
Vasile B Tiplea
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Miami, FL, United States
Toptal member since June 11, 2019
Vasile is a senior director of UX and AI strategy with 20+ years of UX experience, rooted in healthcare and fintech and broadened through SaaS, eCommerce, and consumer tech. He has led teams, guided innovation, and built design systems at scale for companies like Kaiser Permanente, Chase, and Apple. His work has delivered measurable outcomes, including a 12% reduction in dropout rates at Kaiser Permanente, a 15% increase in engagement at Colgate, and an award-winning product launch at Samsung.
Portfolio
Work Experience
UI/UX Designer
Zoetis - Tech and Digital
- Designed an AI-powered translation platform that enables real-time interpretation of clinical veterinary content across multiple languages.
- Defined end-to-end UX for text and document translation, improving speed while maintaining high accuracy in medical workflows.
- Established a feedback system that captures user ratings to continuously improve AI translation quality over time.
- Collaborated with data science and engineering teams to integrate large language model (LLM)-based translation into scalable enterprise systems.
Head of Design
Colgate-Palmolive
- Served as head of design and global brand manager at Colgate Palmolive, leading the product design for Hills To Home and building the creative team.
- Orchestrated interdisciplinary, distributed teams to establish a unified design ecosystem.
- Became a brand ambassador for Colgate's Hill's To Home brand.
Chief Product Officer
Creative27
- Championed key mobile, tablet, and web design projects for multiple major clients, earning 30+ awards from senior leadership during tenure, including the "Digital Agency of the Year" award.
- Facilitated the design and streamlining of user experiences, user interface design, and interactive prototyping for various products from inception to launch.
- Maintained daily communication with iOS and Android developers, front-end and back-end teams, and the marketing department to execute projects within the assigned deadlines.
- Led the product development, quality assurance, and launch cycle for all in-house digital products.
Product Designer
Oriscen Inc.
- Defined and led the end-to-end UX vision of a privacy-first social connection app, spanning product strategy, interaction design, visual language, and emotional positioning.
- Defined and led the end-to-end UX vision for a privacy-first social connection app, spanning product strategy, interaction design, visual language, and emotional positioning.
- Translated user research into core product features, including emotion-based matching, conversation sparks, and consent-based feature unlocks.
- Led qualitative and quantitative user research across surveys and in-depth interviews, synthesizing insights into actionable personas, feature priorities, and experience principles.
- Established a brand and product positioning system centered on emotional safety, low-pressure interaction, and anti-performance values, differentiating the product from feed-based social platforms.
Product Designer for Educational Financial App
Universal Gifted Savings, Inc.
- Took over work from the head of design and helped rebuild an AI-first educational platform.
- Performed UX strategy and implementation for mobile, web, and CMS.
- Created a design system from scratch and implemented it via Figma.
Product Designer for Fintech & AI Interfaces
Alpha IQ
- Defined UX and AI strategy for creating a world-class fintech product.
- Built the user experience design for the MVP product.
- Developed a new design system to help with the ongoing expansion of the product.
Branding and Web Designer
Vlad Andrei
- Designed the company's branding, including its logo, tagline, and unique value and selling proposition.
- Developed a one-page landing page to help communicate the Umbra product within the renewable energy space.
- Created responsive design across web and mobile and helped translate the website into several languages while providing content support.
UX Designer
Colgate-Palmolive - Hills Pet Nutrition Sales Inc
- Managed product design for Hill’s to Home, leading UX/UI initiatives that improved user engagement by 15% and account creation by 20%.
- Established and guided a cross-functional design team, streamlining collaboration across distributed teams and enhancing operational efficiency.
- Developed a unified design framework, reducing inefficiencies and aligning UX strategy with business objectives.
- Partnered with marketing and development teams to increase brand visibility through cohesive, user-centric design solutions.
Product Designer
Citiri, Inc.
- Led UI/UX design for a critical infrastructure platform: spearheaded the user experience and interface design for Citiri’s platform, focusing on infrastructure asset management and operational planning for airports and other complex environments.
- Conducted extensive user research, including stakeholder interviews and on-site observations, to create a design strategy tailored to the needs of both operational managers and on-the-ground staff.
- Created a scalable design system: built a scalable design system that ensured consistency across the platform, enabling seamless integration of new features while maintaining an intuitive user experience for different user groups.
- Worked closely with engineering, product management, and operations teams to translate complex technical requirements into simple, user-friendly designs.
- Drove successful product adoption: ensured that the platform met the critical needs of its users, contributing to improved operational efficiency and higher adoption rates across client organizations.
