Alexandra Mirgheș

UI/UX Designer

31. Bucharest.Looking to be part of a fun and new environment!

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2024 - Present

User Experience Designer @Lobyco

Bucharest, RO

As a UX Designer at Lobyco, I play a pivotal role in shaping the digital experience for one of the largest grocery store chains in Romania, while also contributing to projects for global clients. My work combines creativity, research, and collaboration to deliver intuitive and impactful design solutions.

Key responsibilities include:

2018 - 2022

Product Designer @BearingPoint

Bucharest, RO

As a Product Designer, I was responsible for creating visually appealing and intuitive user interfaces for web and mobile applications. My role involved leading design initiatives, conducting user research, and collaborating with cross-functional teams, product owners, testers, developers and clients to create engaging product experiences. Besides doing various design projects like mobile and web apps for BearingPoint, I have worked with clients from a wide range of industries. Some of them are Daimler, Vodafone, Henkel, Allied Irish Banks, Paris Social Services.

Responsibilities:

2015 - 2018

Graphic Designer @Anda Film

Bucharest, RO

I was responsible for creating visual designs that brought products to life, with a focus on branding and visual identity: logos, posters, packages and stationery. Some of the industries I’ve done branding work for were entertainment, financial, food, health and various small shops and businesses.Using my skills in Adobe Creative Suite, I brought these concepts to life with attention to detail and a deep understanding of color theory and typography.Throughout my time as a Graphic Designer at this company, I remained committed to staying up-to-date with the trends and technologies, allowing me to continuously improve my skills and deliver even more impactful designs.

2014

Art intern @Next Advertising

Bucharest, RO

As my first work experience, I have gained valuable experience working in a fast-paced, creative environment. I have had the opportunity to work on a campaign proposition for a real product, collaborating with other members of the creative team.During my internship, I had been responsible for assisting in the development and execution of creative concepts and visual designs for print, digital, and social media campaigns. I have worked closely with copywriters, graphic designers, and other members of the team to brainstorm ideas, sketch concepts, and create mockups.Throughout my internship, I have had the opportunity to hone my design skills, develop my understanding of marketing and advertising strategies, and learn how to work effectively as part of a creative team. I have gained practical experience using design software, including Adobe Creative Suite, and developed an eye for detail, with the ability to create visually compelling designs that meet client needs and objectives.

2015 - 2017

Master's Degree in Advertising

University of Bucharest

I have deepened my knowledge and expertise in the field of branding, advertising, and communication by joining and graduating Master's studies with the plan of learning to do graphic design / art direction. This program covered advanced topics such as learning the Adobe suite, brand management, strategic planning, market research, and digital marketing, among others.I’ve had the opportunity to work on real-world projects and collaborate with industry professionals, building a strong network and developing the practical skills needed to work in the field.My Master’s Degree project consisted of a real branding and visual identity creation project done for a choreography school.

2012 - 2015

Bachelor's Degree in Advertising

University of Bucharest

As an advertising and communication bachelor student, I spent three years learning the fundamentals of effective marketing strategies, brand management, media planning, and communication techniques. Through a combination of theoretical coursework and hands-on projects, I’ve gained the skills and knowledge needed to create impactful advertising campaigns and messaging that resonate with target audiences. I’ve developed critical thinking skills, creative problem-solving abilities, and a keen understanding of consumer behavior.In the first half of my Bachelor's Degree, I delved into the topics of globalization, media, and digital communication. In the second half, I worked on a comprehensive 360-degree marketing campaign aimed to raise awareness and discourage the purchase and use of fashion products derived from animals.

I <3 Design

Goals

The main objective of the project was to create a platform for the buildings’ caretakers to fulfill their tasks digitally. The secondary goal was to create a very accessible medium for our target group.

Target

The application was tested and created for a user persona consisting of person in his 50’s/60’s, having poor to medium formal education. The person is not a digital native and often times finds it difficult to keep up with technology.

Problem
& Solution

The problem the app solves is moving the check-up process done by the buildings’ caretakers from analog medium to digital.

The solution is creating an app by using a design system that passes certain accessibility tests so that the caretakers make the transition in an easy way.

01

The project naturally broke down into 3 phases of development. The V1 was primarily a proof of concept, aiming to put together all the different features the client initially requested, based on potential users' feedback. The goal was to create a simple prototype made out of wireframes, that would help me and the business analysts test those initial features with some of the future users.

02

My role included aiding the analysts' team with exploratory workshop exercises ideas, meant to address user pain points. After analyzing the main findings, I started sketching some low fi wireframes in order to gain feedback on the general design direction (user journeys, flows). After feedback and pain points came through, I modified the sketches into high fidelity wireframes that further aided to an MVP.

03

Further on, I worked on creating a design system that would match the branding (a logo that already existed) and made sure everything is accessible and met usability standards. The designs were tested and approved, with the changes being applied all over the project and thus, a V2 with more features was created.

General Accessibility

Differentiating form fields by using outlines, assistive text and always showing labels.

Using assistive text, labels and icons as usability enhancements for actions and alerts.

Reading and Learning Disabilities

Designing for Dyslexia, ADHD, Processing Deficits.

Vision Impairment Tests

Passing the 16 most common vision impairments and colour blindness tests. Passing Microsoft and A11Y colour contrast checkers.

Colors

Typography

Iconography

Most of the icons used are from the Angular Material, which is also an Open Source Library.

