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Designer & Collaborator.

Designer & Collaborator.

Hi! 👋

Originally from Romania, I am a digital product designer currently based in 
Bucharest, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Bremen - Germany.

Skills overview

My strong points

My skills in identifying problems
to solve them effectively

Applied product thinking in the startup & enterprise environment
‍My strengths as a designer lie in being a good communicator, having the user's best interests in mind, a sensibility for structure and order, and a technical perspective of the design field.


Design + Dev collaboration in the agency environment

My strengths as a designer lie in being a good communicator, having the user's best interests in mind, a sensibility for structure and order, and a technical perspective of the design field.


Strong background in Visual & Interaction Design

My experience as a designer and as a Design graduate has taught me that masterfully crafted UIs go hand in hand with great, optimised code.

Experience

Here's what I've been up to

Here's what I've been up to

Learnings that I reflected on along the way

Learnings that
I reflected on along the way

Early stage startup

DocMe

Company size

15 (at its biggest)

Remote, UK

❤️ HealthTech

🤖 AI

B2C

B2B

Team

Stakeholders

Computer Vision

Dev

Clinical Research

Marketing

Role

Lead Product Designer

Platform

Mobile

SaaS

iOS

Android

Expanded skill

Business & Strategy

Design system

Success metrics

Cross Collaboration

Prioritization

User & Business needs

In my latest role as Lead Product Designer, I led the design for two HealthTech products on mobile and web, driving increased product adoption in the UK and international markets.

This early-stage startup role taught me to balance business goals with engineering constraints while advocating for the user. I gained experience in scoping and prioritizing MVP features, designing and launching key product features, and building a design system from scratch. Additionally, I was involved in business strategy, go-to-market planning, and participated in Accelerators & YC, including preparing pitch decks for investors and partners.

Startup

MOIA

Company size

300+

Hamburg, Germany

🌱 🚖 E-mobility

🤖 AI

B2C

Team

Management

Development

Design

Marketing

Role

UX/UI Designer

Platform

Mobile

SaaS

iOS

Android

Expanded skill

Design system

Design system

Success metrics

Cross Collaboration

Prioritization

User & Business needs

I have worked closely with the Design Team, Development and Management to increase user registrations from Ca 41,000to Ca 260,000 for the launch in Hamburg.
I have used a Component-based UI approach to extend the Design System. This deepened my understanding in designing for native platforms for mobile - Android and iOS.
And I’ve also learned more first-hand experience about working in sprints and user testing.
I gained experience with scoping and prioritizing MVP - minimum viable product features.
Built on the knowledge of business impact when evaluating product features.

Agency environment

hmmh

Company size

240+

Bremen, Germany

🛒️ E-commerce

Team

Hybrid Dev/Design Team

Development

Management

Stakeholders

Stakeholders

Marketing & Branding

Role

UX/UI Designer

Platform

Mobile

Web

Expanded skill

Developer Collaboration

Design system

HTML

CSS

UI Styeleguide

Dev Collaboration

Atomic Design

Developer workflow

Improved my understanding, as a designer about the front-end development workflow involved in building products.
I worked within the development workflow to design and code the UI with an atomic design approach.
I built on my knowledge in working in sprints and experienced working with dev tools such as Jira, Sourcetree/ Bitbucket and Git to ship code changes in front-end.
I worked closely with marketing and branding departments to extend the brand with an Illustration System.
worked on e-commerce B2B and B2C shops and websites such as Dechatlon and Weidmüller.

Enterprise

IBM

Company size

345,000+

Stuttgart area, Germany

☁ ️Cloud Services

🤖 AI

📊 Workflows & Productivity

Team

Cloud Services Design Team

Development

Management

Design

Stakeholders

Role

UX Designer

Platform

SaaS

Mobile

Expanded skill

Design Thinking

Management

Development

User Research

UI Styeleguide

Collaboration across products

Design system

Set my background in Design Thinking, Design System and Cross-Collaboration.
Worked on the research & ideation product phase and applied Design Thinking to match user pain points with design opportunities to define the product.

Worked on the IBM Digital Assistant solution alongside the IBM Cloud Services Design Team.
Defined UI specifications for UI components within the Design System.
Interviewed users, developed prototypes and wireframes, user flows.
Participated in team challenges such as Design Jam, Diversity Day and Service Design Thinking Workshop in Karlsruhe Service Research Institute.

Early stage startup

DocMe

Company size

15 (at its biggest)

Remote, UK

❤️ HealthTech

🤖 AI

B2C

B2B

Team

Stakeholders

Computer Vision

Dev

Clinical Research

Marketing

Role

Lead Product Designer

Platform

Mobile

SaaS

iOS

Android

Expanded skill

Business & Strategy

Design system

Success metrics

Cross Collaboration

Prioritization

User & Business needs

In my latest role as Lead Product Designer, I led the design for two HealthTech products on mobile and web, driving increased product adoption in the UK and international markets.

