Publication
5 Signs Your Product Strategy Is Broken—and How Designers Can Help Fix It
https://www.toptal.com/designers/product-design/fix-broken-product-strategy
Christian is available for hire
Hire ChristianChristian Adolphus
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Location
Birmingham, United Kingdom
Toptal Member Since
August 18, 2022
Christian is an experienced product designer who enjoys working with ambitious teams to bring ideas to life by leveraging growth-driven design. During his career, he has led the design team of a growth stage startup, worked as the founding product designer, worked in a cross-functional design team, and built and managed two design systems. Christian is an excellent communicator, team player, and good stakeholder manager. His product experience cuts across B2B, B2C, and SaaS enterprise software.
Work Experience
Product Design Lead
2023 - PRESENT
Coverai.co
- Led both customer and market research. Designed, managed, and launched the Coverai web application from the ground up.
- Collaborated with the engineering team to align the information architecture, user journey map, interaction design, visual design, and video and audio processing for the web application.
- Led the research and improvement of the marketing site, which led to more user conversions.
Technologies: Figma, ClickUp, Qualitative Research, Communication, App Design, Design Leadership, Design Guidelines, ChatGPT, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Product Design, UX Strategy, Landing Pages, Dashboards, Interactive Prototypes, Responsive UI, Quantitative Research, Style Guides, Logo Design, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Responsive Web Apps, Layout, Consumer Products, User Validation Testing, Validated User Research, Remote User Testing, Unmoderated Remote Usability Testing, Quantitative User Research, Heuristic Analysis, Heuristic Evaluation, Video & Audio Processing
UI/UX Designer
2023 - 2023
Truthifi, Inc.
- Worked directly with the head of design to establish a dark theme direction for the existing product.
- Designed the messaging and global search features.
- Aligned on design decisions and iterations like deciding the direction for empty states of all existing flows.
Technologies: Layout Design, Interactive UI, Design Systems, Data Visualization, Dashboards, Finance, Interaction Design (IxD), Gamification, UI Design, UX Design, Software as a Service (SaaS), Responsive Web Apps, Layout, Consumer Products, Investments, User Validation Testing, Accessibility, Heuristic Analysis, Heuristic Evaluation, 3D
UX/UI Designer
2023 - 2023
Mustafa Muse
- Collaborated closely with the founding team to scope features and align on both design and product strategies.
- Led the end-to-end product design process, including developing a style guide that enabled the team to build consistent screens faster.
- Contributed to strategy development and determining and scoping out the MVP features.
Technologies: UX Design, Web UX, Software as a Service (SaaS), CRM Design, Dashboard Design, UI Design, User Flows, User Journeys, UX Wireframes, Layout Design, Health & Wellness, Responsive Web Apps, Layout, Consumer Products, User Validation Testing, Remote User Testing, Quantitative User Research, Heuristic Analysis, Heuristic Evaluation
Product Design Lead
2023 - 2023
Accountable TechServe Inc
- Served as a product designer leading the Toptal Projects team, which consisted of back-end, front-end, and product managers under a delivery manager.
- Spearheaded the research and discovery phase, which involved speaking to existing and potential customers to understand their needs and expectations.
- Aligned and worked closely with the founder to design AI-enabled accounting software for SMEs and accountants.
- Led the research, design, and implementation of the Accountable website using Figma and Webflow.
Technologies: Product Design, UX Design, UI Design, Product Strategy, Web & Mobile Applications, Machine Learning, AI Design, Web App Automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Information Architecture (IA), User Flows, Wireframing, Prototyping, B2B, Qualitative Research, Research Reports, Communication, App Design, Design Leadership, Design Guidelines, Fintech, Webflow, No-code Development, Conversion Rate, Web UI, Web UX, Landing Pages, Finance, Dashboards, UI Audits, Interactive Prototypes, Responsive UI, User Validation, Quantitative Research, Style Guides, Logo Design, Responsive Web Apps, Layout, Investments, User Validation Testing, Validated User Research, Remote User Testing, Unmoderated Remote Usability Testing, Accessibility, Quantitative User Research, Heuristic Evaluation
UI/UX Designer
2023 - 2023
PD4 Solutions LLC
- Collaborated closely with the founding team to scope features and align on both design and product strategies.
- Led the user research and end-to-end product design process, including developing a style guide that enabled the team to build consistent screens faster.
