Wowzers! It seems like I have here a new visitor. Well, hello there, and feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.
About me
My name is Oleksii, and I’m a Product Designer specializing in advanced design experience and team management. With over nine years in the field, I have extensive expertise across domains such as Email Outreach, Fintech, Location Tracking, Freight Forwarding, Resource Planning, Automotive Valuation, and Performance Management.
I have a diverse background in both service and product companies, engaging in domain, market, and user research; usability evaluations; user interviews; and analyzing user behavior data. My work spans the design of user flows, interactions, customer journeys, and information architectures. I have designed and managed SaaS B2B web application products for over six years and have experience building startups from scratch as well as enhancing existing products’ functionality.
In recent years, my role has evolved into team leadership, focusing on team composition, motivation, development plans, and budget management. This role extends beyond traditional design tools to encompass a broader managerial scope.
My work style is meticulous, organized, and accountable, aligning perfectly with both my professional and personal ethos.
My vision
The direction I follow is the comprehensive design process and inclusive product solutions.Please take a moment, and think about what design means to you. As designers, product owners, or CEOs, we have multiple professional experiences but usually follow the same direction—the direction of consistent and transparent design processes. Investing, developing, managing, or designing a product, we aim at inclusive solutions covering the business goals and end-users’ needs. As leaders, we strive to create the best development environment for our teams and business.
To achieve the agreed goals, we have to move in the same direction through mutual respect and shared values.
Values I follow
Honest communication
And honestly, this is the best part of my job! Couse within quality communication, the right solutions are found. Within mutual honesty, process shades are smoother and more transparent. Within communication on the same page, the level of understanding is much higher, which means the goals are achieved faster, and with higher quality.
Collaboration drives results
So one of the most crucial skills is to appreciate the communication with the individual personality during these interactions. The same issue is about the departments’ collaboration and teams’ collaboration.
We have to be on the same page moving in the same direction, and creating some unique and exact experience for the end-users.
Commitments compliance
Business is always about time constraints; for example, violation of deadlines can lead to a shift in product release dates or production release. That can negatively affect additional financial costs and the overall reputation of the product and the company.
Thus, I use risk and expectation management components to keep the design process straightforward and transparent for both sides to build a long-term business relationship.
Principles I follow
Best practices are required
but not a dogma
Design best practices show the collected experience of specific cases, but they may not apply to all problems we may face as designers during our practice. Sometimes only target research helps us to clarify the specifics of the problems and ways of its solution.
Know your user,
research is a key
We have to stay aligned with the business goals cause the product we create usually, but not always, is about revenue, ROI, scaling, and new users. In parallel with that, we must care about actual end-users needs, study current problems, and validate hypotheses.
Data-driven solutions
have fewer chances of failure
There are a lot of methods to collect necessary data to improve design solutions. The selected method depends on the exact case we face. Collected data provides us with the background context and helps to solve the design issue more precisely.
Don’t know?
Ask, clarify, validate
Our claim is nothing more than a point of view until we prove it. If we face an issue we don’t know how to solve, we must find help from valid sources, specialists, mentors, domain experts, etc. There is no way to use a personal vision as a default solution until we validate it with references.
The team must be healthy
as its leader
The circle of people with whom we choose to work must be composed organically, complementing each other. The level of competition must affect positively, and each team member must be motivated enough to get assignments done in the best way they should.
Product value
affects motivation
As team leaders, product designers, or delivery managers, we have to care about the product’s value we deal with. A common phrase says: “Our product makes the world a better place!”. So, we must be honest with ourselves, does it really true, whom I really help, and how will this make the world a better place?
My work process & competencies
Identifying the “why”
Skills
“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.”– Simon Sinek.
That is why it is essential to stay focused not only on the beautiful products and seamless experiences but on the amount of research and strategic thinking that went into them. It all begins with knowing the “why.”
Whether I work with customers or internal stakeholders, I have to help them to understand the purpose behind my work.
