Polina Yakymenko
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Berlin, Germany
Toptal member since February 23, 2022
Polina is a Berlin-based professional with 8+ years of experience in complex digital products, including SaaS, marketplaces, and customer-facing websites. Polina offers expertise in strategic alignment, customer insight development, journey optimization, workshop facilitation, and mentorship. She is an analytical thinker, creative mind, and empathetic individual who combines expertise and a human-centered approach in her work.
Portfolio
Work Experience
Expressive Arts Facilitator
The Liminal - Expressive Arts Circle
- Was a co-founding member of the expressive arts collective "The Liminal" in Berlin, which hosts bimonthly expressive arts circles for the general public.
- Facilitated group sessions for up to 15 participants.
- Focused on holistic wellness and art-based exploration of a personal topic, as well as self-exploration and deepening self-awareness.
Senior UI/UX Design Consultant
JoBins
- Guided the product roadmap and sprint planning and improved cross-functional communication.
- Established customer experience (CX) processes, identified gaps, and enhanced design team collaboration.
- Defined user studies and KPIs for post-release analysis, driving informed decision-making. Assisted in creating research studies and crafting questionnaires.
- Provided feedback to the design team on the executed work and guided and mentored them on communication, usability, and CX topics.
Product Designer
Sinopia Olive Ltd
- Facilitated a design sprint to create a dataset interface for analyzing LLM responses in content summarization and segmentation.
- Collaborated with the main stakeholder, we mapped the process, structured data types, and explored different visualization solutions for various data distributions.
- Created mid-fidelity wireframes and interaction logic for different levels of data analysis, including data charts, tables, lists, etc.
Senior UX Strategist | Researcher
SchoolTalent B.V.
- Defined improvement areas for the customer journey and existing UX user flows through user data, stakeholder, and sales team interviews.
- Conducted market research and competitor analysis for the German market.
- Provided wireframes and UX copy suggestions for the homepage, pricing, tutor search, and profile pages.
- Facilitated a branding strategy workshop and contributed to improving design processes.
Senior Product (UX) Designer and Researcher
World Health Network
- Carried out UX strategy and research, including a content audit, setting research objectives, preparing questionnaires, identifying target respondents, and conducting user interviews.
- Created a sitemap and the website's structure and information architecture, mapped user journeys, and developed mockups based on personas.
- Provided feedback on UI design, page layout, and brand direction.
Lead UX and Product Designer
SciMar One
- Transformed abstract business concepts into an interactive prototype for a project management module. This tool streamlines cross-functional workflows in drug development, empowering teams to handle hundreds of interdependent tasks.
- Reviewed and improved the design of a clinical data library.
- Managed design meetings and feedback sessions, keeping the team on task while navigating complex concepts to extract essential details and build comprehensive solutions.
Freelance Senior Product (UX) Designer
An Online Freelance Agency
- Provided services such as UX design reviews, competitor analysis, and user and market research for companies.
- Gave feedback on existing designs and provided solutions for improvement in design consistency, accessibility, user flows, and information architecture.
- Helped with data visualization, surveys, and poll designs.
Senior UI/UX Designer
b.wusst
- Designed the MVP for a mobile app called “A meetup for a social cause.” The MVP included an onboarding process for volunteers and the companies initiating social projects.
- Facilitated the design sprint to define the requirements and explore possible design solutions.
- Led all design processes: user flows, information architecture, low-fidelity wireframes, design validation, visual styles, and KPIs definition.
Senior UX Designer
Edelman
- Defined the information architecture for a charity organization's customer-facing website.
- Conducted a discovery workshop to define business goals and the website audience.
- Organized and labeled data (sitemap) and website navigation in collaboration with UI designers.
- Worked on content prioritization, storytelling, and low-fi wireframes.
Senior UX Designer
AKQA
- Led UX and strategy for a customer-facing website, encompassing a content audit, website information architecture, website map, and web page structure.
- Worked on enhancing the user flow for customers by addressing key touchpoints.
