Raluca Ciubotaru
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Bucharest, Romania
Toptal member since January 18, 2019
Raluca is an empathic designer specializing in branding and digital product design. For the past ten years, she's worked with both small and large companies, applying her skills in a wide variety of areas such as IT, arts and culture, food, sports, healthcare, and education. Raluca always involves clients and users in her design process and believes that limits and parameters can help build the most creative solutions.
Portfolio
Avenor College: Responsive Landing Page
Work Experience
Lead Designer
Kappa London
- Collaborated with the development team on web development and branding projects, providing design, art direction, and all relevant assets for each project.
- Created the Bryant Dental website that received the Dental Industry Award for Best Website in 2019.
- Designed the bloomd app, a digital community that facilitates the intergenerational exchange of knowledge, experience, and companionship. The app is designed with accessibility in mind, easy to use by both youth and seniors.
- Participated in pitches and client presentations, maintained communication with existing clients.
- Designed various presentational and eCommerce websites for multiple industries such as food, IT services, and dental healthcare. Implemented some of these designs in WordPress.
- Conducted weekly design work sessions with the junior designers.
- Wrote and designed documents for internal use, including company presentations, pitch decks for new clients, onboarding for new teammates, and the company website.
Lead Product Designer
TapNote
- Designed various iterations of the product from start to launch.
- Collaborated and ideated with the lead engineer on overall features, UX, and UI (Agile).
- Designed UI components, grids, charts, illustrations, and more. Prepared all the necesary documents and assets for handoff to the developers' team.
- Facilitated communication between the marketing (client-side) and the developers' team.
- Designed and coded several iterations of the TapNote landing page.
- Collaborated with dentists to gain insights on new useful features for the app.
- Reviewed user testing sessions on LogRocket and proposed solutions based on findings.
- Managed and kept tasks on the Kanban board up to date.
- Wrote articles on Intercom and recorded videos for FAQs, all for documentation purposes.
Designer
Storience
- Collaborated with a wide range of clients focusing on branding and web design.
- Created animations and illustrations for the studio's social media presence.
- Held client presentations in person and via Skype.
- Created brand identities, presentations, and brand books.
- Managed verbal and written communication with clients.
- Created custom wireframes, mockups, and UI style guides.
- Acted as a lead brand and UX designer for Bodmer Lab, a collaborative research project between the University of Genève and the Martin Bodmer Foundation. I have created wireframes, user journeys, personas, branding, and style guides.
- Worked as visual and web designer for 30-0, an online tennis publication. The rebrand won the 2018 REBRAND 100® Global Award.
Visual Designer
Hubgets
- Designed various versions of the company's website.
- Added an illustration style to the existing product brand book by developing several icon sets.
- Produced mockups and simulated new features for the platform.
- Assisted programmers in the implementation of new features, provided assets as needed.
- Reported bugs, suggested changes, and proposed new features for the product.
- Adjusted and exported all assets 2x suitable for Retina displays.
- Designed marketing materials such as T-shirts, social media covers, animated banners, roll-ups, flyers, and conference booths.
Art Director
Jazz Communication
- Collaborated with a copywriter to create campaigns.
- Designed both print and digital work for the agency-client portfolio, including posters, flyers, banners, landing pages, and mock-ups.
- Created and designed pitch decks for various presentations.
- Designed advertising materials based on the clients' brand book.
- Pitched ideas internally to the creative director.
Education
Master's Degree in Graphic Design
AKV St. Joost - Breda, The Netherlands
Bachelor's Degree in Graphic Design
Universitatea Nationala de Arte - Bucharest, Romania
Certifications
Responsive Web Design
Free Code Camp
Skills
Tools
Adobe Illustrator, InVision, Zeplin, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Experience Design (XD), Banner, Jira, Adobe InDesign, Adobe After Effects, Basecamp, Skype
Languages
HTML, CSS
Platforms
Figma, WordPress, Windows, Mobile, Adobe Suite, iOS, Android, Webflow, Web
Industry Expertise
Education, Food
Other
Branding, Logo Design, Visual Design, Graphic Design, Identity Design, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Visual Identity, Wireframing, Web Design, UI Design, Product Design, UI Style Guides, UX Design, Marketing Design, Remote Work, User Interface (UI), Landing Page Design, Image Manipulation, Banner Campaigns, Social Media Design, Merchandise, Sports Websites, Web Shops, News, Responsive, Social Media Content, Shops, E-shops, Museums & Exhibits, Web UI Design, Newsletter Design, Layout Design, Style Guides, IT, Corporate, Responsive Design, Tablets & Smartphones, Web UX, User Personas, Brand Guidelines, Grid Systems, Brand Books, Research, Food Packaging, Art Direction, Box Packaging, Product Packaging, Food Illustration, Sketching, User Experience (UX), Illustration, WordPress Design, Notion, Tailwind CSS, SVG Animation, Intercom, LogRocket, Kanban
Experience
- Visual Design - 10 years
- Branding - 7 years
- Visual Identity - 7 years
- UX Design - 6 years
- Responsive Web Design (RWD) - 6 years
- UI Design - 6 years
- Product Design - 5 years
- Remote Work - 4 years
How to Work with Toptal
Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.
Share your needs
Choose your talent
Start your risk-free talent trial
Top talent is in high demand.
Start hiring