I haven’t written here in a while so here’s a recap:
I’m a UX & UI Designer, started as freelancer, continued as employee in B2C and B2B, then 10+ years in corporate/enterprise environments (B2B and SaaS), wading into Product Design waters, with a creative mindset and a range of supporting skills. I value results and creativity, fostering growth, encouraging meaningful work, while having a healthy work-life balance. I’m driven by the idea of creating positive impact through thoughtful, human-centered design. User research has also been a renewed focus with recent a-ha moments, and I’m keen on exploring more.
Let’s go back to the start for context:
Beginning/beginner
I started as a web and print designer in Tg.Mureș, Romania while attending English-Pedagogy college there (postponed the diploma exam after I finished).
Then I moved to other Romanian cities (Iași for 3 years, then Cluj-Napoca), where I worked first in print, then web design and front-end development for a few years.
In this time I also attended without enrolling Psychology classes and seminars. The Cognitive Behavioral (masters) classes influenced my way of seeing and understanding the world – and gradually my professional experience and approach.
Mid level and beyond
In 2011, I started my enterprise experience joining one of the bigger IT companies in Cluj-Napoca where I started as a front-end developer and then UI designer for B2B projects in an agile environment, and collaborated cross teams. Some projects also had UX tasks where I started gradually getting more UX design experience. Also, occasionally, I assisted the company creatively (print, video, and presentations) to improve and promote their processes and standards.
In this period I also wanted to expose myself to academic courses and seminars that I felt were relevant, so I attended without enrolling the full 3 years of bachelor Arts & design courses and seminars. After that I also attended the first year of Anthropology courses and seminars – including the academic events.
I was also preoccupied and involved with the local communities, be it IT companies or co-work meetup communities and events, or NGOs and social-cultural or environmental projects. There was a lot going on, but in short, I felt pretty integrated and that I was contributing.
Last adventures
All that changed in 2018 when, together with my now wife, we moved to Vienna, Austria. Initially I was planning to pause my then contract for 3 months while she did an Erasmus semester, and I’d take a brake with an occasional pro-bono or collaboration; but the negotiation of this was easier as a ‘sabbatical year’ which I could come back from when ever sooner – and I have to admit that sounded good.
I started exploring the Viennese communities in meetups, events and at the Geography GIS courses & academic events, but after a few weeks I also started looking at the IT companies and opportunities.
One oppotunity stood out in the way that I could help scientific communities and that was a huge attraction. So I joined effort on this one complex SaaS project as UX & UI designer since then.
While it started with great inertia, the inertia peaked until the pandemic and continued a bit as we worked together to adapt to the sudden change that affected the business directly (solutions for scientific conferences which were mostly in person and up to 10s of thousands of people).
But, with the isolation and all that context, some numbness installed and the inertia did not continue, I also somehow did not learn much German (working in English all day). While we grew attached to Vienna and enjoyed it to the point of feeling like a years long city-brake, I did not integrate and stopped contributing somehow. So this February (2025) I started the refresh. Joined again the communities here and started to gradually expose myself. It’s not necessarily as effective as in Romania as I know not many people and am a bit of an introvert with tints of social awkwardness.
A new path
After 7 years in that last adventure, it’s time for a new beginning. I labeled my previous portfolio as legacy, (built over a decade ago) and started updating a new version – check it out.
I did play with the UI and added a video to showcase abilities with Figma, Maze, OBS Studio. Many things are under NDA and could only be showcased in a meeting, so the study-case format while already in some state available in my portfolio link is still in the oven. I added another video demoing a min design system in Figma, and may gradually add more things as I get to them.
Recently I started a couple of personal projects:
- An interactive survey tool
Made it for myself and others (in alpha now). Initially I was just playing with AI, but then also started to use in my research efforts/curiosities (and more). Has and admin area where surveys can be created and monitored:
https://worldneeds.vercel.app
- A self or assisted psychological help tool
Lots of plans for this, for now a journaling tool – usable also as a feedback tool. You can create a free account and see your timeline as you log it, easily navigable via a mini-map:
https://mejournal.lovable.app
This post, the résumé below, and the portfolio are in continuous improvement so adjustments will/may be made infrequently.
Also, I’ve been pondering and making an IKIGAI…
… and I have been considering what I want or prefer, and what I don’t want – or prefer not to say the least. Here’s a link to the Miro board with the pondering .
ATS friendly resume Visual resume
So hey, give me sign, let’s work together.