UI / UX / Product Designer

Located in Beautiful Boulder Colorado

Nearly Ten Years and 100 apps later

Over the past 9 years I've worked on and been a part of launching over 100 apps on iOS and Android. Needless to say I've worked on a multitude of projects, worked with a ton of clients, and sliced so many assets I've lost count.

Through these years I've been able to wear a lot of hats and learn a great deal about what it takes to build an app for iOS or Android. Working with the development team I've learned what their pain points are when working with designers and vise versa, and found ways to fix it to streamline the process.

Previous Clients

I've been fortunate enough to work with these guys on some awesome products. Ranging from full ground up design to UX and UI audits to overseeing junior designers, I've always strived to deliver the best product for the end user.

WÜF

OVERVIEW

WUF is a new GPS and activity tracker for your best friend. Combining GPS tracking and activity monitoring to provide you with the best insights into your dog's habits, letting you know if you need to feed them more or take them for a walk around the block. The WUF app allows you to see what your pup is up to and track them down if they ever run away, set up invisible fences, send audio commands to the collar, track activity while you're away, with many more features to come.

TASK

As lead designer I was brought on to take the entire feature list and design a mobile app that would be intuitive to use and allow for more features to be added in the future. Working with the WUF team, we whittled the long feature list down to the top level features for launch, then got to work planning the structure of the app.

PROCESS

Starting with flow diagrams helps visualize the content that fits within each section along with how difficult it is to navigate. Once the flow looked good Low-Fi screens were assembled and added to an InVision prototype so we could play with the flow of the app. After some tweaks the Low-Fi became High-Fi as I built the look and feel. Along with testing the designs on device the development team was kept in the loop to ensure that what was designed could be built within the timeline. As sections were being built out, assets were provided to the team through Zeplin to ensure everything was up to date and looking correct.

CONCLUSION

The end product was a fully planned and designed iOS app for the development team to implement for beta testers to try out with actual collars. This was one of the more enjoyable experiences I’ve had working with a great team, building something that will bring owners closer to their dogs.

Additional Projects

The Met

During a rebrand, The Met apps required an update as well. Keeping up with the new iOS app the Android app was redesigned to align with Material design standards and the new look and feel of the iOS app.
As the lead designer on this I was responsible for taking the new iOS designs and transforming them to fit within Material standards. Once the designs were completed, I worked closely with the developers to ensure everything looked and felt polished.

Belk

With close to 300 department stores, Belk looked to the team at Fuzz to design and develop their mobile apps across iOS and Android. As the lead designer I worked within the existing Belk styleguide to design an app that would be easy to use. Once design was complete it was time to work with the development team to ensure what I designed was implemented properly.

NY Post

When you’re on the go and want to keep up to date with all the latest news from the NY Post, you need their handy reader app. Designed to be easy to consume news on the phone, the app was later rolled out for iPad allowing current subscribers to read the full print editions from the couch to the subway.

crownhunt

Finding a hair style and stylist can be tough for some. Crownhunt aims to make it a fun process by allowing you to filter through local stylists and reviewing their previous work.

Chatty

My goal was to create a clean and simple user interface for chatting with your contacts. Removing unnecessary bloat and confusing flows allows the user to have quick conversations and send photos to friends.

Wheathers

Personal Design & Development Project
Wheathers aims to give the user current and upcoming weather in their current location. Using a simple interface, custom weather graphics, and day night interface switching provides useful data to the user in a clean and fun interface.
What better way to learn more about iOS design than to design something then try to build it. I’m currently working on the development of this app, in hopes to gain a better understanding of design limitations within apps. And sometimes APIs can be fun.

Run Logging

Based on Run the Year 2016, I wanted to create a simple run/walk tracking app that would allow participants to easily log their miles. Simply tap record and start your run, activities would be automagically logged to your account as you finish. Key data points are displayed on your feed to give you some bragging points next time you talk to your friends.

Internal Ed

Knowledge sharing is a key part of building a strong team. Designers were tasked with presenting and educating others on different aspects of the design process or something they were passionate about. Since January I’ve been able to present on iOS Human Interface Guidelines, Asset Specs and how to provide them for the developers, and how to perform a design review and work with developers.

How I like To work

When working on a new project, or adding features to existing products, I like to gather as much info as I can to help in my decision making. I've always believed in designing with the end user and developer in mind. The user has to be able to use the product and things should be in a obvious place, but also the developer has to be able to build it. Working side by side with a developer and bouncing ideas around often leads to easy to use and build software. Talking through what's going to be used in development helps mold the designs into something that can be built, rather than something that looks pretty but can't be done because of time constraints, library limitations, or inexperience.

Sketching

All good ideas start when a pen hits a piece of paper. Though very rough, it's easy to get ideas out fast.

Wireframes

Simple blocks and labels arranged on the screen form building blocks of the interface. Quickly putting blocks on a page you can build out pages quickly.

Design

Finally, get to apply some detail to the wires. Starting with core screens, style and spacing is applied. Thankfully Sketch is great at making styles and symbols so it's easy to change one screen and see it rolled out across all the artboards.

