What I Do

I'm currently the Lead Product Designer for Nude Finance.

In 2022 I decided to return to employed life after 6 years of freelance. I joined a great team at Nude, I took over design at the company, doing everything from reworking the design system, introducing user testing, worked on a range of updates, new features and loads more. Since joining, deposits have grown from low 6 figures to more than £17 million, customer numbers have increased from around 1,000 to nearly 8,000, and onboarding conversion now running at a rate double what it was previously. It’s been very rewarding to be part of one team for a longer duration than I’d gotten used to while freelancing, and be able to really put a mark on a product, delivering real change and meaningful improvements.

Who I've worked with

I’ve worked with some amazing people over the years.

While freelancing I worked with a lot of different companies and projects, I had the pleasure of working with Subway (through AND), various Lloyds Banking Group brands (Scottish Widows, Lloyds Bank, Halifax), CYBG, better known now as Virgin Money, Moody’s Analytics, Finmo and the Scottish Parliament. In my previous employed life, I spent time with Realise (now called Kin + Carta), Blonde (now called Signal), IfLooksCouldKill and Peach.

I’ve been in the industry for more than 17 years now, completing my Undergrad in Product Design back in 2006, starting out as a print and advertising designer before returning to Napier to do a Masters in Interdisciplinary Design, working as a lecturer, then switching to digital design in 2011.

I see myself primarily as someone who loves solving problems and crafting solutions. That seems to make me a UI, a UX, a UI/UX or a Product Designer, depending on who wrote the job spec!

Our industry sure does love its job titles…

What does Tsukuru mean?

It's pronounced 'sue - ku - roo.'

I began using it as an alias for freelancing years ago, I’ve long had a love for all things Japanese, so after discovering there were other designers out there with the name Scott Burns, the Japanese language seemed as good a place as any to go looking for a brand name.

What's with the robots?

Ah, the robots…

They began life as a Masters project; we were challenged to make 10 things for less than £5, and to sell 9 of them, in a week.

So obviously I made 10 card robots.

Proving rather more popular than I anticipated, I developed something of a love/hate relationship with them, as throughout my Masters, as keen as I would be to talk about my latest project, friends and family would, invariably, only ask about the robots!

But, in the end, I embraced the little guys and turned them into a logo.

Extracurricular Activities

I’m proud to have mentored and supported design students.

From 2014 to 2019 I was a student mentor, together with Edinburgh College, working with budding designers in their final year at the College, advising them, working on challenge briefs with them in groups and looking out for them on placements at agencies I’ve worked at. I continue to support students and junior designers whenever the opportunity comes up.

Fancy a chat?

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