Takuma Kakehi
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Sarasota, FL, United States
Toptal member since January 6, 2017
Takuma is a product and interaction designer with a decade of versatile industry experience. He is proficient in translating abstract ideas into tangible and actionable product designs, aligning with business goals, and refining design details, including design systems. Skilled in UI/UX, motion graphics, product management, and understanding user psychology, Takuma is efficient in delivering designs within tight deadlines and is excited to learn about your project and contribute his expertise.
Portfolio
Mansion Global: Immersive VR Tours of High-end Properties
PINAV | Mall Navigation App
Work Experience
Senior Director Product Design
SPEEDA Edge | Uzabase
- Defined the product scopes for the MVP and created a series of tangible prototypes—with the business plan still in its abstract stage—to validate our product-market fit and refine the business plan.
- Communicated our designs with users to gather feedback and ensure a user-centric design. Through this process, we successfully introduced and refined new features based on feedback from early and potential users.
- Led the design team and facilitated communication among diverse stakeholders, including marketing, sales, customer success, and the CEO.
- Served as the lead designer; utilized design tools such as Figma and live prototypes in React applications to guide the design output and overall design process for the entire team.
Lead Designer (via Toptal)
SB Technology, Inc.
- Led the design of the MVP product and user interface for a medical kiosk, ensuring an intuitive flow by closely collaborating with the product owner to simplify complex operational processes.
- Created conceptual dashboards tailored for technical operators to monitor devices and for clinical technicians to analyze scanned data, addressing specific user needs in a complex environment.
- Completed the design work within five weeks successfully, overcoming the challenge of having no clear references or precedents to guide the process. Collaborated with the product owner, PM, and engineers to navigate the design.
Head of Design
Quartz
- Acted as head of design for a new internal venture project; directed product design decisions for a new B2B product with stakeholders from different departments, including management, content, and technology.
- Defined product scopes, mapped user flows, and created rapid prototypes to obtain feedback from potential customers and internal stakeholders.
- Directed the product design strategy and execution for the award-winning social news app as a product manager, formerly head of design for the platform department.
- Worked on defining project goals, ideating design solutions, mapping flow diagrams, and crafting exportable designs.
Senior UI/UX Designer
Dow Jones
- Adapted Android material design for The Wall Street Journal's (WSJ) new editorial product series written and curated for mobile experiences.
- Created the UX design for the Facebook Messenger bot for the WSJ. Dow Jones was the launch partner with Facebook for its bot products.
- Designed the UX/UI for a new experimental web portal for a new educational platform which eases finding the right editorial content for professors and students.
- Worked as the UX/UI designer for a VR experience for real-state content. The VR experience includes the exploration of different market cities and a 360 experience of each property.
- Acted as the UX/UI designer for future editorial product concepts.
UI/UX Designer
teamLab
- Acted as interactive director and UX/UI designer, I bridged clients and internal teams by leading design solutions and clear, interactive prototypes. Defined clients' problems, strategized design solutions, and managed executions.
- Worked on the process involving mapping user flows, crafting initial designs and schematic videos for proposals, and programming complex interactive prototypes using tools like Unity or openFrameworks.
- Worked on Interactive Media Wall for Kiko Milano as a strategist and interactive director; Peach Aviation (Japan's leading LCC) as UX designer and strategist; OPENING CEREMONY digital store as strategist and PJM.
Project Manager | UI Designer
Panasonic Digital Communication
- Managed the project for rebranding the retail experience for the major banks. The project management involves managing the deliveries for the hardware, applications, and some interface software between those.
- Crafted the UI design for an interactive kiosk at a high-end shopping mall in Japan.
- Designed the UI for an interactive kiosk for brick and mortar stores for Panasonic mobile phones.
Education
Continuing Education in Cinema4D
School of Visual Arts - New York, NY, USA
Continuing Education in Advanced Motion Graphics with After Effects
School of Visual Arts - New York, NY, USA
Bachelor of Architecture in Architectural Design
Pratt Institute - New York, NY, USA
Certifications
Attract and Engage Customers with Digital Marketing
Google | via Coursera
Foundations of Digital Marketing and E-commerce
Google | via Coursera
Design a User Experience for Social Good & Prepare for Jobs
Google | via Coursera
Build Dynamic User Interfaces (UI) for Websites
Google | via Coursera
Create High-Fidelity Designs and Prototypes in Figma
Google | via Coursera
Conduct UX Research and Test Early Concepts
Google | via Coursera
Build Wireframes and Low-Fidelity Prototypes
Google | via Coursera
Start the UX Design Process: Empathize, Define, and Ideate
Google | via Coursera
Foundations of User Experience (UX) Design
Google | via Coursera
Skills
Tools
Sketch, InVision, Adobe Photoshop, After Effects CC, Photoshop CC, Adobe Experience Design (XD), Illustrator CC, Tableau, Adobe, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe After Effects, Adobe CC, Canvas, Cinema 4D, Rive
Platforms
Web, Figma, Webflow, Mobile, Android, iOS, Webflow CMS, Apple TV
Languages
CSS, JavaScript, HTML, HTML5, JADE
Industry Expertise
Retail & Wholesale, Fashion, Travel & Leisure
Other
UI Design, UX Design, Dashboard Design, Data Visualization, Web Design, Immersive Experiences, Product Design, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Mobile Design, Mobile App Design, Mobile Applications, Mobile UI, User Interface (UI), User Experience (UX), Interaction Design (IxD), Visual Design, Design Systems, Prototyping, Wireframing, UI Animation, UX Wireframes, Minimalism, Style Guides, Layout Design, Prototype, Web App Design, Information Architecture (IA), Responsive Design, Web App UI, Websites, Graphic Design, Component Libraries, UI Components, Landing Pages, Business Intelligence (BI), UI Style Guides, Complex Data Analysis, Branding, Sass, Virtual Reality App Design, SaaS Design, Web App UX, Mobile UX Design, Mobile UI Design, Animation, B2B, Design Leadership, Rebranding, Brand Identity, Visual Identity, eCommerce, Creative Design, Social Media, Beauty Products, Design, Adobe UX, Apps, Android Design Guidelines, Ionic, Apple TV UI, Dashboards, jQuery SVG, Android Camera App, iOS Camera, iBeacon, React, Front-end, DataViz, Product Management, Front-end Development, Innovative UX, Interactive Design, UI Motion, Unity3D, Virtual Reality (VR), Motion Graphics, Mockups, User Research, Responsive Web Apps, Product Discovery, Artificial Intelligence (AI), UX Research, User Flows, AI-enabled Applications, Digital Marketing, SEO Tools, Print Design, Ads, Display Advertising
Experience
- Responsive Web Design (RWD) - 15 years
- Prototype - 10 years
- Data Visualization - 10 years
- Product Design - 10 years
- After Effects CC - 10 years
- Mobile Design - 8 years
- Branding - 5 years
- Figma - 5 years
Tools
- After Effects CC
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