- Conducted remote testing in close collaboration with visual designers for art direction validation.
UX Design Teacher and Mentor
ReDI School for Digital Integration
- Delivered training sessions on UX topics. Prepared teaching materials, facilitated workshops, and assisted students in performing design tasks during workshops.
- Worked in close collaboration with a team of UX mentors.
- Evaluated assignments and provided feedback to UX design students to develop an in-depth understanding of user-centered design practices.
UI/UX Product Designer
Stagelink
- Designed the initial MVP version of a product and led design sprints to validate early business concepts and align with the team.
- Contributed to the UX strategy, implemented UI, and designed customer onboarding. Set up campaigns, invoicing, and data visualization.
- Conducted remote usability testing for user validation.
- Developed a design system to ensure flexibility and consistency across the product.
Product and UX Designer
InStaff & Jobs
- Established a UCD process within an evolving startup culture. Contributed as a key part of the product team, often responsible for project management and communication. Led the entire design process from ideation to production.
- Analyzed the pre-launch and post-launch. Ran A/B tests, conducted stakeholder and user interviews and moderated usability tests.
- Designed a mobile app from low-fi wireframes to hi-fi designs.
- Worked closely with the SEO team on building SEO-friendly web pages, primarily focusing on landing, Google Play, and Facebook page optimization.
- Coordinated CSS and HTML training courses for company interns and was responsible for delivering usability workshops to all new hires.
- Redesigned customer accounts, which allowed an increase in the number of booking requests and minimized support inquiries. Continuously improved job seekers' experience in landing short-term jobs on the web and mobile.
UI/UX Designer
Wooqer
- Addressed design inconsistencies and implemented essential product enhancements. Oversaw the layout and navigation, ensuring consistent interaction flow for the web product.
- Conducted user research to develop Wooqer design strategy for medium and small devices.
- Created design guidelines covering UI elements, interaction patterns, and CSS code to maintain a consistent style and visual language across the product.
- Improved user's account UI and information architecture, resulting in a 20% decrease in support requests handled by the help desk. Simplifying process management and reporting tools cuts the time users spend on project planning in half.
Information Services Systems Analyst
Philip Morris Ukraine
- Designed a SharePoint-based solution to automate the car disposal process.
- Built a platform for newcomers to introduce available PMU digital tools. As a result of this launch, the volume of help desk calls was reduced by 20%.
- Delivered workshops, roughly 20 sessions, on various technology-related topics.
Education
Master of Arts in Expressive Arts Therapy with a Minor in Psychology
European Graduate School - Saas-Fee, Switzerland
Bachelor's Degree in Economic Cybernetics
National Technical University of Ukraine - Kyiv, Ukraine
Certifications
How To Design for Accessibility: for UX Designers (WCAG 2.2)
Udemy
Skills
Tools
Sketch, Figma, Miro Development, InVision, Asana, Affinity Diagrams, Wix Development, MURAL, Photoshop, Google Docs Development, Principle Design, Zoom Development
Languages
HTML, CSS
Industry Expertise
Education, Health & Wellness, Healthcare App Design, Architecture, Psychology & Mental Health, Social Networking, Tech Freelancing, Creative Tech
Platforms
Android Design, SharePoint Design
Other