Knowing and sharing the “why” is crucial for inspiring the team I work with to build a meaningful experience and motivate the customers to buy the final product.
The first questions I ask myself as a designer are:
– Why should I design this product, service, experience, or feature?
– How will it make the business and end-users live better?
– How will my work make the world a better place?
– Why do my customers and stakeholders care about it?
Creating a vision
Skills
Starting with the “why” and a vision allows my team and me to make faster and easier decisions, stay aligned, and build experiences that bring expected and forecasted results.
Ignoring this step may disorient the team members in what way the product or service must evolve. So, this step seems a bit lyrical but essential for long-term projects.
My vision answers questions like:
– What user problem or pain points will my solution solve?
– How will I solve it uniquely?
– What will I take when my vision is realized?
Understanding
the end-user
Skills
The research process and empathy start with the critical questions:
– What is the main problem that businesses and users struggling with?
– What are the current business goals?
– How will the solution help to achieve these goals?
– What constraints can I face: timeline, budget, team composition, or insights?
– Who is the target audience?
– Are we coming to change the target audience?
– Do the audience is segmented by specific groups?
– What audience is looking for?
– What do the users think, feel, say, see, and do daily?
– How do users interact with the current product?
– What feedback regarding the current product or service do we have?
Measuring
the audience
Skills
If it is the discovery phase, I focus on user interviews and contextual inquiries – quantitative research. The testing phase, it’s more about the concept and usability testing – qualitative research. After the product/service or feature has been launched, it is more about ongoing listening, user feedback, and analytical tools – behavioral and attitudinal methods.
The method selection depends on the particular case. The main goal is to collect valid information for specific purposes, process collected data, and transform it into design hypotheses.
UX research types:
– Qualitative—how, why?
– Quantitative—how much, how many?
– Behavioral—what do users do?
– Attitudinal—what users say?
UX research methods:
– Usability testing
– Field study
– User interview
– Focus groups
– Tree testing
– Card sorting
– Heat maps
– Eye tracking
– Scroll tracking
– A/B testing
– Analytics
– Surveys
Information
Architecture
Skills
This competency is part of the design process of arranging the product, service, or feature parts into a systematic, consistent and understandable structure.
Ander the Information Architecture, I mean the design structure and a strategic mindset to see how all the product components fit together. This is a required step before interface design.
Business components:
Users—defined persona(s):
– What user types the product has (internal, external, specific)?
Content—system permissions strategy:
– What system roles does the product include (manager, consultant, admin, etc.)?
Context—goals, and requirements:
– What are the product’s business goals?
– How do they are measured (KPIs, business metrics)?
Technical components:
Taxonomy:
– How must elements be organized by categories and hierarchical relationships?
Navigation:
– How does the user navigate across the system (menu, hyperlinks, bread crumbs, search, etc.)?
Search:
– What are the user’s search options?
– How are the search results presented to the user?
– How can the search engine be optimized?
Visual:
– What components must the design system include on start?
– What design guidelines already exist?
Interface design
Skills
Tools
This competency may include the following stages:
– Wireframe design—helps to provide the visual understanding of the product or service pages, features, and elements, which may be implemented in different levels of detail;
– Prototyping design—is more about elements’ connections and the user flows between different parts of the system;
– Interaction design—provides the system responding effect to the end-users;
– Paper sketches—sometimes, I use them to immediately check an idea, assumption, or hypothesis with a circle of coworkers. Still, the designer is not the end-user, so I carefully use this approach.
Interface design answers questions like:
– For which platforms is this design made?
– For which gadgets is this design made?
– What limitations do end users have?
– What special functions should the interface support (gestures, eye-tracking, multi-touch, etc.)?
– What are the main KPIs by which design will be measured?
– What might the ideal solution look, sound, and feel like?
– How will the idea meet users’ needs and relieve their pains?
Prototype design answers these questions:
– How fast must user tasks be accomplished?