- Oversaw the design and implementation of visual assets and the marketing site using Figma and Webflow, respectively.
Technologies: UX Design, Web Design, UI Design, B2C, Branding, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Visual Design, Data Visualization, Dashboards, Communication, App Design, Design Leadership, Design Guidelines, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Research Reports, Webflow, Web UI, No-code Development, Conversion Rate, Landing Pages, Interactive Prototypes, Responsive UI, Quantitative Research, Style Guides, Responsive Web Apps, Layout, Heuristic Evaluation
Lead Product Designer
2021 - 2022
Chaka
- Led the research, UX, and UI design improvements of the Chaka web and mobile trading platform to reduce onboarding dropoffs by 70%, significantly increasing our customer base and leading to a $1.5 million pre-seed.
- Led the SmartInvest design, which has helped over 100,000+ people to kickstart their investment journey since its launch.
- Oversaw the user research and design of various optimizations, which helped improve usability and reduced the number of clicks and steps customers took to achieve specific tasks.
- Led the design and maintenance of the design system, ensuring consistency across our various product offerings.
- Encouraged a culture that enhanced growth, trust, and transparency within the design team.
Technologies: Figma, Zeplin, Adobe CC, Mobile App Design, UX Design, Mobile UX, iOS, UX Strategy, User Journeys, Mobile UX Design, UX Research, UX Audits, B2C, Web App Design, UI Components, Fintech, Design Systems, Information Architecture (IA), Product Strategy, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Feature Prioritization, User Interviews, Progressive Web Applications (PWA), PWA, Usability Testing, UX Mentoring, Interface Design, Mentorship & Coaching, Mentorship, Data Visualization, Web UX Design, B2B, Web UI Design, Landing Page Design, Web App UI, Web App UX, Team Leadership, Complex Application User Interfaces (UI), High-fidelity Mockups, Rapid Interactive Prototyping, Lean UX, Audits, Rewards Programs, Financial Design, Component Libraries, UX Writing, Qualitative Research, Research Reports, Communication, App Design, Design Leadership, Design Guidelines, Landing Pages, Finance, UI Audits, Interactive Prototypes, App UI, Responsive UI, User Validation, Quantitative Research, Style Guides, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Responsive Web Apps, Layout, Consumer Products, Investments, Validated User Research, Remote User Testing, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Unmoderated Remote Usability Testing, Accessibility, Quantitative User Research, Heuristic Analysis
Founding Product Designer
2021 - 2022
SquadPal
- Worked closely with the founding team to lead research and end-to-end product redesign efforts, resulting in a 40% increase in user retention and a 55% increase in user engagement.
- Optimized the activity creation flow, reducing the average activity creation time from 3 minutes to less than 30 seconds.
- Collaborated closely with the product manager to declutter and rework the information architecture of our user onboarding flow, leading to a 53% increase in customer activation.
- Partnered with the founding team to research and design a Slack extension application, enabling us to acquire more customers.
- Designed an MVP version of the design system that ensured the team could build consistent UI components faster.
Technologies: Figma, ClickUp, Lucidchart, User Testing, Mobile App Design, UX Design, Mobile UX, iOS, UX Strategy, User Journeys, Mobile UX Design, UX Research, UX Audits, B2C, Web App Design, UI Components, Design Systems, Information Architecture (IA), Product Strategy, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Feature Prioritization, User Interviews, Usability Testing, Interface Design, Web UX Design, B2B, Web UI Design, Landing Page Design, Web App UI, Complex Application User Interfaces (UI), High-fidelity Mockups, Rapid Interactive Prototyping, Lean UX, Audits, Rewards Programs, Component Libraries, UX Writing, Qualitative Research, Research Reports, Communication, App Design, Design Leadership, Design Guidelines, Landing Pages, UI Audits, Interactive Prototypes, Social Media, App UI, User Validation, Quantitative Research, Style Guides, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Responsive Web Apps, Layout, Consumer Products, User Validation Testing, Validated User Research, Remote User Testing, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Unmoderated Remote Usability Testing, Accessibility, Quantitative User Research, Heuristic Analysis, Heuristic Evaluation
Product Designer
2020 - 2021
Software Business Solutions Consulting
- Collaborated closely with the business development team to create a proof of concept UI for RFPs and led prototype presentations that won two out of three project bids.