This early-stage startup role taught me to balance business goals with engineering constraints while advocating for the user. I gained experience in scoping and prioritizing MVP features, designing and launching key product features, and building a design system from scratch. Additionally, I was involved in business strategy, go-to-market planning, and participated in Accelerators & YC, including preparing pitch decks for investors and partners.

Startup

MOIA

Company size

300+

Hamburg, Germany

🌱 🚖 E-mobility

🤖 AI

B2C

Team

Management

Development

Design

Marketing

Role

UX/UI Designer

Platform

Mobile

SaaS

iOS

Android

Expanded skill

Design system

Design system

Success metrics

Cross Collaboration

Prioritization

User & Business needs

I have worked closely with the Design Team, Development and Management to increase user registrations from Ca 41,000to Ca 260,000 for the launch in Hamburg.
I have used a Component-based UI approach to extend the Design System. This deepened my understanding in designing for native platforms for mobile - Android and iOS.
And I’ve also learned more first-hand experience about working in sprints and user testing.
I gained experience with scoping and prioritizing MVP - minimum viable product features.
Built on the knowledge of business impact when evaluating product features.

Agency environment

hmmh

Company size

240+

Bremen, Germany

🛒️ E-commerce

Team

Hybrid Dev/Design Team

Development

Management

Stakeholders

Stakeholders

Marketing & Branding

Role

UX/UI Designer

Platform

Mobile

Web

Expanded skill

Developer Collaboration

Design system

HTML

CSS

UI Styeleguide

Dev Collaboration

Atomic Design

Developer workflow

Improved my understanding, as a designer about the front-end development workflow involved in building products.
I worked within the development workflow to design and code the UI with an atomic design approach.
I built on my knowledge in working in sprints and experienced working with dev tools such as Jira, Sourcetree/ Bitbucket and Git to ship code changes in front-end.
I worked closely with marketing and branding departments to extend the brand with an Illustration System.
worked on e-commerce B2B and B2C shops and websites such as Dechatlon and Weidmüller.

Enterprise

IBM

Company size

345,000+

Stuttgart area, Germany

☁ ️Cloud Services

🤖 AI

📊 Workflows & Productivity

Team

Cloud Services Design Team

Development

Management

Design

Stakeholders

Role

UX Designer

Platform

SaaS

Mobile

Expanded skill

Design Thinking

Management

Development

User Research

UI Styeleguide

Collaboration across products

Design system

Set my background in Design Thinking, Design System and Cross-Collaboration.
Worked on the research & ideation product phase and applied Design Thinking to match user pain points with design opportunities to define the product.

Worked on the IBM Digital Assistant solution alongside the IBM Cloud Services Design Team.
Defined UI specifications for UI components within the Design System.
Interviewed users, developed prototypes and wireframes, user flows.
Participated in team challenges such as Design Jam, Diversity Day and Service Design Thinking Workshop in Karlsruhe Service Research Institute.

What people say

Some of the feedback I gathered

Some of the feedback
I gathered

Richard Phillips

DocMe

(Cornelia) aligned product decisions between stakeholders, product development and deep tech & clinical research teams, while ensuring a customer POV at every stage.


(She applied) design thinking methods to prioritize impactful design solutions based on both user needs and business strategy. Contributing to defining the product roadmap and iterating on the value proposition of the product based on market validation, competitive analysis and business objectives

Jan-Philipp Jacobsen

MOIA

(Cornelia) possesses solid specialist knowledge, which she was always able to apply in practical circumstances confidently and with clear target-orientation.

She continuously expanded and updated her specialist knowledge to the benefit of our company by attending events to further her education.

Stefan Messerknecht

hmmh

(Her) good comprehension enabled Ms. Varlam to immediately grasp even difficult issues and recognize the essentials.

She worked independently and precisely. The results of her work were of high quality in every respect.

Ralf Seidel

IBM

(Cornelia) contributed to the redesign of the style guide for the Business Process Manager (BPM) product, creating icons, defining components, and preparing data for implementation. (…) she also gained experience in user research and competitive analysis, documenting and presenting competitor interaction patterns. Additionally, she applied this research to wireframes, deepening her knowledge of user experience design.

Richard Phillips

DocMe

(Cornelia) collaborated cross-disciplinary with the stakeholders and tech & development teams, to implement viable solutions considering technological aspects and success metrics.


Establishing and maintaining the high-level creative vision, building the DocMe and Perfexia brand and website from ground up.

Stefan Messerknecht

hmmh

(Cornelia) has familiarized herself independently, quickly and comprehensively with new topics and techniques.

She showed a high level of commitment and willingness to perform and has acquired comprehensive and diverse specialist knowledge.

(She) has also dealt with coding (HTML/CSS/JavaScript) and was able to implement the first tickets holistically within the interdisciplinary team.

