Elena Liakou
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Los Angeles, CA, United States
Toptal member since August 17, 2022
Elena is a creative brand and UX director with 13+ years of experience specializing in marketing design across branding, web, product, and paid media. She leads end-to-end creative from concept and messaging frameworks to scalable design systems and campaign execution, creating cohesive, high-performing assets across social, ads, email, and sales enablement.
Experience
- Visual Identity - 13 years
- Branding - 13 years
- Web Design - 13 years
- User Interface (UI) - 13 years
- UI Design - 13 years
- Information Design - 10 years
- Figma - 10 years
- UX Design - 10 years
Portfolio
EUROPOL Website
Satya Homes | Construction Company Website
Work Experience
Creative Director
TruDiagnostic
- Led TruDiagnostic’s brand refresh, defining the visual system and rolling out reusable templates across ads, social, email, and sales to improve consistency and speed.
- Built HCP marketing and sales enablement assets (conference, field, onboarding decks), creating scalable templates that reduced rework and streamlined updates.
- Developed a Meta paid creative framework (TOF/MOF/BOF) and promo-ready ad templates for key sales events to increase creative output and performance readiness.
Lead Visual and UI/UX Designer
Fabric's
- Designed compelling graphic and interactive experiences for digital marketing campaigns, website, mobile, and social media with minimal supervision.
- Managed a team of three to complete various projects, including branding, sales and marketing materials, presentations, training materials, advertising campaigns, printed and offline collateral, and packaging experience.
- Led and designed the advertising campaign The Future of Commerce, which was launched in the San Jose Airport from September 2021 until December 2021.
- Directed and designed the campaign for NRF and Shoptalk, the most popular retail shows in the US. Drove awareness of fabric's presence at the events and got people into our funnel.
- Prioritized work and multi-tasking to complete requests on time, with the same care and quality regardless of the size and visibility of the request.
Prototype Designer
Feedback Loop
- Created rapid iterations in the development of prototypes based on input from user testing findings and created functional prototypes for popular apps like Audi, Uber, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Aetna, Facebook, Comcast, and Experian.
- Identified design problems and devised elegant and functional solutions for Experian, Northwestern Mutual, and Humana.
- Translated concepts into user flows, wireframes, mockups, and prototypes that led to intuitive user experiences.
Senior UI/UX Designer
EWORX
- Designed more than 15 complex websites and digital products from the initial stage in the scope of European and national public and private sector projects like Europol, EIGE, ECHA, EIT, EEA Grants, and more.
- Created conceptual, processing, and implementation of high-quality digital graphic design layouts. Designed branding, corporate identities, books, leaflets, brochures, posters, banners, folders, and business cards.
- Built simple design solutions to complex and content-heavy web and mobile applications, including information architecture, wireframes, flowcharts, prototypes, design systems, and detailed visual mockups.
- Developed website redesign and rebranding and improved conversions. Presented prototypes, concepts, and designs using tools like Figma, Invision, and Axure.
- Created the popular data visualization tool for EIGE index, infographics, and data information design.
- Brought mock-ups to life using HTML and CSS and collaborated with back-end developers.
Lead Product Designer
EXPERLY
- Conducted market research to determine gaps in the market.
- Collaborated with the management and development team and provided helpful feedback on processes.
- Created and implemented a graphic interface, including the design system, icons, buttons, and menus.
- Translated research into feasible ideas and designs that will satisfy users.
- Created user stories, user surveys, personas, and storyboards.
- Communicated design ideas and prototypes to developers, designers, and leadership.
- Conducted research, rapidly testing and iterating, sketching, and prototyping.
- Performed usability testing and gathered feedback.
Freelance Web and Graphic Designer
Freelance
- Designed interfaces and digital assets for a variety of clients.
- Provided digital design services for startups and enterprises.
- Delivered comprehensive digital solutions focusing on identity, websites, blogs, videos, and mobile applications.
Education
Specialization in User Experience
General Assemply - Los Angeles
Bachelor's Degree in Faculty of Graphic Arts and Design
Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Athens - Athens, Greece
Certifications
Emotional Design | How to Make Products People Will Love
Interaction Design Foundation
Psychology of Interaction Design
Interaction Design Foundation
Information Visualization | Getting Dashboards Right
Interaction Design Foundation
Accessibility | How to Design for All
Interaction Design Foundation
Skills
Tools
InVision, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Experience Design (XD), Sketch, Trello, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Lightroom, Proto.io, Canva, Adobe CC, Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Keynote, Miro, Balsamiq, Adobe After Effects, Photoshop CC
Platforms
Figma, Mobile, Adobe Suite, WordPress, Web, Klaviyo
Industry Expertise
Advertising, Real Estate
Languages
HTML, CSS, SCSS
Other
Web Accessibility, Dashboard Design, Dashboards, Web Dashboards, Interaction Design (IxD), User Interface (UI), Usability Testing, User-centered Design (UCD), User Behavior, Consumer Behavior, Graphic Design, Web Design, Branding, Corporate Design, Visual Identity, Identity Design, UI Branding, Brand Identity, Print Design, Brochure Design, Poster Design, Print Ads, UX Design, UX Process, UX Principles, UX Prototyping, Wireframing, Information Design, User Flows, Design Patterns, User Empathy, A/B Testing, Customer Journey, Mobile Apps, Mobile Web, Mobile UI, Usability Analysis, Rapid Prototyping, Use Cases, User Needs, User Paths, Responsive Design, Responsive Layout, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, User Surveys, Usability Heuristics, Heuristic Evaluation, Logotype, Logo Design, Prototyping, Flow-mapping, Sketching, High-fidelity Mockups, UI Design, User Testing, Mobile UX, Product Design, Material Design, Task Flows, User Experience (UX), Design Systems, Desktop Web Design, Style Guides, Interactive Prototypes, Paper Prototyping, Visual Design, Data Visualization, SaaS Design, Brand Guidelines, Color Palettes, Mockups, Web UI, Marketing Design, Social Media, Art Direction, Video Editing, Motion Design, eCommerce, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Cross-functional Collaboration, Design Leadership, Landing Page Design, Mobile Web Design, Collaboration, Presentation Design, Social Media Design, B2C, Website Design, B2B, SaaS, Business to Business (B2B), Business to Consumer (B2C), Fintech, Multimedia Design, User Research, Journey Mapping, Emotional Design, Storyboarding, 3D Graphics, UX Pattern Design, ZURB Foundation, Mobile Design, UI Motion, Design Thinking, Website Redesign, Redesign, Data-driven Design, Charts, Infographics, Iconography, Web UX Design, Personas, Affinity Mapping, Information Architecture (IA), Digital Design, Construction, Illustration, eCommerce UI, eCommerce UX, Accessibility, Drupal Design
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