Vlad is available for hire
Hire VladVlad Balan
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Location
Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, Romania
Toptal Member Since
August 19, 2019
With several years of experience under his belt, Vlad is a seasoned product strategist specializing in UX/UI design. In the past year alone, he's worked with over 45 startups to bring their ideas to life and transform them into digital prototypes. Due to a passion for entrepreneurship, Vlad enjoys creating products that people love but even more importantly, that are products that solve a real problem.
Work Experience
Freelance Product Designer
2006 - PRESENT
Vladesign
- Ran design sprints with a Brazilian B&B guest house to remodel their customer base.
- Embarked on a UX-oriented path with a focus on mobile app design while working with 45 startups.
- Established a few ongoing key client relationships (completed over 100 projects): Evoluxis, Yazamo, Ursus Breweries, Farmec, and so on.
- Worked as a freelance web designer with clients from Romania and the US, specializing in eCommerce sites.
- Developed user interfaces for small businesses in the US market through different contractors.
Technologies: Design Sprints, Business Model Canvas, Toggl, InVision, Sketch, Adobe Photoshop
Product Design | Team Lead
2016 - 2018
Hyper
- Onboarded the client and workshopped the initial idea in order to create a happy flow for the prototype.
- Developing the UX wireframes while incorporating design patterns.
- Created UI screens that followed established moodboard directions and finally prototyped the mobile app.
- Made presentation calls with the founders and ironed out any uncertainties or questions that showed up during our process.
- Worked as a team lead and built and nurtured a design team; also ensured the company’s objectives were fulfilled.
- Created internal design processes to ensure unity and projects flow.
- Attended weekly team lead meetings that allowed collaboration on internal projects within the departments of executive, marketing, sales, and operations.
Technologies: Slack, InVision, Sketch
Co-founder | UX/UI and Front-end Developer
2014 - 2015
MyLift
- Joined as a co-founder, MyLift which aimed to build the leading ride-sharing platform in Romania and Eastern Europe.
- Wore many different hats such as newbie entrepreneur, product designer, project manager, and marketing strategist.
- Built, in the span of a few months, a fully responsive website which we launched to actual customers.
- Designed the UX and UI, developed the front end, implemented QA testing, and gathered feedback.
- Closed down the startup in March 2015, after a strategic expansionist move by the leading worldwide car-sharing entity, BlaBlaCar.
Technologies: JavaScript, CSS3, HTML, InVision, Adobe Photoshop
UI Designer
2012 - 2013
MindMagnet
- Worked as an in-house designer, creating several Magento-based eCommerce web interfaces for US clients.
- Developed a strong understanding of user psychology and UX guidelines in the eCommerce platforms, especially concerning the buying process.
- Worked in cross-disciplinary team collaboration.
- Was very involved in the workflow with developers and understood their needs from an implementation point of view.
- Learned project management principles and how to work with Basecamp and Jira.
Technologies: Jira, Basecamp, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop
Education
2004 - 2009
Bachelor of Arts (BA) Degree in Computers and Automation
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca - Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Experience
Tools
Collaboration That Works
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