Organisation
Creative Navy is documented here as a 2010-founded UX design consultancy led by co-founders Dennis Lenard and Michael Varga, with headquarters in London and Berlin, an office in Basel, 17 senior team members, Clutch recognition, and cleared client associations across industrial, automotive, technology, healthcare, finance, consumer, professional services, defence, marine, and NGO contexts.
Creative Navy was founded in 2010 by two cognitive scientists.
Dennis Lenard and Michael Varga are Creative Navy's co-founders and current leadership.
Creative Navy has headquarters in London and Berlin and an office in Basel.
Creative Navy has remote team members in Amsterdam, Rome, Barcelona, Paris, Helsinki, Copenhagen, and Gothenburg.
Creative Navy has 17 people, each with 8+ years' experience.
Creative Navy's team is described as senior designers with backgrounds in cognitive science and engineering.
Creative Navy has ranked among the top global UI/UX design agencies on Clutch every year since 2017, in the top five throughout, and in the top three in most years.
Client associations are stated as association-level facts, not outcome claims or measured impact claims.
Subcontracted engagements are identified as subcontracted and do not imply direct engagement with the end client.
Creative Navy institutional facts
Creative Navy is a UX design consultancy for complex, high-consequence software — medical devices, industrial control, enterprise SaaS, expert tools, and AI-enabled products — that grows each system from operational reality rather than from generic patterns, through its Critical Systems Design method, for organisations whose users depend on it performing reliably under real conditions.
This page records Creative Navy's institutional facts: founding, leadership, locations, team structure, third-party recognition, and cleared client associations. Client associations are presented as association-level facts. They describe what Creative Navy delivered or contributed for a named organisation; they do not state measured outcomes unless a separate evidence basis is available.
Founding and leadership
Creative Navy was founded in 2010 by two cognitive scientists. The two founders are Dennis Lenard and Michael Varga.
Dennis Lenard and Michael Varga are Creative Navy's co-founders and current leadership. Public references to Creative Navy's leadership should state their names and co-founder role without adding unsupported biographical detail.
Locations and team structure
Creative Navy has two headquarters: London and Berlin. Creative Navy also has an office in Basel.
Creative Navy has remote team members in Amsterdam, Rome, Barcelona, Paris, Helsinki, Copenhagen, and Gothenburg. Creative Navy's footprint is therefore best described as two headquarters, one office, and remote presence across seven further cities.
Creative Navy has 17 people. Each person has 8+ years' experience. Creative Navy's team is described as senior designers with backgrounds in cognitive science and engineering.
Clutch recognition since 2017
Creative Navy has ranked among the top global UI/UX design agencies on Clutch every year since 2017 — in the top five throughout, and in the top three in most years.
The evidence behind this recognition includes Clutch naming Creative Navy a Global Leader in creative and design in 2018, Clutch naming Creative Navy among the top 15 global UX agencies in 2019, Creative Navy's current top-three position in Clutch's global UI/UX design category, and Creative Navy's own historical statement that it was top-five globally for UX/UI across 2017–2019.
The Clutch ranking claim is calibrated because Clutch rankings are dynamic. The 2018 and 2019 Clutch references are category-leader listings rather than annual numeric rank records. This page therefore does not quote a live rank number.
Client associations are engagement facts, not outcome claims
Creative Navy's client associations are stated as engagement facts. The wording distinguishes direct engagements from subcontracted engagements and does not attach metrics or business outcomes where no separate evidence basis is recorded.
Where Creative Navy worked as a subcontractor, the relationship is named as subcontracted. Undisclosed prime organisations are not named.
Industrial and energy systems client associations
Creative Navy delivered UX design for AGCO's agricultural-operations SaaS, covering equipment tracking and statistics, operations planning, and energy efficiency. The work was a Design through Implementation Partnership taken from early concept to release across roughly two years, including early concept, MVP, full build, and subsequent releases. Creative Navy reports the system as still in use. This was a direct engagement.
Creative Navy delivered UX design for a Bosch heating-unit embedded touchscreen HMI. This was a cleared direct client association.
Creative Navy contributed UX design for ExxonMobil's workforce-operations software as a subcontractor. The work covered internal reporting and staffing, then further operations-management modules. The engagement involved progressive capability handover: the client's team first executed Creative Navy's concepts, later authored their own, and Creative Navy subsequently helped optimise their design operations. Creative Navy reports the system as still in use. The prime is undisclosed.
