# John Slater — UX Designer > John Slater is a UI/UX designer in Preston, UK – 20+ years across ecommerce, social housing and agency work. Case studies, UX articles and free resources. John Slater is a user experience designer based in Preston, UK, with over 20 years of experience, and the founder of Ability Owl, an accessibility testing tool. He has designed for EKM (ecommerce SaaS), L&Q (previously Trafford Housing Trust, social housing), Evocus (digital agency) and Kahn Design. His work focuses on forms, checkout flows, accessibility (WCAG 2.2) and measurable UX improvements – including a checkout redesign that increased conversion by up to 63%. ## Pages - [About](https://www.slaterjohn.com/about): who John is and what he has worked on - [Work](https://www.slaterjohn.com/work): UX case studies and product design portfolio - [CV](https://www.slaterjohn.com/cv): full curriculum vitae with roles, skills and education - [Side projects](https://www.slaterjohn.com/side-projects): apps and builds made outside work, including Nomekop - [Contact](https://www.slaterjohn.com/contact): via LinkedIn or GitHub - [Accessibility statement](https://www.slaterjohn.com/accessibility-statement): how the site aims for WCAG 2.2 AA and how to report problems - [AI use](https://www.slaterjohn.com/ai-use): an honest account of how agentic coding is used to build this site - [CV as PDF](https://www.slaterjohn.com/cv.pdf): downloadable copy of the CV ## Case studies - [Case Study: MyAccount repairs journey](https://www.slaterjohn.com/case-study-myaccount-repairs-journey): How I made reporting a repair through MyAccount at THT (now L&Q) much easier – customer workshops, prototypes and user testing. - [Case Study: Making information easily accessible to increase leads](https://www.slaterjohn.com/making-information-easily-accessible-to-increase-leads): How we redesigned Laurus (now L&Q) development pages around what home buyers actually need, so the same ad traffic generates more leads. - [Case Study: Simplifying navigation to improve customer engagement](https://www.slaterjohn.com/improving-access-to-important-customer-information): Making changes to navigation at Trafford Housing Trust (now L&Q) to improve user engagement with important content and reduce the number of telephone queries. - [Case Study: Improving the returning customer checkout at EKM](https://www.slaterjohn.com/improving-the-checkout-experience-for-returning-customers): How my team removed two friction points for returning EKM customers – part of the checkout work that lifted conversion by up to 63%. - [Case Study: Building EKM Analytics](https://www.slaterjohn.com/building-ekm-analytics): How, as an agile squad, I helped build the EKM Analytics feature guided by user feedback and insights. ## Articles and guides - [Nomekop: my Pokémon TCG binder app](https://www.slaterjohn.com/nomekop-pokemon-binder-app): I built a free web app that plans Pokémon TCG binder layouts, tracks your collection and prints A4 binder pages – wrapped in an original Game Boy aesthetic. - [js-skills: teaching Claude my conventions](https://www.slaterjohn.com/js-skills-teaching-claude-my-conventions): I packaged my UX rules, my writing voice and my illustration style as Claude Code skills – so agentic coding on my projects works to my standards, not the model's defaults. - [The numbers behind the EKM checkout redesign](https://www.slaterjohn.com/ekm-checkout-conversion-study): EKM measured our checkout overhaul at an average 38% conversion rate increase – from 13% up to 63%. The original study is offline, so I've archived the numbers here. - [Can you automate accessibility testing?](https://www.slaterjohn.com/can-you-automate-accessibility-testing): You can’t fully automate accessibility testing. What tools like Lighthouse and Axe catch, where they fail, and how I combine them with manual and user testing. - [Placeholders are hints, not labels – Bad Habits & Enhancements](https://www.slaterjohn.com/placeholders-are-hints-not-labels-bad-habits-enhancements): Learn how to properly use the placeholder attribute, avoid creating accessibility issues and ultimately assist your users when using your forms. - [Building my own light-up The Killers ‘K’ sign](https://www.slaterjohn.com/building-my-own-light-up-the-killers-k-sign): I built my very own DIY light up The Killers sign using power tools, wood, LEDs and some Arduino magic. - [EKM Facebook Messenger