Sometimes, you need to complete a task quickly, and there’s little time for proper research. However, doing at least a minimal study is always better than skipping it entirely. That’s why Ilya and I have prepared a list of research methods that can be done relatively quickly:

• Check reviews.Browse forums or read reviews of similar products on the App Store and Google Play. Users often share their pain points for free

• Search for existing research. There’s a chance that studies on your topic have already been conducted. Try looking them up

• See how other products solve similar problems. Don’t just copy a solution—first, analyze what works well and what’s missing, then come up with your own approach

• Create a survey and share it in a relevant chat. For example, if you're building a product for tutors, quickly set up a Google Forms survey and post it in a relevant Telegram chat or specialized forum

• Conduct usability testing. Put together a rough prototype and show it to colleagues or friends. Even superficial feedback can help identify weak spots

When it’s time to talk about a case study in an interview, many designers immediately start showing screens in Figma.

This often turns into chaos: jumping between screens, explaining things on the fly, and ultimately losing the interviewer's attention.

A better approach is to take some time to prepare a structured presentation. Not only does this make your story clearer, but it also brings other key benefits.

1. Less stress. With everything laid out in front of you, there's no need to recall details on the spot. If you forget something, your slides will guide you. Plus, you can prepare answers in advance for potential questions.

2. Makes you stand out. From my hiring experience, candidates who present their cases well are much more memorable. A structured case study simplifies the interview process and helps you leave a strong impression.

3. Showcases your thought process. It’s not just about how the design looks, it’s about how you think, analyze, and make decisions. A well-prepared case also demonstrates soft skills like storytelling and presentation abilities.

Keep it concise. A 7–10 minute presentation per case is enough to explain the core idea without overwhelming details. The clearer and more structured the delivery, the higher the chance you’ll be understood and remembered.

If you want to save time on structure and design, Lilia Akhmetova from the Design & Mindset channel has a great case study presentation template. Her channel also has tons of insights on career growth, soft skills, and design development. You worth checking out.

I think many people already have stable jobs or projects, but how can you break out of your comfort zone, level up, and experiment? Hackathons and challenges are a great way to do that. I’ve participated in these kinds of events several times and can highlight the key benefits:

1. Experiments. The tasks are usually different from your daily routine, making it a great opportunity to try bold and innovative ideas that might be difficult to implement in regular work.

2. Portfolio. Winning or even just participating in such events is a valuable and relatively easy boost to your resume. It showcases your ambition and proactivity, especially if the work turns out to be high-quality.

3. Motivation. The competitive aspect adds excitement and pushes you to give your best. Plus, if you’re feeling burned out from work, participating in these activities can be a great way to reset.

4. Teamwork. Hackathons help you develop better teamwork skills. They’re also a great way to connect with designers, developers, and managers.

Now I am actively trying to implement neural networks in my work in order to optimize the work process as much as possible and learn relevant skills. I am especially happy about the appearance of the Internet search in Chat GPT, which has greatly simplified many things in everyday life.

Of course, you can’t just take and use the neural network’s answers, you need to process and edit them. But the answers save a lot of time on finding the first ideas, from which you can build on and find a more interesting solution yourself or also with the help of a neural network.

With a Pro subscription, you can create your own bot in ChatGPT and upload all the necessary information about the project to it, and then you won’t need to explain the essence of the project every time.

Here are the ChatGPT use cases that I use in my work:

1. Upload the task specification and ask questions

2. Call about the task, record the call and ask for a summary

3. Compile a Job&User Story

4. Find and analyze similar or similar functions on the market

5. Upload a frame with the design to PDF from Figma and throw it into Chat GPT, and then ask for corner cases that need to be taken into account

Meanwhile, I continue to participate in the Apps Icon Challenge and more than half of it is already behind me. I can say that I am hooked on skeuomorphism in icons and now I am bored with making regular flat icons, as they seem too simple. Now I really like to give volume to icons and play with light and shadows. On average, one icon takes me one hour

I started my vacation on Friday and decided to take part in the new Tbilisi hackathon, which took place from Saturday to Sunday. The main task of the hackathon was to develop a Telegram Mini App with OnChain mechanics. We decided to change the concept and finish our application, which we made some time ago and it was very raw, but the hackathon motivated us to finish it.
In short, the essence of the application is that users can receive cases for completing simple tasks: like watching an advertising video or subscribing to someone, etc., inviting a friend. Inside the cases, for now, there is our token, but in the future we plan to introduce other crypto tokens, USDT and NFT.

Yo, I have a big and important article published together with BBE, which, without exaggeration, I recommend every designer read.
In my 6 years of working in design, I have encountered various kinds of mental difficulties: burnout, anxiety, impostor syndrome, creative crisis, etc.
Inside the article, I shared tips on how to overcome these difficulties and live a career as a designer with less stress and more pleasure

This Saturday there was a design event in Tbilisi, where I currently live. In this post I would like to share my impressions. Surprisingly, this is my first global design event in all 5 years of my experience.
The event was called Honestly, and one of the organizers was Artem Tarasov and Artem Taradash — the guys organized their own studio Togeher With You, and before that they worked at Arrival. The guys are really cool, I met them a month ago at one of the local design parties.