Aneta Kmiecik

Sr. UX Designer | Helping designers link UX projects with UX portfolio stories

I help designers build careers they love and get paid for it.

After 14 years in the creative field, including 7 years in UX and a background in architecture, I’ve coached over 1,000 designers on how to stand out, get hired, and grow with purpose. So far, 500 designers built portfolio with my course.

Most designers don’t struggle with design itself, they struggle with direction, communication, and positioning. That’s where I focus.

Through my UX Portfolio Course and content, I teach practical ways to:
• Build a portfolio that tells a clear story
• Navigate job searches with strategy, not luck
• Grow a career that feels aligned, not overwhelming

If you’re ready to take your design career from “uncertain” to “intentional,” let’s connect.


💌 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀:
• Instagram: instagram.com/ux.aneta
• Newsletter: beyourowndesignteam.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• Community: be-your-own-design-team.circle.so/c/be-your-own-design-team/

UX Designer

MG Designs

Revolutionizing Companies with Innovative User-Centric Web Design and Development

Accomplished a visually captivating and user-friendly interactive menu website for La Michoacana, resulting in an 80% increase in online engagement, and helping the business to shine in a crowded market.

Achieved a 100% boost in sales and a 32% increase in customer acquisition by conceptualizing and developing a website and logo for RPM, a mobile car detailing business, effectively showcasing service packages and products.

Engineered the Canny Learner blog for an independent school counselor, providing students and teachers with academic tips and resources in an aesthetically appealing and easily accessible format, resulting in a 19% increase in user engagement and knowledge dissemination.

Crafted a compelling website on WIX for the clothing brand "Foofitness," leading to a 100% surge in social media traffic, establishing trust with buyers, and significantly elevating the brand's online presence and sales.

UX/Web Designer

Sky Solutions

As a key contributor at Sky Solutions, I tackled intricate challenges in healthcare, financial services, and public sectors. In one sprint, 

- I conducted  open-ended user interviews, enhancing comprehension of the IRS Non-Filer Program by 40%. 

- I synthesized and analyzed complex user data to craft an innovative form, significantly improving overall efficiency for tax examiners. 

- My impact extended to implementing a new design system and principle's yielding an increase in design consistency across  teams. 

- Collaborating seamlessly with cross-functional teams, I played a vital role in launching new screens and elevating tax examiner program efficiency by 30%.

UX Designer I

Adobe

- Designed a request widget on Figma for Workfront home to increase customer productivity and help customers track and submit requests on Workfront home

- Conducted user research to understand pain points when they submit and track requests on Workfront

- Collaborated with designers and engineers to progress iterations of the request widgets and determine all common components of all widgets Performed weekly stand-ups to update the team on project progress 

- Presented final prototype to stakeholders, engineers, and other adobe design teams

Impact: 
- Optimized Workfront project request flow via user interviews, reducing submission time from 6 to 2 minutes

- Executed  MVP widget usability tests with customers, boosting user satisfaction by 15% 

- Championed an innovative request widget for Workfront that dramatically decreased the request drop off by 25%

- Applied user-centered design to streamline wireframes, prototypes, and mockups, cutting product iteration time by 20%.

General Assembly

- In the process of completing a  480 hr UX design immersive program and gained hands-on experience in the design process, UX research methods, user testing, wire-framing sketching prototyping in Balsamiq

- Designed Crowd Art a platform for creatives to fund their next art project: conducted 10 user interviews, synthesizes qualitative research, designed a paper and digital prototype for the user test, and published a case study on Medium

- Redesigned The LastBookstore website to make it easy for users to purchase books; developed a project plan, user test plan, journey maps personas, conducted 10 users interview and usability tests, card sorts test, tree testing, sketches, low-fi wireframe, and clickable prototype.

- Lead a team to develop Class Findr a web dedicated to help students find courses outside of their home institution through user research interviews, user stories and user personas to influence the design phase to ensure that the web app meets business and user needs

UX Design Fellow

Digital NEST

- Managed the WIT program that implements training in IT, Web Design, Web development, Computer Science, UX/UI and emerging career fields in technology 
- Managed a team of 3 Career Specialists that implement curriculum & mentor youth ages 14 - 24 
- Co-Create process that rack the youth's development in WIT
-Scale the WIT program to new Digital NEST sites
-Oversee a variety of web projects and youth career events
- Managed external partnerships to help scale WIT
- Spearheaded the NESTFlight.org website through rapid, user-focused iterations, creating low-to-high fidelity mock-ups and prototypes guided by user research, achieving a 100% stakeholder approval rate, making it ready for development 
- Facilitated user interviews to identify pain points and needs, tailoring company websites boosting user satisfaction by 20%
- Led storyboard testing to re-invent the youth onboarding process, and increased youth retention by 68%
- Performed a website audit for digitalnest.org, addressing usability, content, design, and accessibility, and presented solutions to stakeholders

Web & Information Technology  Manager

Digital NEST duties: 

- Develop training outlines and curriculum to use in teaching web design, user interface design and web development.

