Evidence firstWest Yorkshire · 2026Research · Design · Accessibility

RichardStelmach

UX leader working across user research, product design, accessibility and systems thinking.

More than 20 years across digital products and ecommerce. I help teams use evidence to make clearer decisions, improve the design and understand what changed.

Explore selected work About my practice

Selected impact

Evidence connected to outcomes.

To understand what is really happening, I compare what people do, what they say and what the numbers show. Bringing evidence together helps reduce false positives and supports better-informed decisions.

Task success: 99%; Final image-upload prototype study
Conversion rate: +7%; Confirmed uplift from the initial holiday-search release
Reduction in detectable accessibility issues: 98.46%; Destination Guides automated accessibility scan
Bookings associated with map use: 244; Associated with destination-map use in one measured month

Selected work

Research that shaped the work.

For data privacy, I’ve included high-level summaries of each problem, my contribution and the outcome. Full case studies are password-protected; you can request access through LinkedIn.

Recent mixed-methods research · 2026

Making baggage choices clearer before booking

Observed usability testing; human and AI benchmarking; rapid prototyping; to objectively optimise the experience.

Contribution: UX manager, sole designer and researcher
Outcome: Guaranteed cabin luggage task success, 68.6 percentage point increase. Overall task success from 80.5% to 96.4%.

96.4%task successView case study

Recent iterative evaluation · 2026

Making image upload feel simple

Five rounds with 250 participants measured performance, usability and attitudes, giving the team objective evidence to guide each iteration.

Contribution: Design and research lead
Outcome: QX improved by about 7% (86 to 92), observed task success rose from 98% to 99%, and final usability reached 99%.

99%final task successView case study

Evaluative depth and architecture

Choosing an architecture before building it

Research with more than 1,400 participants combined recorded usability testing, quantitative studies, preference research and tree testing to shape one app for flight-only and package-holiday customers.

Contribution: Design and research lead
Outcome: The strongest concept achieved 100% correct product search in two reported samples.

100%correct product searchView case study

End-to-end research, design and delivery

Turning a map into a booking path

Research and interaction design turned an inspirational map into a clear route to book—and made its use measurable.

Contribution: Design, usability testing, content-prioritisation card sorting and analytics synthesis, in collaboration with Customer Insights.
Outcome: In the October 2026 review, desktop destination-page map users had a 7.7% booking conversion rate, compared with 2.4% across those pages. Observational, sampled estimates; causation remains untested.

7.7%Desktop booking conversion among map usersView case study

Independent AI product design · pre-launch

Rehearo: designing trust into AI interview practice

A personal project: I used Claude Design and my Accessible Design System to explore conversational AI, accessible interaction, privacy, pricing and recovery across the service.

Contribution: Product management, design-system ownership and AI-assisted design
Outcome: Extensive designs and requirements, ready for build and pilot evaluation stages of a fully functioning product.

Pre-launchIndependent product prototypeView case study

View all case studies

How I work

Leadership grounded in practical experience.

I bring evidence, standards, pragmatism and leadership experience, informed by more than 20 years of hands-on work across research, design and accessibility. My current role focuses mainly on leadership, setting standards and enabling teams, while independent projects help me continue developing my practical skills.

Evidence before opinion

I choose methods around the decision, then compare evidence from different sources to see whether a pattern holds up. This gives teams a firmer basis for action and reduces the risk of false positives.

Accessibility by default

I build accessibility into the work through clear requirements, enablement, reusable standards, audits and remediation—not as a compliance check at the end.

Traceable decisions

I have run hundreds of remote unmoderated usability and quantitative studies across web and app. I document the evidence clearly, connect it to design decisions and evaluate what changed—without claiming more than the research can support.

Independent open-source work

Accessible Design System

A machine-readable system connecting semantic tokens, component contracts, accessibility rules and Figma implementation—built to make accessible decisions reusable by people and AI.

View the system on GitHub

A connected practice

Design, research, accessibility and leadership—working together.

Across more than 20 years, my experience has spanned product design, remote unmoderated and quantitative research, CRO, accessibility and UX leadership across complex digital products. My accessibility work includes defining requirements, leading enablement and remediation, auditing web and app experiences, and building accessible design systems. My LinkedIn profile has a fuller overview of my experience and current role.

View my LinkedIn profile