Maria Duvidzon

UI Designer • Product Designer • Montreal, QC, CA

UI/UX Design

UX Strategy

Figma

User-Centered Design

User Research

Usability Testing

User Interface Design

User Flows

Journey Mapping

Design Strategy

Design Systems

Design Thinking

Available for hire fromNegotiable

Contracts

Full-Time Roles

Creative yet pragmatic Product Designer that enjoys taking messy ideas to tangible outcomes

With a background in digital marketing and product ownership, I am able to effectively balance out business requirements with user needs. Having worked in-house, agency and freelance roles, I have experience across a number of industries and hit the ground running quickly on new projects.

Projects

Design System for FutureFit AI

I joined FutureFit AI (FFAI) as their first in-house designer to work directly with the head of product on a complete platform redesign. One of the key tasks was setting up and managing a new design system. Working as a solo designer meant I had limited time to spend developing the design system alongside other rapid UX work. The design system had to scale fast as I discovered new use cases and constantly rethought and expanded the library, so I had to approach this challenge strategically. ‍ I established a set of short-term and long-term priorities. Rapid scalability and modularity were some of the guiding principles, working towards a tight deadline for the launch of the MVP. In practice, this often meant favoring reusable components and a templated approach to layouts where possible. To bridge the gap between the practical MVP approach and the end goal, I also created "aspirational" prototypes, a more complex version of the page or component to be built in a few cycles but not included in the initial scope. This helped align the business on the product vision. This project was not just a set of components. Research, real data, and accessibility considerations were part of the process from the start.See More

Zero to One for a Learning Management Tool

Worked in a small product team to take the project from zero to one through a full set of medium-fidelity wireframes. Collaborated with a UI designer to bring the product to life while keeping in mind the accessibility and low-tech requirements of our demographics, i.e., the middlers. Iterated through wireframes and prototypes to find the best e-learning approach for asynchronous community-driven learning.See More

Redesign of the Editing Experience for Venngage

OVERVIEW Venngage is a self-serve design and data visualization tool that helps professionals turn complex information into compelling visuals. However, the editing process can be tedious. Working with the director of product, I developed the long-term vision for Smart Platform, an intuitive editing experience that dynamically responds to users' content and lets them create and update the quality of their designs quickly. ROLE Product designer, product owner, UX researcher. PROJECT SUMMARY The idea was to leverage a CSS grid library to create fully responsive nodes that would scale to responsive layouts and support a design quality users love in our templates. I defined the expected responsive behaviors for a range of scenarios, including resizing nodes, deleting, adding, and moving elements, prioritizing the release roadmap for the cycles to come. Working closely with in-house graphic designers, I defined a solution that would enable them to create templates within the constraints of the CSS grid while maintaining the design complexity. OUTCOME The feature MVP was released on May 21, followed by a number of iterations based on early user feedback. Initial usability testing showed a 23% increase in usability.See More

Work History

UX Designer

FreelanceApr 2022 - Present • 2 yrs 7 mosVia Toptal, as well as directly with clients. Latest project: - Worked in a small product team to take the project from zero to one through a full set of medium-fidelity wireframes. - Collaborated with a UI designer to bring the product to life while keeping in mind the accessibility and low-tech requirements of our demographics, i.e., the middlers. - Iterated through wireframes and prototypes to find the best e-learning approach for asynchronous community-driven learning.

Senior Product Designer

FutureFit AINov 2021 - Mar 2022 • 5 mos- Built and managed a design system for the whole platform from the ground up. - Redesigned the end-user platform experience in two months. - Acted as a user advocate in a multidisciplinary launch committee, ensuring usability and intuitive user experience are our priorities. - Used behavior psychology principles to develop product loops and encourage positive habit-forming activities.

Product Designer

VenngageJun 2019 - Aug 2021 • 2 yrs 3 mos- Oversaw more than 13 projects through the end-to-end design process, from discovery and shaping to building and shipping. - Defined and executed product vision for an innovative, responsive editing experience with MVP version improving the tool's usability by 23%. - Acted as a product owner and led autonomous multidisciplinary teams to successful feature launches against strict time constraints. - Conducted user research to inform product decisions, including user interviews, quantitative data analysis, and usability studies.

Education

University of Arts London

Short Course, Graphic Design

King's College London

Masters, Cultural and Creative Industries

University of Bristol

Bachelor, French and Italian

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