Sebastian Petrina, Designer in Bucharest, Romania
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Sebastian Petrina

Verified Expert  in Design

Bio

Sebastian is a versatile senior product designer with over 14 years of experience. He has collaborated with world-class design teams at top enterprises, driving impactful UX/UI solutions. He has co-founded and helped multiple startups validate MVPs, secure funding rounds, and scale their products, achieving impressive KPIs. As a lead at ESX, Sebastian spearheaded innovative design strategies and methodologies that significantly boosted user engagement and revenue.

Portfolio

Work Experience

Lead Product Designer

2022 - 2024
ESX
  • Redesigned and improved every aspect of the ESX mobile app, contributing to a significant increase in monthly revenue post-launch.
  • Designed the 1st fitness experts platform in Romania, attracting and enrolling over 500 experts within the 1st month.
  • Led cross-functional teams through ideation, prototyping, and testing, resulting in five new product features.
  • Built comprehensive design systems for both mobile and web products, containing code-ready, responsive components.
  • Redesigned core flows for the mobile app using components from the design system, enhancing user experience and consistency.
  • Implemented Agile design thinking and design sprint methodologies, customizing them specifically for ESX, leading to streamlined and effective design processes.
  • Organized and led 5-day design sprints, resulting in innovative product concepts, two of which were integrated into the product roadmap.
  • Conducted market and competitive research, identifying top opportunities to improve profitability and acquisition attractiveness.
  • Led 50+ user interviews and usability tests, uncovering critical pain points and opportunities and training team members on UX research methodologies.
  • Designed a landing page builder, streamlining the setup and launching of marketing campaigns, significantly reducing design, development, and marketing efforts.
Technologies: Figma, Miro, Jira, Maze, Slack, Google Workspace, FigJam, Adobe Creative Suite, Design Thinking, Google Design Sprints, Design Systems, SaaS, Agile, Design Leadership, Visual Design Language, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Usability Testing, User Research, MVP Design

Product Designer

2022 - 2022
The ORCA Network, Inc.
  • Designed a gamified waitlist where the users can vote and create problem "pods" and then see their user score and their position in the waitlist and be able to improve both by referring more users.
  • Redesigned the responsive web app that connects Stanford students to accelerate ambitious ideas into working projects.
  • Built a design system, including foundational elements, icon sets, and an extensive component library.
Technologies: User Interface (UI), User Experience (UX), Web Design, B2C, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Mobile Design

Product Designer

2021 - 2022
Babylon
  • Elevated the visual design of Babylon’s products while creating a unified visual design language.
  • Designed components, patterns, and pages to support a global design system that establishes a clean, accessible, and cohesive global product.
  • Used the newly created design systems and visual language to update all the screens of the current app design.
  • Performed competitor analysis and investigation into ‘best-in-class’ data visualization.
  • Designed data visualizations for bar, line, range charts, metrics cards, and summary pages.
  • Explored ways to increase user engagement by making it easier for teams to put relevant content on the home screen.
  • Improved the user experience of an internal app designed for viewing components on mobile devices by improving the IA, navigation, visual design, and app content.
  • Explored solutions for designing the UX for a brand new and innovative goal-based lifestyle behavior improvement tool.
Technologies: Figma, Miro, Design Systems, Design Language, UX Design, UI Design, Data Visualization, Mobile App Design

Co-founder | Product Designer

2018 - 2021
FameUp
  • Validated the product-market fit and repositioned the product.
  • Increased the user retention rate from 3% up to 24% on D7.
  • Conducted competitive research and analysis to explore the marketplace and opportunities to create unique value.
  • Defined the user experience strategy based on information from the internal team and user research.
  • Created high-fidelity prototypes and animations to guide developers through complex ideas and user flows.
  • Designed a gamification system to increase the business metrics using a human-centric framework that lays out the core drives for human motivation.
  • Reduced the burn rate and protected resources by creating a design system to help the development team implement the design fast and efficiently.
  • Analyzed and further increased the main business metrics like user retention rate, growth rate, and user engagement by iterating and testing the key experiences.
  • Communicated the product vision, change of direction, and validated features to the investor and co-founders.
Technologies: UI Design, Figma, Interactive Design, Mobile UX Design, Validated User Research, Social Media, Mobile App Design, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), UX Research, Prototyping, UX Strategy, UX Design, Data Visualization, Adobe Creative Suite, Design Thinking, Material Design, Web App Design, Product Design, Early-stage Startups, Investments, Product-market Fit, Validation, Influencer Marketing, User Onboarding, User Flows, Startups, Gamification, Qualitative Research, Usability Testing, User Research, Design Systems, UI Audits, UX Audits, Photoshop CC

Co-founder | UX/UI Designer

2015 - 2021
digitalmonks.co.uk
  • Met and brainstormed with clients to discuss their needs, objectives, budgets and align their business goals with the user experience of their products.
  • Conducted competitive research and analysis to explore a crowded marketplace or an opportunity to create unique value.
  • Defined and validated target users through provisional personas and customer discovery techniques.
  • Led the team on the primary utility and business model of the client's product by running structured experiments using prototypes.
  • Wireframed, prototyped, iterated, and implemented intuitive product designs based on the findings.
  • Devised UX funnels to increase customer engagement by mapping desired user actions to meaningful metrics.
Technologies: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Figma, UI Design, Interactive Design, Mobile UX Design, Validated User Research, Social Media, Mobile App Design, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), UX Research, Prototyping, UX Strategy, UX Design, Data Visualization, Adobe Creative Suite, Design Thinking, Material Design, Product Design, Early-stage Startups, Investments, User Onboarding, User Flows, User Research, UI Audits, UX Audits, Photoshop CC, Mobile Design