DESIGN AUDIT

When designs get passed off to the dev team, I like to review betas as they're released to make sure everything looks and feels right. If things need to change, sitting down with the developer and making live changes works best.

When that's all done, jump back to sketching.

Just because the product has shipped, that doesn't mean the project is over. Constant monitoring and updates are key to a successful product. My goal is to build products that last by talking to users, testing, designing, and working with the product team to ensure everyone is on the same page. As technology evolves, so must our apps.

Software / Services I like

Sketch
Photoshop CC
Illustrator CC
After Effects
InDesign
SourceTree
Zeplin
InVision
OmniGraffle
xCode
AdForm
Google Web Designer
Squarespace / Shopify

Betas I've Helped With

Adobe Experience Design
Adobe Extract
Invision Inspect

Conferences I Like

Adobe Max
SXSW
SmashingConf

A Little About Me

After spending about 5 years living in Brooklyn, I needed to get out of the city. A few short days of driving landed me in Boulder and I couldn't be happier.

Outside of work, I like to keep busy playing outside. Like most people that call Colorado home, I ski, snowboard, run, road bike, mountain bike, climb, and enjoy some of the local brews. Trail running has been a nice way for me to relax after a long day, I've run a couple trail marathons and am currently training for a 50 mile ultra in Steamboat this fall. When I can't run, road biking has become a nice way to get around and see the area, and after biking 120 miles over three mountain passes I still love to do it.

My dog Patches helps fill up the rest of my free time, whether that's going to the dog park, hiking around, or just going for walks.

I'm on Instagram and Twitter with the handle @zimnowskic, where I post either dog or nature pics.

Somewhere between mile 16-18 my calf cramped and eventually took my hips out. Finished the Blue Sky marathon in just under 5 hours, slower than I wanted but finished. Now resting the legs for awhile.

Took @patchbutt out for a 10 mile recovery run that was mostly hiking. She still enjoyed it.

Fires south east of steamboat, then one popped up on course so we got rerouted. Second best 50miler time of 11:45, tight legs, side stitches, but no vomiting like last year. #runrabbitrun

Usually pack to much for races, slimmed down my pack and drop bag. Should be enough for the @rrr_steamboat 50.

22 hours and 49 minutes after starting both @brooksbillymitchell and I finished Never Summer 100k. We both suffered but were able to finish early in the morning. The challenging course brought close lightning storms, hail, wind and rain to make thin

Another great day running in the mountains.

Resume

Summary

10-year creative career with a focus on iOS and Android app design and creative team building and management ensuring efficiency every step of the way. Strong working relationship across the team of developers and managers to ensure projects are delivered on time and on budget.

Experience

Freelance Design, January 2017 - Current

GiveWith
- Designed single page sites and ad units to promote social good.
- Created guidelines for development along with design review
- Ads built and animated in Google Web Designer or Adform.

BillGo
- Worked within constraints of an existing React Native app to add new features

WÜF Smart Collar, Lead Mobile Designer, October 2016 - April 2017

- Lead the discovery and design of a native iOS app that allows you to track, train, and communicate with your furry best friend.
- Given a blank slate and a few pages of features I assembled a navigation structure that would be as intuitive as possible and allow for future features to be added.
- Created the look and feel of the iOS app and worked with developers to ensure they could build it.

Fuzz Productions, Director, Design Technology, 2014 - 2016

- Spearheaded new department initiatives that focused on optimizing the way the creative team collaborates with engineers to increase efficiency but ultimately yield a better product for our clients and their end users.
- Initiated and oversaw a department wide transition to best in class design tools including Sketch and Zeplin.
- Lead design reviews of apps and worked with developers to ensure what was designed was being built.

Fuzz Productions, Creative Director, 2013

- Lead discovery, user experience, and interface design on all top tier client initiatives including NY Post, NFL, Disney, Google, Random House, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Hired, managed and educated a team of 7 designers to ensure deadlines were met along with keeping to high design standards.

Fuzz Productions, Senior Mobile Designer, 2011

- Designed the user experience and interface for over 20 custom iOS and Android native applications for clients like Rodale, Random House, NFL, WWD, and Conde Nast.
- Lead training of new and existing designers on latest industry tools and technical design specifications for iOS and Android.

Fuzz Productions, Web Designer, 2007

- Designed websites and mobile apps for a growing client list.
- Worked side by side with developers to ensure what was designed was feasible within timelines and budgets.

Previous Clients

WÜF, Rodale, Google, Belk, Disney, Wegmans, GNC, Conde Nast, WWD, CBS, Songza, Credly, YMCA, TKTS, Forever 21, AB InBev, Random House, New York Post, Fairmont, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, WÜF.

Skills

Sketch, Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, After Effects, InDesign, Keynote, User Interface Design, Adform, Google Web Designer, User Experience Design, HTML/CSS, Team Management, Mobile Design, iOS and Android Best Practices.

Education

Full Sail University

Bachelor’s of Science in Digital Art & Design, 2004 - 2006

PDF download available below.

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Contact Me

Want to work together on a project? Have an idea you want to discuss? or just want to say hello?

Email me: zimnowskic@gmail.com