
Maria Mukha
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Barcelona, Spain
Toptal member since January 25, 2017
Now focused on startup consulting in UX and UI design, Maria has over ten years of experience creating brands and user interfaces. She's worked for globally known companies and startups, taught a theory of design course for beginner designers, and provided services for clients from Europe and the US as a freelancer. She has a degree in graphic design and illustration and used to run her own design agency in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Portfolio
Work Experience
Senior Product Designer
Localize
- Worked closely with project managers and developers on the B2B2C product as a lead product designer.
- Conducted interviews with end users and gathered feedback a few times during the design and development process of brand-new features, constantly improving their experience with the product while monitoring KPIs.
- Applied and implemented new technologies, such as generative AI, for better user experience and product relevance.
Product Designer
Fintern/Abound
- Contributed to the UX audit, research, and complete UI redesign of the mobile product.
- Collaborated closely with the client and led the UI redesign process: at the same time, the client worked with the branding agency, so I participated in the brainstorming sessions, which helped build and deliver UX solutions.
- Handled the whole process face-to-face with the client: we had a great connection and understanding of the brand vision.
Lead Product Designer
Self-employed
- Consulted for companies and startups. Worked as a design lead with three designers that I managed.
- Built information architecture in terms of visual and user experience design, mostly focused on mobile apps and mobile view websites.
- Created ads and campaigns for big companies, enterprises, and individual entrepreneurs.
Product Designer
Clay
- Helped the client frame and visualized the idea of the product from the very first stages.
- Conducted deep market research, competitive analysis, potential users discovery.
- Created four types of user personas, iterated a couple of times with the help of industry experts and the client to get the most accurate results.
Design Theory Teacher and Freelance Designer
Self-employed
- Taught beginners the theory and practice of design as a part of my own freelance career.
- Created applications—from logo and multi-platform apps to landing pages—for a variety of clients around the globe.
- Led a design course for beginners.
Lead UX Designer and Art Director
Logz.io
- Worked closely with a marketing team for website improvements. My role included research, leading two other designers, preparing the pages for A/B testing, and collecting results for analytics and improvements.
- Designed brand-new concepts, such as branding for daughter companies, online/offline events, or any standalone brands connected to the company.
- Curated the concept creation, branding finalization, and development of a mobile and desktop website for an event with 12,000 registered users and about 8,000 attendees.
- Proved a visual strategy and design management for marketing purposes (A/B tests, research, and more); then, based on the test results, I improved visuals and some of the UX scenarios of the product.
- Created the design system (the unified library for designers and developers) for better convenience of usage and product consistency.
UX/UI Consultant
K Health
- Maintained the app and improved the UX and UI with a healthcare AI product.
- Explored problems and solved them with better design solutions.
- Designed a new visual language and design system together with design team members.
- Worked closely with researchers, developers, and the product team.
- Ideated with a design team, testing ideas and providing the best solutions for the current app.
- Created the design and helped maintain mobile startup apps in the healthcare industry.
- Provided prototypes, wireframes, and UX flows, gathered user feedback, and iterated on the improvements.
- Provided a new UI design based on brand philosophy and guidelines.
- Led my project of the illustration and color coding within the product, transferred all the graphics from Adobe Illustrator to Figma and provided the system of the color codes that works with the main product Design Library.
Founder and Lead Designer
Mukha.Agency
- Designed and directed mobile, web, and desktop apps from scratch.
- Handled branding, logo, print, and digital products.
- Designed the UX and UI for startups at every stage, both individual entrepreneurs and businesses.
- Built user scenarios, user stories, and user flows for digital product improvements based on qualitative user research.
- Strategized for eCommerce product GUIs, design systems, and interfaces.
- Worked with clients from all over the world, including Vocativ, Playtika, and dozens of startups.
UX and UI Designer
Wanderfy
- Designed an iOS application that connects professionals from all over the world.
- Improved an existing UX and adopted it for iOS users.
- Redesigned an old UI with an updated, modern, and better UX design.
- Created 100+ screens with all the assets and edge-case descriptions.
- Provided detailed documentation, prototype, and structured source file for further implementation.
Mobile UX/UI Designer
BETR Technologies
- Designed UX and UI for an iOS app from scratch. The product is a big platform for dating, socializing, and content popularization, with friendly interactions with users created for busy people.
- Helped with work on logo creation, consulted about landing pages, and guided a client through the workflow.
- Tested different user flows for every scenario of the app and found the best solutions out of all the ideas that were brainstormed with a client.
- Developed a few versions of the app, including the very first stage with a limited number of features. Also suggested the "perfect" product vision—the maximum that could be developed for the users in a short period of time.
- Created presentation, prototype, and UI for the app with working flow in InVision, UIkit, and guidelines.
Senior UX Designer
Connectik
- Worked on a platform featuring social media, messaging, communities, and collaborations.
- Maintained up to five projects based on this platform.
- Improved the UX and flows for web, Android, and iOS applications.
- Maintained the prototypes and provided assets and descriptions for developers.
- Researched user needs and problems and helped ideate the right solutions.
Graphic and User Interface Designer
Playtika
- Made an impact on the improvements in a game with five million users.
- Worked on promotion materials, email, and other marketing materials and popups within the app for desktop, iOS, and Android.
- Designed the UI for campaigns within the app and took responsibility for all types of materials, from emails to in-app purchases.
UI/UX and Product Designer
Neema
- Owned the product design for a startup company building a cross-platform mobile app.
- Made a website, UI for Android and iOS apps, and a landing page, and worked on UX improvements.
