Cigul

A digital design agency with over 30+ top designers, developers and creatives. 10 years of experience delivering exceptional results for clients.

Chief Executive Officer

Upwork

👑 I have been working with top tier client via Upwork contract ✅ platform services and looking for the next big remote position. Worked with top startups valued combined at $7M such as CryptoMok, Egantly, Blobsi, Again, Bushpa, myHarry, Because and more.

✅ Complete UX and Product Strategy Creation
✅ Created Hifi Mockups and Complete Design Systems
✅ Pitch Decks, Marketing Material and UI Components
✅ Developer Guidance and Integrations
✅ Websites, App and Product ( Specialized support for Startups)

Senior Product Designer

5four Digital 

Full Time Remote Position, Worked with amazing portfolio of clients delivering high quality work.
🧪 Designed sitemaps, user flows and UX personas
🧩 Conducted user research and creating mood boards
🧵 Created low-fidelity wireframes and sketches
🎨 Created brand guidelines, brand identities and design systems
💎 Created Webflow templates for marketplaces
🔮 Designed High-fidelity mockups and visuals for web clients

UX & Digital Designer

Digi9 Creative

Worked as a Product Designer for a portfolio of Clients across the World.
🏆 Illustrating design ideas using storyboards, process flows and sitemaps
📁 Designing graphic user interface element & design systems
📤 Build page navigation buttons and search fields
🪓 Develop UI mockups and prototypes that clearly illustrate how sites functions
🔍 Conduct layout adjustments based on user feedback
📘 Adhere to style standards on fonts, colors and images

UI UX Designer

2 Dam Creative Pty Ltd

💬 Developed intuitive, usable and engaging interactions and creative designs 
💥 Solved briefs using contemporary, creative conceptual design skills
🧱 Constructed and maintained technical project specifications and design flow charts
🕓 Researched, evaluated and proposed software/project/website needs
🏅Wrote and maintained program code to meet system requirements
🌐 Developed websites using CMS such as Wordpress, Joomla and Squarespace.

User Interface Designer

Vodafone

User Interface Designer Intern

$100M+ in Clients Revenue with High-converting Landing Pages, Websites, and Apps | Founder of UIFry & Xeon Agency ($1.2M/Y) 👉 DM to work with me!

Founder of Cigul. My journey from a freelancer to an agency owner generating $1.2M per year has been an exciting adventure filled with learning and growth.

My Story:

Back in 2014, I went to Australia for my bachelor's in IT. Despite the formal education, I realized that real-world experience was where the true learning happened. After working with top-tier agencies in Australia for three years, I moved to New York in 2021.

I began my freelancing journey as a UI designer in 2018, leveraging platforms like Upwork and Fiverr. Through dedication and strategic efforts, I built my solo service business and started making $100K/year within 12 months. By 2020, the workload had increased significantly, prompting me to hire my first full-time employee. 

Today, Cigul boasts a team of 40+ exceptional designers, helping us generate $950K/year in the UI/UX and Web Design domains. Additionally, I grew my Instagram community to over 50K followers in just six months at @zeeuiux.

Why Work with Me?

- Proven track record in generating $100M+ in client revenue
- Expertise in creating high-converting landing pages, websites, and apps
- High-speed delivery - just take 24 hours to a website

Let’s Collaborate: Whether you’re looking to transform your digital presence or need guidance in the UI/UX field, Cigul here to help. Connect with me via DM or email at work@szeeshan.com.

Zee Shawn

Christopher Nguyen

UX Playbook

UX education is broken, why?

🤑 Bootcamps are extortion
😵‍💫 Over emphasis on Figma
🫠 No real world preparation
😫 No career focus just skills
🫨 Getting started is confusing
🤥 Theory taught isn’t practical

That's why I created UX Playbook.

At UX Playbook, I help frustrated designers figure out how to take control of their education, make better decisions, and ultimately build the career they want. 

Over 17,000 designers, from 90 countries, are using my playbooks to better their career.

300+ five star reviews.

Learn more: www.uxplaybook.org

Founder

The Design of Everyday People Livestream

Livestream AMAs, where I speak to design experts, from all over the world.

Livestream Host

Play of the Week Newsletter

Get UX mentorship in your inbox. 2-minute read. Every Wednesday. Absolutely free.

Writer

Backlog

Antler

Entrepreneur in Residence

Playstack

Co-Founder

Divvy Notion

CoiBoi

BAEMIN Vietnam (Woowa Bros.)

Designing thinking training with Baemin's leadership teams

Design Thinking Trainer

MoMo (M_Service)

Facilitating Design Sprints for multiple product teams inside MoMo for their B2C and B2B2C products

Design Sprint Facilitator

I help UX designers go from Fuzziness to Focused (uxplaybook.org), now Freedom (backlog.design)

I went from 0 experience to Head of Design in 4 years.

Then, in 2020, I quit.

Leaving the high-paying salary and status of working at a FinTech unicorn behind.

The job I once dreamed of wasn't align with my values.

But, I wasn't ready to give up on UX.

I intrinsically want to help other designers succeed. 

Working with 100s of designers, I realised that most designers are in someway self taught, but why? 

