Artem Syzonenko

ARTEM SYZONENKO

Product User Experience Designer

  • 10+ years experience
  • Dnipro, Ukraine
  • English B2+/C1

ABOUT ME

I find customer problems with interviews, do market research, create wireframes and prototypes, test hypotheses, conduct user testing, prepare design specifications, analyze and monitor key user performance indicators.

I follow Lean methodology with a big focus on prototyping and testing through customer interviews and behavioral analytics.

PRODUCT AREA COVERAGE

Product Area Coverage Chart

WHAT I DO

Product idea research

Customer interviews, surveys, competitor analysis, idea generation. Inspiration + ideation in human- centered design terminology. While this is simpler for client projects, as the main source of truth is the client, things get more complex when dealing with consumer-facing products before reaching product/market fit.

Do people really have this problem? How do they solve it right now? Will they pay for an alternative solution? Will that price cover the customer acquisition cost? And many more interesting questions.

Prototyping

For new features, I start with pen and paper, the least distracting way of thinking. After that — Figma or Axure RP.

When a prototype is done, it should be checked with customers. Based on their feedback, it either goes to development, requires modifications, or I try solving the task in an alternative way. “... a prototype is worth a thousand meetings” — IDEO.

User interface design

As part of the overall UX, I design UI so users can interact with a system. Prototypes should have a high-fidelity look according to research, so users treat them like real solutions. That's why I create UI close to the intended final version from the beginning, rather than Balsamiq-like sketches.

That said, I’m not a graphic designer — I focus on interactive elements like inputs, buttons, selectors, sliders, etc., rather than visual assets like illustrations, logos, or infographics. But if needed, tools like ChatGPT make that possible now.

Product management

I helped launch five projects from the zero stage to the public market. This allowed me to deeply understand the whole process of software product delivery.

We can't launch a successful product by only making it user-friendly. The product should be desirable, deliverable, and viable in the market. There's no point in building a product we can't promote or implement. Of course, there are PMs and CTOs, but product designers should understand these aspects as well.

Tech stack understanding

I am not a programmer or database specialist, but I have some understanding of the tech stack that may help us deliver faster.

Should we do a simple HTML page with a couple of JS widgets? Or go with Webflow? Maybe WordPress with a theme? Or Laravel? Maybe Django or Rails? Bubble? Outsystems? What about frontend? Do we really need Vue/React from the start? Maybe begin with Django + htmx? What component library will we use? For app search: native DB, Elastic, or Algolia? Do we need a native app or a web app? A web app as a PWA? Font icons, SVGs, or sprites? And so on.

Product requirements

I have solid experience contributing to task descriptions — from writing over 2,000 GitHub issues to reviewing long project specs.

I believe product designers should be involved in both written and verbal task discussions. It helps clarify interaction details and often surfaces missing functionality early on (like “Wait, how do we edit this?” or “How does the user go back?”). Developers appreciate when these gaps are addressed upfront.

TOOLS

Pen and paper

The best tools in the ideation stage are the most simple ones: pen and paper. Focus stays on thinking and not on tool friction. When I know how to represent a new feature, I move to wireframing and prototyping tools.

Main tools

Figma for design systems, collaboration, and high-fidelity prototypes. Tailwind + AI to generate HTML versions and test ideas with real solutions.

EDUCATION

University

Dnipro State University / 2000–2005 — Economics, Master’s degree (first class honours). Mathematical school class, 1991–2000 (first class honours).

Most influential books

  • About Face — A. Cooper
  • The Lean Startup — E. Ries
  • INSPIRED — M. Cagan
  • The Visual Display of Quantitative Information — E. Tufte
  • The Big Book of Dashboards — S. Wexler
  • The Best Interface Is No Interface — G. Krishna
  • IBCS 1.1 — IBCS Association

CONTACT

Email: [email protected]
Time zone: EEST (UTC+3)

Location: Dnipro, Ukraine
Working hours: 9am – 9pm

PORTFOLIO

See portfolio

This website was built by me from scratch. I edit it in VS Code using Tailwind and build it locally. Cloudflare applies all changes after I commit them to GitHub. The portfolio is password-protected using Cloudflare Workers.