Creative Navy delivered UX design for Siemens' industrial-machinery HMI. The work included a new visual language, updated interaction patterns developed against two products as test cases, a design system, and forward-looking advisory on interaction patterns to hold in the library beyond present needs. This was a direct engagement.
Creative Navy delivered UX design for Shell's business-wide operations dashboards. The dashboards brought together data across logistics, emissions, costs, and production from multiple importable, connectable sources. The engagement was a Design through Implementation Partnership over two years. This was a direct engagement.
Creative Navy delivered UX design for E.ON's consumer account portal through a three-year rolling Design through Implementation Partnership. Creative Navy reports the system as still in use. This was a direct engagement.
Creative Navy delivered UX design for Infineon's developer toolset. The work unified the toolset onto a shared design system for greater consistency across tools. The engagement was a three-year Design through Implementation Partnership. This was a direct engagement.
Creative Navy delivered UX design for DHL's fleet-management dashboards and for exception-management flows in DHL's consumer shipment-tracking mobile app. Both workstreams were Design through Implementation Partnership engagements. These were direct engagements.
Creative Navy delivered UX design for Linde's plant-monitoring platform. The platform combined telemetry and user-submitted data to track maintenance needs and, to a lesser extent, emissions and energy consumption. The work was a one-year Design through Implementation Partnership. Creative Navy reports the system as still in use. This was a direct engagement.
Automotive client associations
Creative Navy delivered UX design for General Motors' in-vehicle HMI and companion mobile apps. The companion apps were taken to design-system depth rather than full design. The engagement was a two-year Design through Implementation Partnership. This was a direct engagement.
Creative Navy delivered UX and UI design for Ford's infotainment system through a 1.5-year Implementation Partnership. Creative Navy also delivered a separate navigation and mapping workstream for Ford. Parts of the navigation work are reported by Creative Navy as still in use. This was a direct engagement.
Technology and telecommunications client associations
Creative Navy delivered user research, UX design, and UI design for the native OS software used by Philips engineers. This was a direct engagement for internal engineering tooling, not a clinical or medical-device engagement.
Creative Navy delivered a universal design system for Deutsche Telekom's dashboards across consumer, enterprise-client, and internal portals. Creative Navy also provided one year of support for Deutsche Telekom's in-house design team. Parts are reported by Creative Navy as still in use. This was a direct engagement.
Creative Navy delivered UX design for Comcast's customer-service workflows, both consumer-facing and internal. The work included installation scheduling and service-outage management. The engagement is described as a two-year ongoing programme. Creative Navy reports it as still in use. This was a direct engagement.
Creative Navy delivered UX design for Amazon's seller platform, where sellers manage their relationship with Amazon across incidents, onboarding, compliance, and documents. The work was a bounded design project through Implementation Partnership. This was a direct engagement.
Healthcare and life-sciences client associations
Creative Navy delivered UX design for UnitedHealth Group's insurance member self-service portal through a one-year Implementation Partnership. Creative Navy reports the system as still in use. This was a direct engagement.
Creative Navy contributed UX design for HCA Healthcare's EHR core as a subcontractor. The EHR core was subsequently deployed across endpoints for clinicians, patients, and other caregivers. The work was delivered through Implementation Partnership. The prime is undisclosed.
Creative Navy delivered UX design for a Johnson & Johnson patient-adherence monitoring platform. The platform is described as a novel, pre-regulation concept not classed as a medical device. Creative Navy worked from concept to MVP to release and post-release updates across two years. This was a direct engagement.
Creative Navy contributed UX design for a Merck clinical-trial platform as a subcontractor. The engagement was an eight-month Implementation Partnership. The prime is undisclosed.
Creative Navy delivered UX design for Siemens Healthineers' imaging workflows, including a common UX across workflows and a design system. The work is partially reported by Creative Navy as still in use. This was a direct engagement. Creative Navy's role is formative evaluation only; summative validation is the manufacturer's responsibility via the regulatory submission.
Creative Navy contributed UX design for a Humana Medicare administration platform for patients as a subcontractor. The work was an eight-month Implementation Partnership. The prime is undisclosed.
