototyping pipeline that sits on top of it.

Case file 001 →
Over four years

Lead Product Designer · UX Engineer · Astrato, by Vizlib

Two pods and more than forty features across a Snowflake-native analytics platform, over four years.

Case file 002 →
Six months

User Researcher · UI Designer · NHS trust (CAMHS), anonymised

A six-month discovery-to-beta programme for youth mental health, with a child and adolescent mental-health team.

Case file 003 →
Under a year

Sole Designer · Villa Plus

Their first mobile app and a full web overhaul, both shipped in under a year.

Case file 004 →
02 · Method

Research first, systems before screens

Research first. I don't trust my own taste until I've watched users contradict it. The NHS interviews and a run of moderated UserTesting sessions have both overturned designs I was confident in, and the shipped work was better for it each time.

Systems before screens. Tokens, rules and naming come before any polished mock, because they're the part of the work that survives handoff.

Code is a design material. I prototype in the browser with production components, so the file I hand over is the brief. Engineers get behaviour and states they can inspect, and handoff stays quiet.

03 · Toolkit

Figma and the codebase

Design

  • Figma
  • FigJam
  • Storybook
  • Design tokens
  • WCAG 2.2

Build

  • HTML, CSS, JavaScript
  • React
  • Tailwind
  • GSAP

Evidence

  • UserTesting
  • Mixpanel
  • Amplitude
  • Hotjar

Design ops

  • Jira
  • Miro
  • Agile ceremonies
  • AI prototyping pipelines
04 · Education

Trained in design, degreed in code

  • MSc Computer Science — Ravensbourne University London.
  • BA (Hons) Interaction Design — University of the Arts London.
05 · Contact

The direct route is email

Email is the most direct route: mehrshad.dtcdesign@gmail.com. I'm based in London and open to UK roles in AI platforms, health and data tools.

LinkedIn ↗
Shipped for and on Astrato NHS Villa Plus Qlik Snowflake

Source notes

  • Durations and the feature count above are the figures used in the linked case files; each file carries its own source notes.
  • The NHS trust and the current employer are anonymised throughout this site.