Statistics, Data Analysis, User Flow Design, UX Design, UI Design, User Research, User Stories, Usability Testing, Human-centered Design, Wireframing, UX Prototyping, UX Review, UX Thinking, Information Architecture, Mapping, UX Strategy, Remote User Testing, Design Validation, Web Content, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, Quantitative Research, UX Design, User Empathy, UX Design, User Journeys, UX Research, Mobile App Design, A/B Testing, Product Design, Quantitative User Research, Qualitative Research, User Testing, Usability, Quantity Surveying, Questionnaires, UX Design, UX Design, Affinity Mapping, UX Design, Remote Usability Testing, Google Design Sprints, Affinitization, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Customer Success, Customer Support, User Feedback, Responsive UX Design, Business Requirements, Structure, Navigation Design, Annotated Wireframes, UX Design, Data Visualization Design, Report Design, UX Design, Web UX Design, UX Design, Web Design, Design Workshops, Web Design, Diagrams, IA Strategy, Data-driven Design, Web Design, Concept Maps, Business Research, Quantitative Analysis, SaaS Design, SaaS Design, Enterprise SaaS, UX Design, UX Design, User Service Strategies, UX Design, Web Dashboards, Web Analytics, User Onboarding, Analytics Development, Data Science, Onboarding UX Design, Responsive Web Design, User Paths, Dashboard, Responsive Web Design, Workflow, Design Thinking, UX Design, Web App Design, Prototyping, Accessibility Development, B2C, Workshops, B2B Design, B2B2C, Web Design, UI Design, MVP Design, Concepting, Mockups, Prototype Design, Design Strategy, System Process Mapping, Web Design, UX Design, SaaS Design, Product Discovery, Startup Development, UX Wireframes, Design Systems, Dashboard Design, Responsive Web Development, UI Design, UX Design, Mentorship, Mentorship & Coaching, UI Design, UI Design, UX Design, Form Design, Web Platforms, UI Design, Design, Web UI, Enterprise Development, User Validation, Lean Startups, Rapid Prototyping, Competitor Analysis, Prototype Design, Design Leadership, Leadership, Jobs to be Done (JTBD), UX Design, Agile Design, Marketplace Design, Validated User Research, Prototype Design, Design Specifications, Heuristics, Service Design, CX Design, Design Strategy, Complex Problem Solving, Audience Targeting, Design Principles, Design Consultation, Innovation, Market Research Analyst, Communication Design, Value Proposition Design, Stakeholder Management, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Strategic Design, Facilitation, User Experience Design, Research, Layout Design, Discovery Workshops, User Workshops, Collaboration, Responsive Design, Web UI Design, System Design, UX Design, Design Reviews, User Validation Testing, Heuristic Evaluation, Content Management Systems (CMS), Heuristic Analysis, Design Thinking Facilitation, Workshop Facilitation, UI Design, Documentation, Key Performance Metrics, CX Strategy, Design Consulting, UX Design, User-centered Design (UCD), Web Application, Survey Design, Survey Consulting, Landing Page Design, Brainstorming, CRM Systems, CRM Design, Educational Platform Design, Stakeholder Engagement, Consumer Insights, UX Design, Flow/Process Builder, Analytical Thinking, Cross-functional Collaboration, Discovery, Project Discovery, Wellness, Feature Analysis, Business Management, Software Design, Hypothesis Testing, IT Strategy, Design Sprints, Tone of Voice, Data-informed Visual Design, Charts, Visual Concepts, App UX, E-commerce UX Design, Accessible Web Design, Flow Diagrams, Social Networks, UX Design, Feature Prioritization, Monetization Product Management, Profile Design, Prototype Design, Management Systems, Interactive Charts, UX Design, Landing Pages, Edtech Design, Innovation Strategy, Business to Business to Consumer (B2B2C), Mobile App Design, Branding, Mobile App Design, Service Blueprints, Visual Design, Material UI, Software Design, Analysis, Web Design, SharePoint UI, Customer Journeys, UX Design, UX Design, Marketplace Design, Pharmacy, Public Health, Healthcare Management Systems, WCAG 2, Web Accessibility, Inclusive Design, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI), Adult Education, Training & Training Content Development, Healthcare IT, Sustainability, Online Marketing, Competition Research, Pricing Strategy, UX Design, UX Leadership, Copywriting, Psychology, Creative Process Development, Holistic Wellness, Complex Web Systems, Brand Strategists, Project Planning, Teamwork, Communication Strategy, Point of Sale, Business Intelligence Development, AI Design, LLM, Datasets, Presentation Design, Fintech Development, Community Growth
Experience
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