- Assess the training outcomes of the youth and document properly for analysis 

- Support youth’s engagement with technology 

- Help youth development soft skills such as leadership, project management, understanding, listening

- Recruit youth members to join Web and Information training and Impactathons

- Create Impactathons, a collaborative space for youth to team up with organizations and learn technology purposefully 

- Develop project timelines, strong communication channels, and evaluation plans that research outcomes 

- Classroom and workshop management skills for informal learning spaces 

Technical Skills: HTML, CSS, JQuery, Wordpress, Web Development, Illustrator, InDesign, Final Cut Pro
Learning Technical Skills: Python, Javascript 
Soft Skills: Leadership, Adaptability, Emotional Intelligence, Active Listening, Teamwork,

Web Development & Visual Communciations Specialist

Everett Program

Everett Program:

The Everett Program empowers students to work in solidarity with community-based organizations and develop strategic and intentional social justice projects. 

- Organized and hosted tech events to connect undergraduates with community organizations 
- Developed and led a variety of ICT training and leadership workshops
- Support and oversee student projects, partnerships, and external communications
- Connect and recruit partner organizations
- Assess organizational technology needs with partners
- Develop strategic project planning based on those needs
- Develop workshop and curriculum lessons and materials 
- Mentor and train students on project design
- Managed social media outlets and developed content 
- Organized Everett’s 20th Anniversary event

Fellow:

- Co-lead raspberry Pi workshop
- Co-lead ESRI Storymap workshops
- Develop the agenda for meetings
- Mentor incoming Everett students
- Develop workshop curriculums

Executive Fellow

Youth Empowerment Institute

The Youth Empowerment Institute is taught 15 young Latinx women from Watsonville, Salinas, and Pajaro Valley to co-code a mobile app about food justice. In one week they participated in HTML, CSS, JQuery, and food justice workshop to address the food injustice issues that affected their communities. 

- Coordinated logistics, grants, and recruitment for the YEI summer camp 
- Developed and taught an HTML/ Jquery curriculum and food justice workshops 
- Mentored and supported 15 young Latina women to become changemakers

Project Coordinator

Digital Summer Institute 

Digital Summer Institute 

At the Digital Summer Institute, 30 young women learned entrepreneurial skills, video production, graphic design, and social media to develop their own micro-enterprises. In a week-long institute, young women will produce content and products to start and manage their enterprises as well as develop the skills to sustain them. 

- Designed and taught a tech curriculum focused on social media marketing, graphic design, video production, and Wordpress to 45 Muslim women in Kano and Abuja Nigeria 

- Developed an evaluation system to collect data on the women's technical progress 

- Created a crowdfunding video and wrote grants to fund two digital institutes in Nigeria

Project Manager

ACULCO

ACULCO 

A non-profit organization located in Madrid, Spain, that helps immigrants from different background integrate into Spain. They provide psychological, legal, career workshop, and social resources support a smooth transition into a new country. 

- Designed grants to investigate or initiate projects on social and environmental problems 
- Conducted a case study to collect confidential data on immigrants vulnerability in Spain
- Taught and designed a curriculum for an intermediate English workshop

Project Assistant

🌵Inspirational Background: My journey is rooted in humble beginnings within a family of hardworking farm laborers. As the sixth child among seven siblings, I witnessed my parents' bold leap, leaving Mexico for the United States in pursuit of a more stable future—a pursuit that persisted throughout their lives. Their unwavering dedication to providing us with opportunities has inspired me to seize every chance that came my way.

🌟 Embarking on a Rewarding Journey: My career has been a dynamic adventure through various sectors, spanning non-profit, project management, federal landscapes, and social entrepreneurship. It all began with a passion for technology and a desire to harness its power for social good. Over time, I evolved into a creative program manager and now proudly wear the hat of a UX designer.

💡 Tech Enthusiast with Impact: My enthusiasm for technology has translated into meaningful hands-on experience, collaborating with cutting-edge entities such as Adobe and non-profit organizations like DigitalNEST. I'm dedicated to visionary domains, including Education-technology, Experience Design, Web Design, and Curriculum Development.

🎯 Elevating the Digital Experience - Web Design Innovator: My strength lies in crafting remarkable learning experiences and captivating digital journeys. In previous roles, I've fostered an innovative spirit, with user research as my guiding star, and made a notable impact on business objectives. My inspiration is in creating the unprecedented, driving the evolution of the UX design landscape into the future.

🎓 Lifelong Learning Advocate and Educational Pioneer: A substantial part of my journey involves the transformation of complex subjects into enjoyable learning experiences. Through hands-on labs, innovative teaching techniques, and gamified curriculum development, I've instilled the joy of learning. My commitment to lifelong learning informs every aspect of my work.

🪜I'm eagerly seeking fresh opportunities to delve into product design and immersive experience creation, where my vision, experience, and innovation can catalyze transformative success. My fuel is growth and innovation. Let's connect and explore how I can contribute to your organization's ongoing growth and pursuit of excellence.

🚀 Ready to embark on this journey together?

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Aneta Kmiecik

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