- Led design in a cross-functional team to deliver an emergency healthcare system in collaboration with key healthcare stakeholders in Nigeria to combat the high death rate caused by a lack of emergency responses.
- Digitalized a 3-decade-long trade expo for Shell's corporative, Lagos, that led to over 150% growth in revenue within the first two weeks of launch.
- Led the end-to-end product design of an internal enterprise content management (ECM) system for a top Nigerian financial institution called Titan Trust Bank.
- Constantly worked in a cross-functional agile team of designers, devs, and PMs to drive product alignment around a core set of business goals that continuously exceeded client expectations.
Technologies: Figma, Miro, Trello, Jira, Zeplin, Adobe CC, Mobile App Design, UX Design, Mobile UX, iOS, UX Strategy, User Journeys, Mobile UX Design, UX Research, B2C, Web App Design, UI Components, Fintech, Information Architecture (IA), Product Strategy, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Feature Prioritization, User Interviews, eCommerce, Usability Testing, Interface Design, Data Visualization, Web UX Design, B2B, Web UI Design, Landing Page Design, Web App UI, Web App UX, Complex Application User Interfaces (UI), High-fidelity Mockups, Rapid Interactive Prototyping, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Content Management Systems (CMS), Website Builders, Financial Design, Component Libraries, UX Writing, Research Reports, Communication, App Design, Design Leadership, Design Guidelines, Agile, Research, Redesign, Website Redesign, Website Optimization, Landing Pages, Finance, UI Audits, Interactive Prototypes, App UI, Responsive UI, Quantitative Research, Style Guides, Logo Design, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Proof of Concept (POC), CRM Design, Health & Wellness, Responsive Web Apps, Layout, Investments, User Validation Testing, Validated User Research, Remote User Testing, User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
UI/UX Designer
2019 - 2020
Genrosys
- Worked closely with PMs and other stakeholders within the logistics ecosystem to design a forward and reverse logistics system for mobile and web platforms.
- Joined the design lead on my team to work on a startup and talent incubation web application.
- Collaborated with a product owner and product manager to design a crowdfunding platform that had a huge impact within the first three months of launch.
Technologies: Adobe Experience Design (XD), Figma, Miro, Trello, Mobile App Design, UX Design, Mobile UX, UX Strategy, User Journeys, Mobile UX Design, UX Research, Web App Design, UI Components, Information Architecture (IA), User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Feature Prioritization, Usability Testing, Interface Design, Web UX Design, B2B, Web UI Design, Landing Page Design, Web App UI, Web App UX, High-fidelity Mockups, Audits, Content Management Systems (CMS), Website Builders, HTML, CSS, Financial Design, Communication, App Design, Design Leadership, Design Guidelines, Landing Pages, UI Audits, Interactive Prototypes, App UI, InVision, Responsive UI, Style Guides, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Proof of Concept (POC), Software as a Service (SaaS), Responsive Web Apps, Layout
UX Designer
2018 - 2020
CampHouse
- Worked closely with the founding team to conduct market and user research and organize product roadmap.
- Led UX initiatives that included designing storyboards, user journey maps, sketches, and wireframes.
- Led initial growth initiatives to land the first few customers.
Technologies: Figma, Information Architecture (IA), Product Strategy, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Feature Prioritization, User Interviews, Usability Testing, Interface Design, Web UX Design, B2B, Web UI Design, Landing Page Design, Web App UI, Web App UX, Complex Application User Interfaces (UI), High-fidelity Mockups, Rapid Interactive Prototyping, Lean UX, SaaS Design, HTML, CSS, Component Libraries, Communication, App Design, Design Guidelines, Web UX, Landing Pages, InVision, Responsive UI, Quantitative Research, Style Guides, Logo Design, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Software as a Service (SaaS), Layout, Consumer Products
Other Experience
Certifications
APRIL 2020 - PRESENT
Enterprise Design Thinking Practitioner
IBM
APRIL 2020 - PRESENT
Product Masterclass: How to Build Digital Products
Product School
APRIL 2020 - PRESENT
Product Masterclass: Product Design
Product School
DECEMBER 2019 - PRESENT
Learn the Agile Methodology
Udemy
JANUARY 2018 - PRESENT
Android Basics Nanodegree Program
Udacity
Experience
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