Ali Dalton

Seeing a few new faces here, so thought I'd reintroduce myself... Hey, I'm Ali. I run a product design studio helping founders and product teams build better software. I've spent over 10 years designing products used by more than 50 million people, contributing to over $13 million in business impact along the way. I've worked on products for the likes of Mercedes-Benz, Citi, Virgin, Sky, NatWest, BCG and many more. And here's something I've noticed over the years: As software products grow, the experience doesn't always keep up. → New features get added → User journeys become more complicated → Design inconsistencies start creeping in → Teams get so focused on shipping that UX takes a back seat Eventually you've built a powerful product that's harder to use than it should be. And that starts affecting more than just design. Users struggle to see the value, onboarding becomes a bottleneck and adoption & conversion suffer. That's where I come in. I work with founders and product teams to improve the experience, remove friction and turn complex software into products that perform better. It's also what I share here: Product design, UX, lessons from real projects and the thinking behind better software. If you're building a software product and the experience isn't keeping up with the business, DM me. Let's chat! - Ali

Having spent much of my career designing complex digital products, I've seen how easily business decisions can create problems in the user experience. One area worth paying attention to is how software features are divided between pricing plans. On paper, it's a commercial decision. But once someone is inside the product, those decisions affect what they can see and do. You start running into things like: → buttons that are visible but can't be used → features that disappear depending on the account → workflows that stop halfway through because an upgrade is required → team members having access to different functionality → customers not understanding why something worked in a trial but doesn't work now Some restrictions are obviously necessary. But the experience still needs to make sense. If someone has spent time setting up a workflow, the last thing you want is for them to discover halfway through that they can't complete it on their current plan. I'd want to think about those restrictions as part of the product design, not something to work out once the pricing structure has been decided.

Journaling app for an AI startup Hold the mic and just talk about your day 📣

I've spent over 10 years designing digital products, including work for some of the world's biggest companies. And one thing that becomes obvious when working on complex software is how much can go wrong between someone signing up and actually getting value from a product. Especially in B2B SaaS. A founder might be looking at signup numbers and wondering why more customers aren't converting. But I'd want to understand what happens after they create an account. Are people actually getting to the point where the product becomes useful? Or are they spending their first few days trying to: → connect integrations → import existing data → configure their workspace → understand unfamiliar terminology → work out what they're supposed to do first Some setup is unavoidable. But there can be a big difference between someone registering for your product and being able to use it properly. If I was looking at an activation problem, that's one of the first places I'd investigate.

I genuinely believe we're entering one of the most exciting periods in product design. AI is making it possible for small teams to design, build and ship things that would've required entire departments just a few years ago. Of course building a business is still hard. Finding clients, earning trust and creating something people actually want hasn't suddenly become easy. But as the barriers to building come down, understanding people, solving real problems and knowing what to build become more valuable than ever. I feel like what's possible is expanding every single week. We're still at the beginning of this shift, but I can't wait to see what the next few years make possible.

Email app for an AI startup 📧 Tap add on the newsletters suggestion and they fold out of your inbox into one 'Read later' row. Turning the 14 newsletters into one digest each day.

integrations page for an AI startup… Hover a topic the assistant couldn't answer last week and it points at the app with the answers. Tick which spaces it can read and the score climbs from 71% to 83% before you connect, then it re checks those questions for real.

Having worked on complex digital products for over a decade, I think designers need to stay involved well beyond the initial handover. A lot of important decisions happen when developers start building, particularly around interactions, edge cases and unexpected behaviour. A Figma file can only communicate so much. Some things need to be worked through together.

Investing app for a fintech startup Light mode 💡

I've spent years designing complex software, and I think teams can get far too obsessed with building the perfect design system. If your components are beautifully documented but your core product journeys are still confusing, you've probably got your priorities wrong. A design system should make it easier to build a better product, not become a project in its own right.

I helped one of the UK's largest telecoms businesses increase mobile checkout conversion from 8% → 24% in just six weeks. We didn’t triple conversion by adding more traffic, better marketing or a nicer interface. We started inside the product. Customers wanted the product. But they were dropping out on the way to buying it. We didn't start by making the UI look better. We looked at the journey, found where customers were hesitating or dropping out, then simplified the flow and removed unnecessary friction. Six weeks later, mobile conversion had tripled. Sometimes the biggest commercial opportunity is already inside your product. If users are getting to signup, onboarding or checkout but not making it through, I'd look at the journey before spending more money getting them there.

Investing app for a fintech startup… Light vs Dark 💡

investing app for a fintech startup 📈 Tap from a month to a year to all time and the chart reshapes as every number recounts, with a dashed line for what you actually paid in.

What a time to be a designer. For years, I'd design products in Figma and hand everything over to development. Now I'm using Claude Code → GitHub → Vercel to actually build and ship what I design. Currently working on a healthtech platform with patient onboarding, secure uploads and a clinical review dashboard. Still learning a lot along the way. But being able to own the experience from first concept to working product is genuinely exciting. The possibilities for designers right now are ridiculous.

I recently wrapped up a referral experience for a UK FinTech. The original goal was to make the journey simpler and improve conversion. But during testing, we discovered something interesting. Customers weren't necessarily struggling with the steps themselves. They wanted to know when they'd receive their reward and what happened after signing up. That insight changed how we approached the experience. By making reward eligibility, progress and payout information clearer, we projected a 45% reduction in referral-related support contacts. Concept work below↓

focus app for a productivity startup 🔍 Dark mode

One thing I’ve observed from working with a few founders recently: They’re often thinking about the solution before they’ve fully understood the problem. → We need a better dashboard → We need to redesign onboarding → We need to add more features But those are solutions. Not problems. Before I start designing, I want to understand: → Where are users getting stuck? → How is that affecting the business? → What’s actually causing it? Because the answer isn’t always a redesign or another feature. Sometimes it’s something much more fundamental. Understand the problem first. Then work backwards to the right solution.

Usage dashboard for an AI startup 🔍 Open the model on your most expensive feature and hover the options.

After working on complex software for years, I think the best interfaces are often the ones that feel predictable. People should know what's going to happen when they click something, change a setting or submit a form. If every interaction behaves differently, even simple tasks become frustrating. There's a lot of value in making the ordinary parts of a product work really well.