UX/UI Designer | UX Consultant

2014 - 2020
Freelance
  • Worked with various clients, from small startups to large companies, to design from scratch or redesign existing web or mobile products.
  • Performed UX audits using a variety of methods, tools, and metrics to analyze where a product was going wrong.
  • Conducted competitive research and analysis to explore the market or an opportunity to create unique value.
  • Created user journeys, high-fidelity wireframes, user interfaces, and prototypes for the MVP.
  • Iterated and tested prototypes to validate and implement intuitive designs and interactions between users and interfaces.
  • Collaborated with the developers and product management teams to streamline the work process.
Technologies: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, UI Design, Figma, Interactive Design, Mobile UX Design, Validated User Research, Mobile App Design, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), UX Research, Prototyping, UX Strategy, UX Design, Data Visualization, Adobe Creative Suite, Design Thinking, Material Design, Web App Design, Product Design, User Onboarding, User Flows, User Research, UI Audits, UX Audits, Photoshop CC

Lead Designer

2012 - 2015
Respect Media
  • Created original designs from scratch for brands based on client specifications and brand needs.
  • Supervised projects to ensure that all materials ordered arrive upon the agreed time and are in good shape to obtain maximum results.
  • Ensured that job deadlines were met in due time, ensuring that job quality was excellent.
  • Met with clients to discuss their needs, objectives, and budgets.
  • Collaborated and worked with developers and product management.
  • Identified market segment trends and interpreted them into tangible product attributes.
  • Produced high-quality digital designs as required for new product development.
  • Supervised and mentored design staff on project execution to maximize creativity and excellence in performance and delivery.
Technologies: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, UI Design, Interactive Design, Mobile UX Design, User Experience (UX), Adobe Creative Suite

Senior Graphic Designer

2011 - 2011
Bloom Communication
  • Met with clients to discuss their needs, objectives, and budgets.
  • Designed and created a wide variety of graphic art and promotional material.
  • Produced designs for internal and external communications.
  • Created integrated design projects across online and offline outputs.
  • Explained design concepts and ideas to clients and colleagues.
  • Worked on presentations, leaflets, trademarks, marketing materials, and banner designs.
  • Produced accurate and high-quality branding systems.
Technologies: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, UI Design, Adobe Creative Suite

Graphic Designer

2010 - 2011
EXONIA HOLDING SA
  • Conceptualized, designed, and executed sophisticated print, merchandising, packaging, campaign, and branding experiences.
  • Researched creative trends in the industry, materials, processes, and competitive landscape.
  • Partnered and collaborated with copywriters to develop concepts with appropriate messaging implemented.
  • Collaborated with marketing management on creative concepts for campaigns and sales events.
  • Attended and participated in creative meetings regarding project status and follow-up actions.
  • Worked with print production requirements by working with external vendors from start to finish on projects such as printers, exhibit vendors, and other agencies.
  • Pre-flighted files included proofreading, performing quality assurance, and completing file delivery.
Technologies: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, UI Design, Adobe Creative Suite

Graphic Designer

2008 - 2010
Freelance
  • Attended client meetings to understand the business objectives and client requirements.
  • Understood the client's needs and developed a concept that matches their requirements.
  • Interacted with the client on the concepts and got them approved.
  • Estimated the approximate time required to complete the work and provide quotes to clients.
  • Gathered information and data through research and developed design briefs.
  • Thought creatively and used innovative ideas to come up with new concepts and designs.
  • Presented the finalized work to the clients and took their feedback.
Technologies: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, UI Design, Adobe Creative Suite
2008 - 2011

Bachelor's Degree in Marketing

Alexandru Ioan Cuza University - Iași, Romania

Tools

Figma, Photoshop CC, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe InDesign, Miro, Maze, Adobe, Adobe Photoshop, Jira, Slack, Google Workspace, FigJam

Platforms

iOS, Android, Music Streaming

Industry Expertise

Fitness, Health & Wellness, Investments, Sports, Restaurants & Dining, Healthcare

Languages

Visual Design Language

Other

Dashboards, Mobile Apps, Social Media Apps, Startups, Web App UX, User Flows, User Onboarding, Redesign, Web App UI, MVP Design, Influencer Marketing, Web UI, App Design, Web App Design, Design Thinking, Mobile App Design, Social Media, UI Design, Interaction Design (IxD), Interactive Design, User Experience (UX), Branding, Prototyping, Dashboard Design, Data Visualization, Mobile UX Design, Product Design, Visual Design, User Interface (UI), UX Design, UI Audits, UX Audits, Mobile Design, Gamification, Chatbots, Validation, Product-market Fit, Platform Design, Subscriptions, Food Ordering, Online Shops, Optimization, Validated User Research, Design Systems, Sass, Early-stage Startups, Material Design, Qualitative Research, Usability Testing, User Research, SaaS, B2C, Design Thinking Facilitation, UX Strategy, UX Architecture, UX Research, AI Design, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Design Language, Web Design, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Networks, Google Design Sprints, Agile, Design Leadership, User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

Experience

  • UI Design - 8 years
  • Visual Design - 8 years
  • Mobile App Design - 7 years
  • UX Design - 6 years
  • Product Design - 6 years
  • Data Visualization - 5 years
  • User Research - 4 years
  • Figma - 2 years

Tools

  • Figma
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