Results

• Home

• Campaign Studio case study

Brief

Create a web product that helps internal employees from said business units collaborate with external contractors and advertising, media and communication agencies.

Problem

The Client needed a way for their employees to have a documented digital back and forth communication with agencies, in order to release advertising campaigns, social media content and promotional content in general. This kind of data needs to be trackable and measurable, in order to generate KPI’s.

Solution

After numerous client and user workshops, competition analysis, sketches and MVP proposals, Campaign Studio was created. Starting as a Campaign Management Tool in 2020, it quickly evolved from a DAM integrated solution into a much more complex tool that does benchmarking, campaign creation and management and, wants to become an e-commerce solution by the end of the next year. The app was developed in modules, each one of them being designed by a team of 5 designers following Agile workflows and practices.

My Tasks

I joined the design team on the project at the beginning of 2022, full time, two years after the release. In my half a year on the project, my completed tasks included the following:

Accessibility

I did accessibility improvements, some of them being verifying and modifying colour schemes and checking contrasts all over the project.

Problems

The design was outdated and missed features users were needing. The task I was assigned to consisted of addressing the following users’ pain points:

Solution

As a result of user interviews, client workshops and research, I’ve designed a series of features that users needed:

Process

01

User pain-points

Users reported usage difficulty and needs to Business Analysts (BA’s).

02

Making Contact

BA’s presented said problems to design team and gave contacts of users for further discussions with them.

03

Project Research

Basic research on the product and competition was done before contacting users.

04

User Research

Contacted users and had some exploration and problem defining workshops

05

Wireframes & Ideation

Used research results to create wireframes of said calendar and tested the prototypes with the users.

06

Design & Hand-off

After adjustments, reviews and approval of users, BA‘s, developers and client, designed and handed out the solution

Week, grid view, filters on

Redesign of the original calendar page and entries, featuring posibilities of filtering, having different viewports, showing number of entries.

Month grid view

Month list view

New entry creation mask

Added the possibility of uploading carousels and stories, account tagging and location adding.

Results

• City Social case study

• ETM.next case study

Problem & Brief

Before my arrival on the project, ETM has been initially developed as an MVP, consisting of only few of the sections that it now has. The app‘s features and usage grew bigger in a short time span, making the design system initially created hard to use and difficult to cover all the new usability problems that arose.My primary job was to create a flexible design system and components set that can be easy to use by developers, as there was no permanent designer on the project.Secondly, I had to fix the flow problems that the initial design had, making it hard for users to keep track, use and add data.Another difficulty I faced was the lack of interaction with real users, the feedback from them arriving only after the development and release of the app versions, through the client and stakeholders.

Solution

In response to the challenges and trends in the construction industry, such as low on-site productivity, insufficient utilisation rates of equipment, and digitalisation of processes, ETM.next has been developed.The equipment and tools management solution is fully integrated into the SAP landscape and offers cutting-edge features: a webshop, a comprehensive planning board, and a native mobile app. It’s supporting processes like order/invoicing, assets or inventory management independently from the applications you use.

My Contribution

I was the sole designer working on this award-winning app. My responsibilities on the project included:

Tasks & Flowcharts

The app has various workflows that needed to be tested and optimised according to user needs and respecting rigurous client specs.

Dark & Light Color Schemes

The client asked for both light and dark versions due to the users working is a wide variety of different environments, in different lighting conditions.

Design System

I had to create a flexible design system that could be easily used by business analysts, product owners and developers, as there were no resources of hiring a full time designer on the project. From time to time, I was commissioned to create custom solutions for problems that arose along the way.

Results

• Campaign Studio case study

• AIB case study

Problem
& Brief

The existing intranet was outdated, inaccessible, incomplete, and difficult to navigate.

Another problem was that the previous online resigning / leaving process was incomplete, redirecting employees to eventually phisically go to the office to leave their resignation papers. This was a problem in times of Covid lockdown, as healthcare officials advised the public to avoid getting out of homes and some employees were working remote anyway.

• Audit and redesign for accessibility
• Create online resignation journeys (employees & managers)

Boundaries

Solution

A solution to usability problems was to restructure the most used site sections: the ones regarding HR processes and the ones that contained information about role responsibilities. To create an overwall more user friendly experience, I proposed a layout change for the information to be more easily recognisable.In order to make the leaving process easier, I‘ve made it shorter and turned it into a wizard, so future ex employees always know what steps have been already completed, where they‘re at in the process and what is going to follow.

Old HR Hub page

Users had to scroll down to find the “Leaving AIB” tile, then click it. Action tiles had no visible action buttons or indicators.

New HR Hub page

Redesigned menu and layout; changed information architecture both as a process and looks on landing pages: most important info was placed upper in the page hierarchy, making the news articles more recognizable).

Old Leaving AIB page

Scroll down to Accountability Handover Certificate to get links for the PDF and Word versions of it.
Click resigning (problem: some employees may click on “Exit programme”.

New Leaving AIB page

Less dissonant, 1-click Resigning.

AIB HR Hub
Redesigning the landing page

Executive employees should click "Employee Responsibilities" for more info. Managers (People Leaders) should click “People Leader Responsibilities”. Process stops here, as employees are required to contact HR and manager in order to resign.

New HR Hub page

Users can now proceed as instructed in the guided wizard. When finished, they get a clear confirmation message.

Results

• ETM.next case study

• Resume