Product Designer
Meetverse Inc
- Designed an AI-driven desktop app that helps translate and contextually provide information to users both on and off-call.
- Redesigned the UX and UI for the Google Meet app plugin and the standalone application.
- Created an information architecture for the AI drive standalone product to help inform the next steps in the user experience process.
UI Designer
Ever Cars Co.
- Helped optimize the checkout process to help increase conversions for an online electric car retailer.
- Revamped the eCommerce key pages, including product listing, product details, and main customer landing pages.
- Created the final user interface design, built a design system, and refreshed their initial style guide.
UX/UI Designer
Zee Source
- Conducted website audit for ZeeMaps and provided tangible next steps for short-term and long-term improvements.
- Developed wireframes as an integral part of the user experience design process for the front-facing website and SaaS platform.
- Created sitemaps, user personas, and visual interface designs for their marketing website and SaaS platform.
UX/UI Designer
Advertise Purple, Inc
- Conducted complete website and SaaS platform audit for their current products.
- Crafted impactful wireframes that successfully steered the product direction toward a more user-friendly experience.
- Created user interfaces for their SaaS platform as an extension of their branding system.
Product Designer
Jottix Inc.
- Designed a comprehensive fintech SaaS platform for a client's startup, encompassing wireframes and final designs.
- Revamped client's onboarding and signup process, crafting unique features and experiences to enhance user-friendliness.
- Conducted light competitive and qualitative research to help inform the visual design direction.
UI Designer
Jacobs Engineering
- Designed several dashboards that monitored water treatment plants.
- Conducted quantitative and qualitative research and synthesized data into empathy maps and personas.
- Designed the user experience design and user interface designs for various flows.
Head of Product Design
Heycollab
- Administered leadership throughout the research and discovery stages of product development, driving the design of UX/UI and prototyping for mobile, Mac, Windows, and web.
- Performed a key role in developing the company’s brand and industry identity through diligent oversight and management of the development process from start to finish—earning the Gold Winner Award from Muze Creative Awards.
- Built the user experience design with annotated wireframes.
- Created the user interface design across web, Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android.
- Led the development team and quality assurance efforts in launching Vabotu.
- Led the marketing and soft launch of the Vabotu platform.
Director of Product UI/UX
Assuaged
- Awarded WMA for the best food industry mobile application by playing a key role in creating, designing, developing, and launching the company's leading mobile application, website, and motion graphics promo.
- Conducted research and designed the user experience and interface design.
- Worked closely with the development team to ensure the delivery of a quality product upon launch.
Director of Product Design
h Club
- Streamlined and architected innovative solutions for UI/UX development within an international organization, leveraging strong analytical and research skills to manage projects from start to finish.
- Created high-fidelity wireframes and annotated screen-flows.
- Designed the user interface design for mobile, tablet, and web.
- Worked closely with the development team to ensure the outcome of a quality product post-production.
- Oversaw and trained designers throughout my tenure.
Senior UI/UX Designer
Samsung Electronics
- Translated business marketing requirements into best-in-class products for a multi-billion-dollar company resulting in greater awareness, positive user feedback, and increased consumption.
- Handled projects like WatchON App for Samsung Galaxy S 4, Galaxy Note 8.0, Galaxy Note 10.1., social media including Facebook, Twitter, and Google Play, Community sites including the Samsung WatchON Blog and Forum, and TV UI screens.
- Worked closely with product, partnerships, merchandising, and marketing by providing visual designs, mockups, and prototypes to create industry-leading UX and UI across mobile, tablet, the web, and tv.
Lead UX
Zed Worldwide
- Designed innovative digital products for high-profile clients, including Verizon, BBC Worldwide, Name That Tune Univision, US Cellular, Tracfone, Net10, Straight Talk, and Cricket.
- Developed and maintained UI/UX experiences, personas, design mockups, and usage scenarios for Sports Wiz, Music Wiz, Name That Tune, and Tone Room Deluxe across mobile and social platforms.
- Created digital storefront design, mobile UI, in-app merchandising campaigns, and marketing campaigns for Tracfone and US Cellular.
- Collaborated with the marketing and development team to create usable, accessible, and modular designs that can scale to millions of users.
Senior Lead Designer
iHerb
- Created what became the 2013 award-winning best mobile international business iPhone, iPad app, app icon, and wap storefront for iHerb brand.
- Designed the UI/UX, wireframes, sitemap flow, functionality wireframes, and user experience flow for both the iPhone and iPad apps.
- Worked closely with the development and programming team throughout the process.
