hi, i'm vlad zely, a design executive with fifteen years of expertise. i design products, brands, teams, processes, and everything in between to create impactful experience. i also coach, advise, & consult to help others do so. let's chat 

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i'm re-discovering my voice as a writer, and i launched my irregular newsletter on things that sometimes go unnoticed. from self-to-people leadership to building products and creating beautiful experiences. on resilience, self-development, some struggles, and moments of joy. subscribe at unnoticed.today / 2024.09.05.

we created zoe daily 30+, a category-defining whole-food supplement. i had the privilege to lead the internal design team and design-direct external contractors and agencies to bring the project to life. from concepting with a co-founder to early testing, packaging design, 3d rendering, production and manufacturing, and later digital funnel, web, and in-product journey. thanks to the great teamwork, the launch out-performed the financial sales goals / 2024.08.01.

art-directing 3d render for zoe daily 30+ / 2024.08

i was directly responsible for improving zoe's information architecture (ia). over time, the functionality had become cluttered and additive, so we needed to rethink our approach to app navigation, as well as how we place and display content within the app.

i facilitated the process end-to-end, starting with blue-sky thinking and leveraging cross-functional collaboration and ideation for initial inspiration. we then assembled a working group and, by leveraging behavioral data along with product strategy and qualitative insights, envisioned the future of the zoe mobile app to bring the product vision to life and improve the overall experience.

our early tests proved that the improved ia works well for both existing zoe members and potential prospects / 2024.07.15.

Þakgil, iceland / 2024.07.04.

i've been facilitating product vision workshops at zoe, helping product and design leaders co-create the future of zoe for the next two years. we utilized the storyboarding technique alongside low-fidelity prototyping. this work has resulted in a compelling company-wide product deck with an enhanced narrative, crafted by the product leadership, and design-fiction high-fidelity product design screens, delivered by the design team / 2024.11.04

zoe partnered with m&s to create the ultimate "gut shot," a kefir-based drink with over 5 billion (!) live cultures from 14 strains of bacteria. i had the chance to oversee the design from the zoe side and contribute to the overall direction of the packaging and the tv commercial. the gut shot became the number one best-selling partnership product for m&s food, driving zoe brand awareness through the roof and resulting in zoe's strongest sales quarter in the uk to date / 2024.01.01.

limbo — a poster design for a refugee queer party in amsterdam/ 2023.06.16.

"i still care" — a poster design for a collective art exhibition in amsterdam, exploring and re-defining means and meanings of care in the modern society/ 2023.06.14.

visual diary/ 2023.06

vladzely — ss23 | 65 tracks, 4h 42m

let's create moments to dance, to breathe, to look around and preserve the hope for a better life. spotify / 2023.06.03.

as a thesis during my time at hyper island, i chose the topic of ‘emerging queer influence over post-pandemic leadership in tech,’ questioning the existing prerogatives within the industry and exploring better ways to lead people in tech by employing queer optics. as a result, i developed an actionable framework to improve the practice of 1-on-1 conversations within the workplace. i tested the methodology with a few leaders across multiple organizations and received strong positive feedback  / 2023.05.01

i had an amazing opportunity to work with an old client of mine on their new ai video startup. they used to be called 'deepcake' but felt the need to rename and rebrand themselves for the launch of their flagship product. i led the hands-on work for the end-to-end 360 branding project: from naming to visual identity, including concepting, logotype, custom lettering, and icon design for brask / 2023.03.22.

brask doubles — a landing page for an end-to-end service and ai toolkit for creating authentic digital content with any person, without their presence, but with their consent. ethically. legally. now. / 2023.03.22.

photos on the lights in the interior space i designed / 2023.03.20

i gave an interview to verve on the miro's rebranding four years after the launch:

"i share the sentiment that design executives should speak business language fluidly while deeply caring about the craft. your c-suite might not be aware of the aesthetics-usability effect or methodologies for (in)validating your product (design) decisions, and that's ok. help them understand the value of these concepts or practices in connection with their business realms: okrs, kpis, and core product metrics. it's not that complicated when you are coming from the perspective of organizational goals and targets that are discipline-agnostic — which helps drive shared understanding across the board.

at some point, you narrow down your focus as a leader to just a few things: business goals, product strategy, your team, processes, and the overall quality of the work. those are the things you can influence directly to drive impact." / 2023.03.09.

getting back to the visual design routine / 2022.02.09

the playlist for the end of the year: wrapping up things, meeting significant others, making quality time for yourself — 66 tracks 4h 48 min. spotify or apple music / eoy 2021

design matters'21 provided me with an opportunity to meet design community in person and re-connect with it after one and a half years of pandemic. that was a great moment to reflect on the past, recognize the present and think about the future of work / 2021.09.29

i'm so proud to share our first big update on accessibility at miro. these are our first steps to make the product more accessible for people with different access needs. we have still a lot of work to do, and we are aware of it. yet i'd like to celebrate the team effort of bringing our mission of empowering teams to create the next big things by providing the best solution to live. i was humbled to be aligned to this effort as the directly responsible individual on the company level / 2021.07.15

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giorgia: what do you find influences and affects employees’ creativity in the workplace?

