Vlad Golovach, UX designer

Hello! My name is Vlad Golovach.

I am a designer working mostly in UX and UI design in Padua, Italy.

I love to do UX projects with complex user activities and/or high ergonomic requirements — the ones that require serious research and a lot of head scratching.

I have been working in ergonomics and usability for 20 years and designed a lot. I have also written books on design, as well as two Bodies of Knowledge on UI and UX design & research.

They tell me that I excel in:

Designing easy, swift, fluent and error-proof interfaces. And also elegant and nice.
Turning vague ideas into the well-defined working systems. Churning complex and fragmentary project documentation and conflicting goals of stakeholders into the solid products.
Doing user research, such as usability testing or customer interviews, and translating research insights and data into exact solutions and features.
Performing regular ergonomics work — removing unnecessary steps and user actions, finding useful default settings and so on.
Turning sad experience touchpoints into fresh and pleasant ones.
Visualizing complex data.

Besides that, I'm rather skilled as a graphic and publication designer as part of my current practice lies in corporate identities and web design.

Why don't you hire me?

Bio

I have worked in design since the last millennium, first as a graphic designer1994—2000, then as an information architect2000 and UI (later UX) designer and art director.

I was a co-founder and an art director2001—2016 of Usethics (recently closed due to war), the first software design and usability company in Russia. We specialised in user research, ergonomics, deep understanding of users and requirements.

At Usethics I have:

Defined, designed or art directed hundreds of applications, mobile apps, sites and services, including projects for international companies (eBay, Paypal, Microsoft, TUI). Although many were designed for platforms that are now obsolete (Windows Phone, Symbian, etc.), here are some that were especially hardPDF to do.
Performed first-ever commercial usability tests in Russia and oversaw complex user research projects.
Obtained first-hand experience with the widest possible range of domains: banking and fintech, telecom, government and VAS services, manufacturing and ERP systems, intranets, retail automation, etc. I have designed for diverse tech and usage contexts: desktop software and mobile apps, web, touch terminals/ATMs, and voice menus.
Managed/tutored up to 8 designers at a time. Dozens of designers and researchers tutored by me now occupy top spots in Russian internet companies.

Beside designing I have also wrote five books. The notable ones:

The Culture of Design Originally in Russian, now with English translation. On preconditions of good design, be it industrial (chair etc.), graphic, or web design. designculture.exmachina.ru or Amazon

‍ UI Design. The Art of Washing an Elephant [In Russian] Written in 2008, this is a revised version of an even earlier book from 2000. The book provided an overview of ergonomic metrics for user interfaces and also argued the basic professional rules of UI designers. It was basically the first book on software UI design in Russian and therefore provided the started point for countless Russian-speaking UI designers.

Usethics has grown from a 2-man team to 25+ designers and usability researchers. The company has developed an impressive portfolio and a top-notch reputation for designing big, complex systems with serious ergonomic requirements.

In 2016 I decided to leave Russia for good, sold my share in Usethics, and soon left Russia for Israel. Now I reside in Padua with my Italian wife, building myself a new life on the banks of Bacchiglione.

© Vladislav Golovach, 2018-2022 ¶ There are 🍪 cookies and collection of statistics. ¶ All logos and trademarks shown on this page belong to their respective owners. ¶ Cover of Culture of Design: People shoveling chairs, fragment. Rogier van der Weyden circle, approx. 1444-50, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Cover of UI Design Mk. II: © David Ross, Dreamstime.com. ¶ Set in Allegreya & Gill Sans.

Recent projects

Bio