Understanding/knowing of the most common design aspects (and not only).

Some of the aspects are:

• Basic design principles, such as: emphasis, balance, alignment, contrast, pattern (repetition), proportion, hierarchy (movement), white space, shape, form etc;
• UX, including its aspects of branding, (UI, visual) design, usability and function; Adaptive and responsive design approaches;
• Color theory;
• Typography;
• Motion design;
• Raster (bitmap) and vector;
• Multimedia types and their most popular formats;
• Creativity Understanding that everything is a remix of something else.

Theoretical and practical understanding of the things mentioned above never stops for me, although there may be pauses. There’s always something new to be learned or improved...

Understanding of Front-end and Back-end development

In the past, I have experience with front-end development both in personal practice and working alongside other developers, including back-end developers.

I have a good understanding of HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

A few years ago, I took online Python courses, but I never used it further. I also have experience customizing WordPress themes using PHP.

For the past year or so, I’ve been learning Unity (a game engine) and C# as a hobby.

Ability to communicate with clients and colleagues

While working in different teams and with different people for quite some time, I have learned to find a common language primarily with those people with whom I need to cooperate. With others, communication usually occurs if there are common interests.

Initially, I study a person, mostly by listening to what he or she has to say and how he or she says it, trying to understand how to approach this person, and then I begin to find points of contact for further communication and working with him or her. With some people, it happens at once, while with others it takes some time. It may sound like some kind of strategy, but, in my case, it happens naturally and effortlessly.

Deadline management

For me, as a designer, everything usually depends on the deadline. The more time I have, the more I can play with different options, spend more time on research, and focus on smaller details. If there isn’t much time, then, as a rule, I use pre-made elements or templates and proven methods, which saves a lot of time.

Usually, half of the success depends on the technical specifications. The more they are thought out, the better the chances are that everything will be completed on time. Even then, I tend to check along the way if we’re actually on the right track.

Balance between preferences and tastes

It may sound great, that a designer has a good sense of taste, style and aesthetics. And it’s actually important. But I’ve found that more important for me, as a designer and a team player, is the ability to balance between my preferences, my team’s preferences, my client’s preferences and, at later stages, UX feedback.

Constantly discovering myself and the world around me

Since 2013 I’ve been practicing meditation, asanas and other similar practices. I haven’t yet become a monk and haven’t gone to the mountains (no such plans so far), but life has become clearer and simpler. I managed to see many things, including myself and others, much better and probably deeper. Of course, this also really helps in any work.

Constant Periodic desire to self-develop

It wouldn’t be true to say that the desire to self-develop is always present. In my case, this desire periodically appears again and again, and therefore my self-development in design (and not only) occurs even after 10 years of doing it.

Below are some of my other strong qualities worth mentioning:

• Critical thinking;
• Analytical mind;
• Reasonableness;
• Understanding of incomprehensibility of knowledge;
• High level of empathy;
• Strong patience;
• Reasonable perseverance;
• Calmness;
• Awareness of ego aspects.