vlad: a friend of mine once said, “you can only play when you’re safe” — this has become the basic principle of creative work for me. i deeply believe that leaders are responsible for creating a safe environment, or if you prefer a “playground”, for the team; we should empower team mates to share, explore and co-create ideas and do it in an honest and supportive way. in short: the foundation for creativity is built on culture, trust, safety, honesty, and mutual respect.
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demagsign / 2021.05.27

the talk with bang bang education about getting to know yourself, inner honesty, interest and finding your place. about digital product design, transformations, global thinking and effects. photography as a way to see. ethics and aesthetics, cultural contexts, teamwork and a look into the future that will change everything. ru / 2021.03.15

we have a tradition at miro to nominate culture champions, people who live up toour team values. i'm happy to be recognized as a person representing one out of the six values, stands for "yes to passion, no to bullshit"—my favorite one, actually / 2020.11.11

editorial design + cover art for the report on the state of relationships after the covid-19 crisis / 2021.03.09

gladioli for olga — probably the tallest bouquet i've ever made / 2020.08.08

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rosenfeld media: what is the professional experience like for designers and designops people at your company?

vlad: miro as a team relies on a holistic approach to digital product design. each designer has an opportunity to lead projects end-to-end. we start collaboratively with pms to identify the right problem to solve, then explore potential solutions, validate them with customers, implement cross-functionally and measure success. it helps to see a bigger picture, make data-informed decisions and connect those with the company mission and vision.
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enterprise experience / 2020.08.07

playful ceramics from saint p. / 2020.08.02

nielsen norman group "ux management" certification. cources. managing user experience strategy. lean ux and agile. ux deliverables. design tradeoffs and ux decision frameworks. designops: scaling ux design and user research. user research methods: from strategy to requirements to design. analytics and user experience/ 2020.07.12

2020.06.12

align widgets on the board in just one click with auto layout. we are at miro would like you to focus on what matters; the rest the tool will manage on its own / 2020.06.07

that's the summary of talk i've given at emerge conference on design leadership and lessons learned in a hyper-growth startup.

there's no single right way to be a leader. self-doubt and the imposter syndrome often take place when you are taking the first leadership steps.

it's a very personal journey for each designer. you should accept the challenge of shifting your focus from the craft itself to building a team and company, defining processes as well as shaping the culture to empower teammates to execute their best work.

i believe the only one way to demystify leadership and support those who are in a transition is to promote and share as many personal stories as we can within the community to celebrate the diversity of leadership styles and practices.

this talk is my contribution to the discussion / 2020.06.03

i had a privilege to help my friend figured out the idea of tattoo cover. the experience was both exciting and scaring since iterations with tattoos require a bit more responsibility than "push and commit" / 2020.05.31

2020.05.20

international day against homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia — visual study / 2020.05.17

2020.05.28

we'd like to empower thinkers, doers and knowledge workers around the world to share their best practices and learn from each other, so we happy to introduce you the platform to give you a space for it — please welcome miroverse / 2020.05.27

music is a massive part of all what i do. one week before the official start of summer i've decided to assemble a comprehensive playlist. it's a reflection of my perception of this quite strange spring 2020, and the appreciation of a moment, then nature is awakening. you find this four-hours long mixtape on spotify or apple music / 2020.05.23

the icon for my new gallery of eye-catching & heart-warming pieces of design, arts & culture at telegram / 2020.05.10

the postcard design for the 3-rd anniversary of my friend's kruzhok.io — project, dedicated to promoting educational activities in a far region of the russia / 2020.05.10

miro case get two medals on european design awards: gold one for the "digital identity" and silver for "motion logo", thanks to our partners, vruchtveles, and all our team / 2020.05.10

self-portrait during self-isolation / 2020.04.26

my first ever experience of taking screenshotting seriously as photography during the lockdown and a facetime video-call. thanks to sasha for modeling / 2020.04.06

my playlist for april. apple music / 2020.04

the online event, dedicated to supporting teams and team leaders to adapt to the remote work. youtube (rus) / 2020.03.21

beauty and clarity — the collage that reflects my values and the current state of my pinterest account / 2020.03.20

the beauty of collaboration or how miro team use miro to ideate and brainstorm across the globe / 2020.03.20

design leadership club is a private community of design professionals, who strive to promote best practices of leading teams in the VUCA-world. website / 2020.03.20

2020.02.13

the logotype for a floral boutique specializing on a dry flowers / 2020.01.12

gleb / 2020.01.12

miro visual notes is a collaborative text editor within the board. i've been leading the project from the strategy-level decision-making to the final testing and implementation as a product manager and design lead / 2019.12.10

figma moscow meetup was the first figma meetup in russia, and i've been lucky enough to share the stage with dylan field, ceo and co-founder of figma/ 2019.09.23

visual studies applied to slide from the public talk “types of characters and characters of type” given by gayaneh bagdasaryan, type designer and co-founder of brownfox, independent type foundry / 2019.08.14

kocha is a village with 400 people and one public school. i've been lucky enough to have the opportunity to support the educational project kruzhok.io to with ideation and design-direction for the local village website / 2019.06.15

one more 3d-lettering for "b" / 2019.04.19

i've accidentally found myself within top-500 makers of product hunt/ 2019.03.29

realtimeboard → miro, rebranding + renaming. it was huge. i had a chance to provide with digital art-direction for website and product; the brand was developed in collaboration with vruchtvlees / 2019.03.07

2018.10.23

miro mind map is a great tool to visualize your thoughts. and i had a chance to lead this project as a product manager, researcher and design lead. the release become a greqt acquisition channel as well as product of the day on producthunt / 2018.09.20

campus — vorkurs zine / 2018.09

i've made a logo for a pro-bono project, specializing on mental health and finding the right therapist for you / 2018.09.13

some part of everypixel's landing pages redarding to the company / 2018.06.08

busines cards for everypixel / 2018.02.04

everypixel was nominated on the best design tool of the year by producthunt / 2018.01.24

visual diary /2017.09.11

2015.03.07

early days photography / 2010

connecting the dots — visual study / 2017.09.12


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