Our Story
We clear the path to progress
Nile helps changemakers make bold moves and break new ground, grounded in insight and design.
We founded Nile in 2006 to help ambitious companies create long lasting, design-lead change grounded in insight, not opinion.
We’re best known for solving problems other design teams can’t. You’ll usually find us working in heavily regulated industries, tackling complex, systemic and entrenched challenges.
Helping you find the way forward
We’re experts at solving strategic design and research challenges in complex, heavily regulated industries.
We’ve redesigned funding solutions for the NHS. We’ve reimagined what ‘luxury’ means for remote highland distilleries. We’ve built brand new climate-focused startups and revolutionised customer service in big financial institutions.
We’re at our best when our flexible, talented team has the opportunity to partner with you as equals, working together to clear the path to progress.
Nile have radically improved our ways of working and perspective. The team has a truly fantastic, can-do attitude, and show such creativity in their approach.Head of Channels, Global insurance marketplace client
Solving problems worth solving since ’06
Independent and purpose-driven
Nile is one of the last independent strategic design consultancies in the UK.
Over the years our clients, freelancers, and friends have told us they like us because our work matches the principles we live by. We’re human-centred, inclusive, and focused on making purposeful progress.
Our disciplines
We’re specialists in:
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Research and insight
We lead with insight. So we’re experts at running discovery, proposition, UX and accessibility research. We also build research teams and run research ops for our clients.
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Foresight and futures
We help our clients navigate uncertain futures with confidence. Our IFTF-trained team run foresight and signals workshops, coaching and design leadership mentoring, and C-suite strategy consultations.
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Product design
The problem-solving engine of digital solutions. We deal with product end-to-end, leading proposition design, product management and UX strategy, through to UX & UI design. We also build design systems.
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Service design
Our service design team sit at the heart of Nile. We’re experts and in proposition development, complex journey mapping, strategic service design and optimisation, and find-and-fix operations on business-critical services.
How we work
Our values
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Human at heart
Every decision we make responds to real human needs, because we build our solutions from behavioural insight and data.
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Can-do collaboration
We build capability, not dependency. Our process flexes to your internal set-up, and we always – always – work hand-in-glove with your team.
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Pace with purpose
We’re fast, focused, and careful, always making purposeful progress towards what’s important. Prioritising for impact, we get things done in the right order.
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Future focused
We embed futures and foresight into our standard services. Change is rapid and exponential – designing with a longer timeframe in mind helps us build more robust solutions.
Part of a regenerative movement
Building sustainable businesses
Nile became a BCorp in 2021.
That means we’re a leader in the global movement for an inclusive, equitable and regenerative economy.
We adhere to the highest social and environmental performance standards, and hold ourselves accountable to all stakeholders.
The core team
Nice to meet you
Nilers come from an eclectic mix of backgrounds, bringing diverse perspectives to big problems.
Meet the people who make Nile an inspiring partner to work with.
The CoFoundry
We’re backing big ideas we believe can change the world
Innovation is broken. We’re changing the game.
We support changemakers in start-ups, scale-ups, and corporate innovation teams through the Nile CoFoundry, using novel and flexible funding models to deliver early stage design interventions.