I was originally hired to lead design across both Hurtigruten and Hurtigruten Expeditions (HX), during a pivotal moment of brand and business transformation. The company was preparing for two simultaneous rebrands – modernising its historic Norwegian coastal service and creating a distinct identity for its premium expedition offering, HX. This shift was part of a wider strategy to become a more global business. The company had recently expanded to London to establish a digital centre of excellence – aiming to build a world-class product and technology hub that could reach a broader customer base.

I joined the newly formed London team alongside the VP of Product, with whom I’d previously worked at HSBC and Farfetch, to help build the design element of this new product function. There was no mature design function in place. Product delivery was driven by agile rituals but lacked customer insight, strategic design thinking or brand coherence. This was a rare opportunity – not just to build products, but to build the design capability itself. With experience across both product and brand, I was well positioned to lead this. I was excited by the challenge of building a thing that makes things – a modern, scalable design function designed to consistently deliver the right outcomes, in the right way, for commercial success.