- Led graphic design processes and worked on posters, digital marketing design materials, brand elements design, etc.
Graphic and Web Designer
Freelance Graphic Designer and Photographer
- Designed CD covers, brochures, books, magazines, and printing products.
- Successfully worked with local companies in Ukraine and abroad.
- Designed illustrations, layouts, and print materials. Created logos and branding.
- Shot photos for magazines and newspapers that I was designing for. Worked with professional photo studios and provided services as a reportage photographer for a few magazines.
Education
Master of Arts Degree in Graphic Design and Illustration
National Technical University of Ukraine: Kyiv Polytechnic Institute - Kiev, Ukraine
Bachelor's Degree in Graphic Design and Illustration
National Technical University of Ukraine: Kyiv Polytechnic Institute - Kiev, Ukraine
Certifications
Power of Purpose
Ideo U
UX Strategy
Projector Institute
Measuring UX and Impact of Design
Projector Institute
Product Management Course Completion
Udemy
Certificate of Completion a Year Course in Web and Graphic Design
MASA Israel Journey
Adobe Certified Expert
Adobe Systems
Skills
Tools
InVision, Illustrator CC, Sketch, Adobe Experience Design (XD), Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe CC, Hotjar, FullStory, ProtoPie, Adobe Dimension, Jira, Adobe InDesign, CorelDRAW, InVision App, Adobe Animate, Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe, Slack, Zoom, Google Webmaster Tools, Miro, Flow, Principle, Cinema 4D, Adobe After Effects, Procreate, Asana, Confluence, Trello, Looker
Platforms
Figma, iOS, Mobile, Android, Web, MacOS, SharePoint
Industry Expertise
Product Ideation, Healthcare, Real Estate, Entertainment & Leisure, Fashion, Health, Events, Advertising
Languages
Charity, Visual Design Language
Other
Branding, Mobile UX Design, Mobile UI, Mobile UI Design, Web App Design, User Experience (UX), Complex Application User Interfaces (UI), Mobile Apps, Product Design, Web Design, Human Interface Design, Design Systems, iOS App Design, Android App Design, Mobile Prototypes, Desktop Web Design, Brand Design, Design, Visual Design, UX Prototyping, UI Design, User Interface (UI), UX Design, Prototyping, UX Sketching, User Flows, Mobile App UI, Mobile UX, Wireframing, Mobile App Design, Social Media Apps, User Research, Responsive Web Design (RWD), B2C, Illustration, Mobile Design, UX Research, Web & Mobile Applications, UI Prototyping, App Design, Graphic Design, UI Style Guides, Mockups, UX Wireframes, Personas, Journey Mapping, User Interviews, Usability, MVP Design, Web UX Design, Adobe Creative Cloud, User-centered Design (UCD), UX Audits, Design Reviews, Healthcare Software, iOS UX Design, Business to Consumer (B2C), Consumer-facing Product Design, Product Ownership, Responsive UX Design, Presentation Design, iOS UI Design, Mobile Web Design, User Workflows, Logotype, Mobile Platforms, Mobile Web, Digital Product Design, Lean UX, Web UX, Web UI, Landing Page Design, 360 Campaigns, Logo Design, Color Palettes, Typography, Brand Books, Data Visualization, Agile, Art Direction, Digital Illustration, Healthcare IT, Digital Health, Web App UX, Online Platform, SaaS Design, Marketing Design, SaaS, User Testing, Software as a Service (SaaS), Web App UI, Style Guides, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Responsive Web Apps, Dashboard Design, User Journeys, Rapid Prototyping, AI Design, Atomic Design, Accessibility, User Behavior, System Design, Squarespace, Fintech, Brand Identity, Web UI Design, Usability Testing, Service Design, Design Leadership, User Journey Maps, Web Application Design, B2B, Enterprise Design, Real Estate UI, AI Content Creation, AI Art Generator, Data-heavy Design, Information Architecture (IA), Social Media Platforms, A/B Testing, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Notion, ClickUp, App UI, Magazines, iPad, Websites, Beauty Products, Layout, Magazine Cover Design, Layout Design, Online Media, Paper Prototyping, Delivery, Service, Object Tracking, App UX, Donations, iPhone, Redesign, Wireframe to Product, UIKit, Digital, Mobile Applications, Videos, Sketching, Interface Design, Apps, Applications, Meetings, Opportunity Maps, Chatbots, Chatbot Conversation Design, Communication Design, Startups, High-tech Startups, Brand Guidelines, Landing Pages, Design Guidelines, Tech Conferences, Ads, Content, Content Strategy, Content Marketing, Icon Design, Iconography, Digital Branding, Travel, Navigation Design, Stationery, Digital Communication, Patterns, Research, Market Research, Product Management, Sprints, Lean Startups, Waterfall UX, Kanban, Product Development, Business Analytics, Drawing, Composition, Art, Digital Art, Design Books, Font Design, Book Cover Design, Advertising Design, Print Design, Multimedia, Waterfall Development, Messenger, Web Applications, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), B2B2C, Business to Business to Consumer (B2B2C), B2B Lead Generation, ChatGPT, Image Generation, Gamification, Leadership, team goals, collaborative leadership, UX Strategy, Design Strategy, Strategic Design, Product Strategy, UX Metrics, Key Performance Metrics, ROI, Complex Problem Solving
Experience
- Mobile App UI - 7 years
- User Interface (UI) - 7 years
- UX Design - 7 years
- Mobile UX - 6 years
- UX Research - 6 years
- Product Design - 5 years
- Web App Design - 5 years
- Figma - 4 years
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