Richard Phillips

DocMe

She has proven the ability to dive into the project work with passion and skill, and has displayed focus on her tasks and team collaboration from day one. Her individual contributions and cross-functional collaboration were critical at the time of the project. (Cornelia) has also proven a high level of reliability and has a combination of empathy and passion which helps not only in building the product but also adds to a great company culture.

Jan-Philipp Jacobsen

MOIA

Her logical and analytical thinking processes allowed her to find independent, balanced and correct solutions for complex problems. (Cornelia) always worked in a proactive manner and completely identified with her tasks and our company at all times. 

She always displayed a huge level of dedication and motivation.

She always proved resilient even in stressful situations.

Jan-Philipp Jacobsen

MOIA

(Cornelia) completed her tasks autonomously, diligently and according to a well-thought-out plan. She worked serenely, thoughtfully, target-oriented and precisely. She impressed us in terms of the quality and quantity of her work. She showed a high level of reliability.

Stefan Messerknecht

hmmh

The results of her work were of high quality in every respect. (Cornelia) always worked reliably and conscientiously.

(…) completed her tasks to our complete satisfaction.

(…) integrated herself very quickly into the team.

Her personal behavior towards superiors, employees and customers was always impeccable.

Richard Phillips

DocMe

(Cornelia) possesses solid product and design knowledge, which she is able to apply in practical circumstances confidently in close collaboration with both developers and stakeholders.

Jan-Philipp Jacobsen

MOIA

(Cornelia) found good solutions for all problems. (…) always completed her tasks to our satisfaction.

Ralf Seidel

IBM

(Cornelia) researched and documented interaction patterns of competitors and presented them to the team in presentations. She reviewed these interactions and implemented them in wireframes for the product, gaining knowledge of user experience design.

Background

My road to Product Design

From studying sociology & architecture to graduating in Design & Digital Media
into Tech & Product Design

Early creative traditional & digital art interests

My early interests revolved around both digital and traditional painting. From playing in MS Paint, and gathering many bad drawings along the years to art camps, painting competitions & exhibitions.

Education & Industry

After pursuing painting and drawing as a teenager, I spent a year preparing for admission into a BA in Architecture. During this time, I discovered my passion for design, which aligned better with my interests. Although I got accepted into and studied Sociology for another year instead that year, I continued preparing for my BA in Design and was admitted the following year.

This journey led to my first role as a Visual Designer in Branding and Web Design. After completing also a Master's in Digital Media, I secured my first UX Designer role at IBM. Within the industry, my experience across startups, agencies, and large corporations broadened my perspective on cross-collaboration and product development.

Outside of work

When I'm not designing

Passion projects & fun

Occasional travelling, learning, sharing & connecting

I'm spending time occasionally travelling and working on my passion projects.

Currently I am focusing my spear time on areas like teaching, learning, sharing & connecting.

E-commerce: Artwork Store

I designed & built an e-commerce Shopify store with 100+ curated artworks. Which, besides blending my passions for art & interior design, allowed me to deepen my knowledge first-hand into other e-commerce areas such as branding, positioning, product pages, marketing and logistics.

Thank you for stopping by! 🤍

Skills overview

My strong points

My skills in identifying problems to solve them effectively

Applied product thinking in the startup & enterprise environment
‍My strengths as a designer lie in being a good communicator, having the user's best interests in mind, a sensibility for structure and order, and a technical perspective of the design field.


Design + Dev collaboration in the agency environment

My strengths as a designer lie in being a good communicator, having the user's best interests in mind, a sensibility for structure and order, and a technical perspective of the design field.


Strong background in Visual & Interaction Design

My experience as a designer and as a Design graduate has taught me that masterfully crafted UIs go hand in hand with great, optimised code.

Outside of work

When I'm not designing

Passion projects & fun

Occasional travelling, learning, sharing & connecting

I'm spending time occasionally travelling and working on my passion projects.

Currently I am focusing my spear time on areas like teaching, learning, sharing & connecting.

E-commerce: Artwork Store

I designed & built an e-commerce Shopify store with 100+ curated artworks. Which, besides blending my passions for art & interior design, allowed me to deepen my knowledge first-hand into other e-commerce areas such as branding, positioning, product pages, marketing and logistics.

Background

My road to Product Design

From studying sociology & architecture to graduating in Design & Digital Media
into Tech & Product Design

Early creative traditional & digital art interests

My early interests revolved around both digital and traditional painting. From playing in MS Paint, and gathering many bad drawings along the years to art camps, painting competitions & exhibitions.

Education & Industry

After pursuing painting and drawing as a teenager, I spent a year preparing for admission into a BA in Architecture. During this time, I discovered my passion for design, which aligned better with my interests. Although I got accepted into and studied Sociology for another year instead that year, I continued preparing for my BA in Design and was admitted the following year.

This journey led to my first role as a Visual Designer in Branding and Web Design. After completing also a Master's in Digital Media, I secured my first UX Designer role at IBM. Within the industry, my experience across startups, agencies, and large corporations broadened my perspective on cross-collaboration and product development.