I’m Kostya

I’m Kostya

I’m Kostya

,

,

,

a designer

a designer

a designer

who

who

who

synthesises

synthesises

synthesises

effective

effective

effective

solutions

solutions

solutions

for

for

for

ambiguous

ambiguous

ambiguous

projects

projects

projects

24+ years. 400+ projects. From startups to global brands. I turn business challenges into working products using hands-on design, AI agents, and cross-functional teams.

2023-2025

2023-2025

10× subscriptions

10× subscriptions

2× sales

2× sales

Hands-on

Hands-on

Growing subscription revenue 10× and sales 2× for AURA, a healthcare service

I improved the iOS and watchOS experience, website, paywall, and marketing touchpoints to increase conversion, retention, and product value.

AI

AI

Branding

Branding

Framer

Framer

Product design

Product design

Building AI assistants for user story mapping

StoryBot is an extension of the StoryMapper service. Both tools empower project managers to enhance product quality and manage tasks effectively, utilizing deep integrations with client infrastructure and fine-tuned LLM generators.

2019–2023

2019–2023

+30% profitability

+30% profitability

40+ awards

40+ awards

C-level

C-level

Scaled design, talent, and impact at AGIMA — the largest production agency in Eastern Europe

I led design across 100+ client projects, scaled the team to 20+ designers, cut turnover by 50%, and helped increase profitability by 30%.

2018

2018

0->1

0->1

MVP

MVP

C-level

C-level

Creating WASD.tv, A Cybersport Streaming Service

I put together a team and set up the processes to launch an MVP that later reached 500K monthly active users

About me

I'm currently based in Utrecht, the Netherlands. However, I was born in Minsk, a city of engineers, and I learnt to love problem-solving from an early age. Having first studied management, I then moved on to design — a combination that taught me to balance business strategy with creative vision.

I have built design teams from scratch, scaling them up to over 20 people while reducing staff turnover and driving measurable growth. I have also co-founded two start-ups, taking products from concept to market.

As a hands-on AI-powered designer today, I'm ready to solve almost any design problem.

Outside of work, I enjoy kayaking, gaming on my Steam Deck and exploring new places on foot.

Books that shaped me

How to look at things from a different angle (some people call it creativity). ↗

Devices that shaped me

Экспонат 01 · ZX Spectrum

Classic start: ZX Spectrum

Or rather, its Belarusian clone. BASIC on board, games on audio cassettes.

Экспонат 02 · Советский ПК

ES 1841

A Soviet-era desktop PC. Did it run MS-DOS or something else? It’s all a bit hazy now.

Экспонат 03 · PC · Norton Commander

IBM PC 486

Norton Commander’s blue panels still have a place in many hearts. Mine included.

Экспонат 04 · PC · CorelDRAW

Windows 95 + CorelDRAW

My first paid design work: ads for newspapers and magazines.

Экспонат 05 · PC · Photoshop

My first full-time job

Sysadmin, book layout designer and cover artist. At least I had a mentor.

Экспонат 06 · PC · QuarkXPress

Art Editor

Concepts, design, layout, ads, prepress… A grand title for someone wearing about ten hats.

Экспонат 07 · Palm Tungsten E2

Moving countries

I took what I could carry. An amazing little device, until someone stole it straight from my pocket.

Экспонат 08 · PC · два монитора и планшет

My first two jobs in a new country

Once again, doing whatever it took to make a corporation, and later a publishing house, look and sound good, in print and online. At least I had two monitors!

Экспонат 09 · MacBook · Illustrator

My first Mac

Only 12 inches, but hey, it was an Apple! Fast, comfortable to use, and utterly unfamiliar.

Экспонат 10 · iMac · веб-дизайн

An iMac and web design

Plus branding, advertising and an exhausting but brilliant visual communications course.

Экспонат 11 · iMac · презентации и таблицы

Design goes beyond pixels

The graphics tablet kept getting pushed behind the keyboard. The team did the design; I was in the documents.

Экспонат 12 · MacBook Pro + Alienware

One laptop for design, one for gaming

At a gaming startup, playing games counts as work. How else do you figure out the information architecture?

Экспонат 13 · MacBook Pro + внешний монитор

Bigger team, bigger monitor

Figma, Jira, meetings, presentations, spreadsheets. It all needed room, both in my head and on the screen.

Экспонат 14 · MacBook Pro · AURA

Moving countries, again

My first hardware project, and plenty of hats to wear again. Packaging design turned out to be fun.

Экспонат 15 · MacBook · AI-инструменты

Here we all are now

It doesn’t matter what device you have, as long as it can open a chat.

Hey, how about a little break? No KPIs, no OKRs, no portfolios to review. Just a bit of kayaking.

Use the ← and → arrow keys to paddle.Tap left or right of the kayak to paddle.

So, let's do something cool together!

So, let's do something cool together!