– Is the solution technically feasible?
– How many alternative user flows may the user task have?
– What is the optimal way to solve the task?
– What technical issues may prevent the task completion (connection, performance, session time, etc.)?
This interaction design answers these questions:
– What mechanics must the elements have?
– How to control the system’s behavior?
– What will be done if the user does this action?
– What just happened?
– On what step user is of accomplishing his task?
Microcopy
& UX writing
Skills
“Content informs design. Design without content is decoration.” – Jeffrey Zeldman.
Another essential part of my design process is to support the content strategy by writing product update articles or, for instance, email texts about new features, improvements, or plans. That helps to attract new users and retention of current ones. Of course, this part of the work is more related to marketing responsibilities, but collaboration between departments is a default way to achieve the established product goals.
Working on microcopy, I question myself with the following:
– What should each component say?
– What should each screen say?
– How to direct users to the happy flow?
– How to prevent a negative flow?
– How can I guide users so they can accomplish their tasks?
Working on UX writing, I question myself with the following:
– How can I infuse the product’s or service’s content exclusiveness?
– How can I reinforce the value of the product or service by the UX writing?
– How can my product or service knowledge help the marketing department develop the best content strategy?
– How can I improve the product or service’s brand language with product knowledge?
Uphold UX values
Skills
At the stage of getting to know the client, I explain the advantages and benefits of UX design. I refer to the best practices within a domain and my professional experience. I pay attention to possible bottlenecks and issues when designing a product or service and try to avoid them using UX design methods.
The relationships I build with clients are oriented on lasting value.
I help clients to answer the following questions:
– Why should we invest in UX design?
– What’s the risk if we don’t invest in this?
– How will this support our business goals?
– How will this improve the user experience?
– How is design ROI measured?
– What is the business value of UX?
Team communication
& feedback
Skills
Answering these questions helps me to manage a team efficiently:
– How to help my team work together?
– Why motivate them to work together instead of independently?
– How to build a clean and transparent communication process?
– How to collaborate throughout the design process?
– How to motivate them to be engaged?
– What types of personalities are in my team?
– How often must I give and receive feedback on work?
Leadership
& mentoring
Skills
As a team leader, I do my best to create quality working conditions for my team, including the training system, feedback process, and communication. This increases the efficiency of employees’ performance.
In my opinion, dialogue is one of the best tools for working with a team. The ability to listen and understand the fundamental problem of a subordinary is the primary skill for a team leader. The composition of my team depends on the business needs and the individual skills of subordinates.
One more skill that UX leaders should aim to achieve is delegation. It allows me to free up time and focus on high-level tasks such as strategic thinking, coaching, and mentoring the UX team. Also, I use delegation to empower my teammates and help them build new skills by giving them greater autonomy. Understanding how the team works together or each member individually affects what activities and to whom I can delegate.
Questions I ask myself as a team lead:
– What motivates me to be a leader?
– What are my goals, and are they clearly communicated?
– Am I an example?
– Am I getting the best out of my team?
– Is my feedback useful, and does it help my team evolve in the right direction?
– How can I improve the environment that I create for my team?
– How can I improve myself?
AI & ML
Skills
Furthermore, predictive design decisions are facilitated by AI’s ability to forecast trends and user needs, helping me stay ahead in my strategy, and hypotheses.
AI helps me to enhance user testing and feedback analysis, identifying usability issues, and promotes better collaboration among team members through communication and project management tools.
Questions I ask myself as an AI user:
– What are my specific goals for using AI in UX design?
– How can AI enhance my understanding of user needs and behaviors?
– What AI tools are most relevant to my tasks, projects, and products?
– How can AI improve the efficiency and effectiveness of my design process?
– What ethical considerations should I keep in mind when using AI in design?
– What limitations does AI have in the context of UX design?
– How will I measure the success or impact of AI in my design projects?
Products & services I’ve been working on