Senior Designer
Westfield
- Developed web and print collateral, including email blasts, e-newsletters, direct mail pieces, and print advertisements streamlined with the current Westfield brand.
- Designed the mobile and web experience for Herve Leger properties.
- Worked on UX flows for the Lola brand at BCBG and created lookbooks for their spring, summer, fall, and winter clothing lines.
Visual Graphic Designer
BCBG Max Azria Group
- Contributed to visual directives for BCBGeneration, Max Azria, Herve Leger, and Lola Max Rave divisions Canada, Japan, France, and United States.
- Created the fashion catalog's and website's layout and design.
- Created responsive designs across UX and UI for the Lola brand.
Education
Master's Degree in Design Thinking
Stanford University Graduate School of Business - Stanford, CA, USA
Bachelor of Science Degree in Graphic Design
Art Institute of Orange County - Santa Ana, California, USA
Certifications
Understanding and Complying with HIPAA
Udemy
How To Design for Accessibility: for UX Designers (WCAG 2.2)
Udemy
Agile Fundamentals: Including Scrum & Kanban
Udemy
Skills
Tools
Microsoft Office, Sketch 4, Adobe Experience Design (XD), Sketch, Adobe, Illustrator CC, OmniGraffle, InVision, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft PowerPoint, AI Tools, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Camtasia, Adobe CC, Photoshop CC
Industry Expertise
Education, Exercise & Fitness, Health, Restaurants & Dining, Healthcare, Health & Wellness, Automotive, Hospitality, Hotels & Lodging, Telecommunications, Real Estate, Fitness, Food, Games, Banking & Finance
Platforms
Figma, Mobile, iOS, Android, MacOS
Other
SaaS, Dashboard Design, Responsive UI, Responsive Web Design (RWD), User Flows, Wireframing, Annotated Wireframes, Team Management, Business Management, Responsive Design, Wireless Communication, Project Management, Responsive Layout, Tablet UI, Tablet UX, Identity Design, Sitemaps, Dashboards, SaaS Design, Product Design, UI Design, Mobile UI, Mobile UX, UX Design, Prototyping, Web Dashboards, B2B, B2C, eCommerce, Landing Pages, Style Guides, Web Marketing, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), App Design, Web Design, Mobile Apps, App UX, Mobile App Design, User Research, Holistic Wellness, Remote User Testing, Qualitative Research, Quantitative Research, User Personas, Design Systems, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Board Decks, Collaboration, Executive Presentations, Storytelling, Visual Storytelling, Brand Guidelines, Marketing Design, UX Prototyping, Full-stack Design, AI Strategy, Artificial Intelligence as a Service (AIaaS), Art Direction, Accessibility, Fintech Design, User-centered Design (UCD), Usability, Cross-functional Collaboration, AI-powered Product Design, Research, Design Collaboration, Apps, Ownership, Identity, Messaging, Colleges & Universities, UI Branding, Social, Social Media Apps, Travel, Medical Applications, Recipes & Cooking, Software as a Service (SaaS), Material UI, Home Entertainment, Fintech, Medicine, Analytical Dashboards, Car Dashboards, Mobile App UI, Web UI, Web UX, App UI, Graphical User Interface (GUI), eCommerce UX, eCommerce UI, Mobile eCommerce, Wellness, UX Research, Web App UI, Web App Design, UI Prototyping, Data Visualization, Web UX Design, WebApp, UX Audits, Design Leadership, Rapid Prototyping, User Journeys, Feature Prioritization, UX Wireframes, User Testing, Layout Design, WCAG 2, User Interviews, Scanning, Printing, Audits, Layout, Marketplaces, Mockups, Heuristic Analysis, Visual Design, Illustration, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), HIPAA Compliance, Agile Project Management, Scrum, Responsive Web Apps, Web Applications, Web App UX, MVP Design, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Medtech, Design Thinking, Medical Software, Health IT, Digital Therapeutics (DTx), Clinical Workflows, Information Architecture (IA), Interaction Design (IxD), Web Accessibility, UX Strategy, AI Product Strategy, Telehealth, ai co-analyst, Veterinary Medicine, Edtech Design, Personal Finance, Educational Platform Design, consumer ux, Mobile Design, Animated Prototypes, Social Media, Usability Testing, Enterprise AI, Translation
Experience
- Fintech Design - 15 years
- Health & Wellness - 14 years
- Web Design - 12 years
- Mobile App Design - 10 years
- Mobile App UI - 10 years
- App Design - 10 years
- User Interface (UI) - 10 years
- User Experience (UX) - 10 years
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