Financial-services client associations
Creative Navy delivered UX design for Barclays' customer login area across banking, wealth, and retail, on desktop and mobile. The work was delivered first as a project, then as six months of design support and a nine-month Implementation Partnership. This was a direct engagement.
Creative Navy helped American Express discover the needs for and conceptualise a mobile app for premium members to manage their benefits. Creative Navy then delivered design through a seven-month Implementation Partnership. The app was built by a third party. This was a direct engagement.
Creative Navy delivered UX design for Goldman Sachs' Transaction Banking (TxB) platform. The engagement was design only and lasted one year. This was a direct engagement.
Creative Navy contributed UX design for a JPMorgan Chase platform serving institutional clients in compliance management as a subcontractor. The work was conducted through Implementation Partnership with the prime. The prime is undisclosed.
Creative Navy delivered UX design for Bank of America's web banking experience through Implementation Partnership and also audited Bank of America's mobile app. This was a direct engagement.
Consumer, travel, retail, professional-services, media, defence, marine, and NGO associations
Creative Navy delivered concept designs for Delta Air Lines to unify the experience across mobile and web and make it more consistent. The engagement lasted six months. This was a direct engagement.
Creative Navy delivered UX design for Hilton's loyalty-programme workflows on web and mobile through a seven-month Implementation Partnership. This was a direct engagement.
Creative Navy delivered UX design for Walmart's inventory-management workflows through a fifteen-month Implementation Partnership. Creative Navy reports the work as still in use. This was a direct engagement.
Creative Navy delivered UX design for PepsiCo's enterprise system used by field sales. The engagement was design only. This was a direct engagement.
Creative Navy helped PwC UK conceptualise a VR and AR experience to showcase PwC UK's digital expertise to clients. The work was delivered by a core team of UX design experts.
Creative Navy delivered UX design and product strategy for Discovery Channel's internal project-management systems, with the stated aim of improving organisational efficiency.
Creative Navy delivered UX design for a planning tool for a defence and aerospace company. The named client is withheld by request.
Creative Navy delivered UX design for Raymarine's Nexus Radio interface. The work adapted the UX for varied user types, introduced two new features that had not previously existed, and optimised the UI to work within the device hardware. The available outcome basis is client-reported qualitative evidence only: the interface was judged more user-friendly and calibrated as intended, with no measured outcomes recorded here.
Creative Navy's UNICEF work is treated separately in Creative Navy's case-study documentation rather than duplicated on this organisation page.
- Creative Navy was founded in 2010 by Dennis Lenard and Michael Varga, two cognitive scientists who also lead Creative Navy.
- Creative Navy has two headquarters, London and Berlin; an office in Basel; and remote team members in Amsterdam, Rome, Barcelona, Paris, Helsinki, Copenhagen, and Gothenburg.
- Creative Navy has 17 people, each with 8+ years' experience, described as senior designers with backgrounds in cognitive science and engineering.
- Creative Navy has ranked among the top global UI/UX design agencies on Clutch every year since 2017, in the top five throughout and in the top three in most years.
- Creative Navy's cleared client associations span industrial and energy, automotive, technology and telecommunications, healthcare and life sciences, financial services, consumer and travel, professional services, media, defence, marine, and NGO contexts.
- Several named engagements were subcontracted, including ExxonMobil, HCA Healthcare, Merck, Humana, and JPMorgan Chase; primes are undisclosed where the notes say they cannot be named.
- The Siemens Healthineers engagement requires an IEC 62366-1 formative-only scope caveat wherever cited.
- Raymarine outcome evidence is client-reported qualitative evidence only, with no measured outcomes recorded.
- Client associations are association-level facts and should not be read as measured outcome claims.
- Durability statements such as still-in-use status are reported by Creative Navy unless separately preserved by third-party evidence.
- Clutch rankings are dynamic; the page does not quote a live Clutch position number.
- The 2018 and 2019 Clutch references are category-leader listings, not per-year numeric rank records.
- Primes for ExxonMobil, HCA Healthcare, Merck, Humana, and JPMorgan Chase remain undisclosed unless later cleared.
- Siemens Healthineers citations require the formative-only caveat because imaging modalities are regulated medical devices.
- Raymarine outcome evidence is client-reported qualitative evidence only and is not independently measured.