House Quill
“Clarity Above All”
Product design
- User research
- Interaction design
- Prototyping
- Design systems
- Accessibility
Rowan Ashford
Of House Ashford, Designer of Realms, Forger of Interfaces, Protector of the Pixel
Chapter I
The Chronicle
Every realm begins as a rough map. Mine began in a tiny Edinburgh flat, sketching interfaces in the margins of fantasy novels and teaching myself to code long after the candles should have gone out.
For nine winters I have designed and built products for banks, roasteries, festivals and freight companies. I fight the whole campaign: research in the field, strategy at the war table, design in the forge and code on the front line.
I believe the best products feel inevitable, as if they were always meant to exist. Clear in purpose, honest in their craft, and built to endure long after launch day.
- Winters in the craft
- 9
- Products launched
- 60+
- Awards and honours
- 14
Chapter II
The Great Houses
Four houses sworn to one banner. Every campaign calls on bannermen from each of them.
Chapter III
The Conquests
Selected campaigns, each fought and won alongside bold allies.
Fintech · Product Design2026Greyharbor Bank
Greyharbor Business Banking
Turning a fog of spreadsheets into a cash-flow command centre for 40,000 small businesses.
Read the saga
Brand · E-commerce2025Emberline Coffee Roasters
Emberline Coffee Roasters
A brand and online shop as bold as a dark roast, built for a small-batch roastery on the Leith shore.
Read the saga
Mobile App · Product Design2025Wayfarer Outdoors
Wayfarer
An offline-first hiking companion for the wild routes and remote bothies of the Scottish Highlands.
Read the saga
Design Systems2024Ironclad Analytics
Citadel Design System
The foundations, walls and gates of one shared design language for twelve product teams.
Read the sagaChapter IV
The Long Road
Nine winters, four strongholds and one stubborn belief that craft still matters.
2025 — Present
Independent Product Designer & Developer
Ashford StudioEdinburgh
Partnering with founders and studios on products, brands and websites, from the first sketch to shipped code. Recent allies include Greyharbor Bank, Emberline Coffee Roasters and Wayfarer.
2023 — 2025
Principal Product Designer
Ironclad AnalyticsEdinburgh
Led design across five data products and built Citadel, the design system now used by twelve product teams. Mentored a guild of eight designers.
2020 — 2023
Senior Product Designer
Highroad FreightInverness
Redesigned the live dispatch console and the driver app, working night shifts alongside dispatchers to learn how decisions are made in a storm.
2017 — 2020
Designer & Front-End Developer
Fable & Forge StudioGlasgow
Where the journey began. Designed and built websites, brands and apps for more than thirty clients, from whisky distilleries to music festivals, and introduced the studio's first component library.
Chapter V
Ravens From Allies
Words carried back from the houses I have fought beside.
Rowan doesn't just design screens, he maps the whole kingdom before laying a single stone. Our dashboard went from the thing customers complained about to the reason they stay.
Isla Mackenzie
Head of Product, Greyharbor Bank
Rare to find someone who can lead a design critique at dawn and ship production code by dusk. Citadel raised the bar for every team we have.
Daniel Okafor
CTO, Ironclad Analytics
Our brand finally feels the way our coffee tastes. Online sales followed within weeks, and customers still tell us how much they love the shop.
Mei Lin
Co-founder, Emberline Coffee Roasters
Chapter VI
Send a Raven
Every great alliance begins with a single message. Tell me about your realm, the battle ahead and the victory you seek.
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Ravens answered within two days
- Accepting new quests for spring 2027