Widget Wizard](https://www.slaterjohn.com/ekm-facebook-messenger-widget-wizard): Designing a guided setup wizard for EKM’s Facebook Messenger widget, walking shop owners through off-site Facebook settings with visual cues. - [EKM Customers & Orders App](https://www.slaterjohn.com/ekm-customers-orders-app): A self-initiated redesign of the EKM Customers & Orders iOS app – daily revenue, order lists and customer details on mobile, designed in Sketch. - [EKM & Klarna Onboarding Wizard](https://www.slaterjohn.com/ekm-onboarding-wizard): How I designed the EKM onboarding wizard with Klarna – profiling new shop owners to tailor their setup and route them to the right payment gateway. - [Not all numbers are alike – Bad Habits & Enhancements](https://www.slaterjohn.com/number-inputs-you-should-probably-not-use-the-number-type): Learn how to accept numerical inputs using the correct input type. Remember that not all numbers should use the number field - [Ecommerce: Increasing conversions by reducing the number of fields](https://www.slaterjohn.com/increasing-conversions-with-fewer-fields): How my team and I cut the EKM checkout from nine fields to four, reducing time-to-checkout and lifting conversion across thousands of online shops. - [Free address lookup plugin for your website](https://www.slaterjohn.com/free-address-lookup-script): Add a free address lookup script to your website to reduce the number of address fields you need to display to the customer. - [Labels should be clickable – Bad Habits & Enhancements](https://www.slaterjohn.com/labels-should-be-touch-targets): Make your forms more accessible and the user experience more delightful by ridding yourself of bad habits when using the label element. - [Forms – Bad Habits & Basic Enhancements](https://www.slaterjohn.com/forms-bad-habits-and-basic-enhancements): Up your form game and stop frustrating your users. Cut out those bad habits and make simple enhancements to your web forms to please the user. - [Free SVG + PNG Credit Card Logo Icons Download](https://www.slaterjohn.com/free-credit-card-payment-svg-icons-download): Download a free collection of 50 credit card and payment logo icons in SVG and PNG, covering Visa, Mastercard, Amazon, American Express, PayPal and Klarna. - [Set up multiple Ghost blogs for $5 a month – Part 2](https://www.slaterjohn.com/set-up-multiple-ghost-blogs-for-5-a-month-part-2): Second part of my tutorial on creating multiple ghost blogs on a single digital ocean droplet for only $5 per month. - [Set up multiple Ghost blogs for $5 a month – Part 1](https://www.slaterjohn.com/set-up-multiple-ghost-blogs-for-5-a-month-part-1): Learn step-by-step how to setup a blog on the fastest publishing platform around, Ghost. Creating multiple blogs on a single Digital Ocean droplet. ## Markdown versions Every post and content page is also available as plain markdown: append `.md` to its URL (for example https://www.slaterjohn.com/can-you-automate-accessibility-testing.md) or request the page with an `Accept: text/markdown` header. ## Topics - [Case Studies](https://www.slaterjohn.com/topics/case-studies): In-depth write-ups of real UX projects — the problem, the process, and the measured results. - [Portfolio](https://www.slaterjohn.com/topics/portfolio): Selected product design work: interfaces, wizards and apps designed for real products. - [UX](https://www.slaterjohn.com/topics/ux): Articles on user experience design: research, usability, conversion and design decisions backed by evidence. - [Form Design](https://www.slaterjohn.com/topics/form-design): Practical advice for designing forms people can actually use — labels, fields, validation and accessibility. - [Accessibility](https://www.slaterjohn.com/topics/accessibility): Making digital products usable by everyone, including WCAG guidance and testing approaches. - [Ecommerce](https://www.slaterjohn.com/topics/ecommerce): Improving online shops: checkout flows, conversion rate optimisation and ecommerce UX patterns. - [Guides](https://www.slaterjohn.com/topics/guides): Step-by-step tutorials and walkthroughs, from server setup to design techniques. - [Freebies](https://www.slaterjohn.com/topics/freebies): Free downloads and code: icons, scripts and other resources you can use in your projects. - [DIY](https://www.slaterjohn.com/topics/diy): Hands-on side projects away from the screen — building physical things with electronics and wood.