Because most UX education is incredibly expensive, lack accessibility, and real-world practicality.

I had a hypothesis.

Designers craved for education that 1) cuts to the core, 2) applies to every day scenarios, 3) templatized execution, 4) affordable, and 5) personalized 

Thus levelling the playing field for equal opportunities in the design industry.

So, I started an experiment in mid 2020. 

And the results were pretty phenomenal.

We grew 1400% in one year.

It was clear people valued UX Playbook.

My mission is to "Make UX Education Accessible & Enjoyable." 

My impact:

→ 14,000,000+ content impressions in the last 2 years
→ 270,000+ weekly newsletters & blogs read
→ 92,000+ people following my daily UX content
→ 17,000+ people downloaded my UX guides & templates
→ 1000+ people, from 84+ countries, bought my products 

If you want to learn more about how I can help you as a designer, you can check out:

FAST TRACK DESIGNER BUNDLE

In this 6 product bundle, you will learn how to thrive in your UX career. Build a kickass portfolio, learn how to job hunt, and master UX frameworks for project success, grow meaningfully, and lead your first design team. It’s packed with 93,000+ words, 130+ videos, 125+ templates, and 200+ examples. Join 15,000+ designers using this system to level up.

→ https://uxplaybook.org/fast

BACKLOG

If you're looking to replace your 9 to 5, become an independent designer, and kickstart your designpreneur journey, join us a Backlog. Be part of our tight-knit community, get personalized coaching, and access our resources made for design founders.

→ https://backlog.design

Email: hello@uxplaybook.org
YouTube, Twitter, IG: @uxchrisnguyen

Co-Founder & CPO

UX Portfolio Do’s & Don’ts


Recruiters don’t hate designers.
They just hate bad portfolios.

Your’s probably look like:

• 12 case studies nobody asked for
• “I designed an app” with zero context
• Screenshots so blurry they need glasses
• Walls of text longer than Terms & Conditions

Reminder:

Your user is the recruiter.
Your portfolio needs good UX.

Design it like their attention span depends on it.

Repost ♻️ to save a designer from themselves.

Need a hand with your portfolio? Here’s my playbook: https://lnkd.in/gDje-7VQ

I help UX designers go from Fuzziness to Focused (uxplaybook.org)

If you’re a designer with a portfolio, read this:

101 portfolio tips in 12 categories:
(which took me 10 years to learn)

1. Mindset
2. Audience
3. Platform
4. Quality
5. Writing
6. Credibility
7. Homepage
8. Call to action
9. About page
10. Images
11. Case studies
12. Other

Which one is your favourite tip?

P.S. Comment “EBOOK” and I’ll send you the 188-page ebook

—

📍 Download the 101 Portfolio Tips [FREE EBOOK]: https://lnkd.in/gzawFYEq

101 portfolio tips

“Design is easy”
"UX is easy”
“UI is easy”

I heard this for years.

One exec loved saying:

“Can you quickly add UX to this?”
“We need to be more space efficient.”
“Trust me, I designed websites in the 90s!”

The same person who thought:

→ Research was his "gut feeling"
→ UX was just moving pixels around
→ Showing less than 5 variations was lazy

Then we launched without proper validation…

The product tanked.
Users churned.

Engineers had to rebuild everything.

Suddenly design wasn't so "easy" anymore.

I'm seeing this exact pattern play out with privacy compliance.

"It's just a cookie banner."
"Users don't care about privacy."
"Compliance is a legal checkbox."

Usercentrics just launched their "Marketing is Easy" campaign:
https://lnkd.in/g5Ry3-Vt 

It really resonated because we've all been dismissed by people who don't get the work.

Over the years I learned:

Those who said UX was easy?
They’re paying their experience debt.

Those who said SEO was easy?
They’re paying their visibility debt.

Those saying privacy compliance is easy?
They're about to pay their trust debt.

You can't buy back broken trust.

I spent years fighting for design to be taken seriously.

Now marketers are fighting the same battle with privacy.

The new baseline for brand credibility in this AI world: Privacy.

THIS.
STUFF.
MATTERS.

You with me?

—

PS: What's the most ignorant "X is easy" comment you've heard in your career? Go!

P.P.S. Check out the hilarious campaign in the comments

#usercentricspartner

Designers, is he right?

Naval Ravikant said "UI is pre-AI."

This rage-bait hit a nerve.

Did designers panic because deep down they know there’s some truth to this?

If we consider:

Pre-AI → Click, scroll, type, search
Post-AI → Tell it what you want

Then AI turns navigation into intention.

Example: To-do apps

Today, AI could scan your:

→ Chats
→ Notes
→ Emails
→ Calendar
→ Reminders
→ Screenshots

Then ask:

"Do this today?"
“Yes or No”

That might be the new interface.

If this happens then…

The AI is the app layer.
UI becomes confirmation.

So why did designers lose their minds?

The counterarguments revealed some fears:

"UI inspires!"
"Chat is not enough."
"Precision needs interface!"

Translation:

"I'm scared. I'm obsolete."

UI isn't dying.

The paradigm of interactions are changing.

From Googling a specific keywords to find a website, to asking a contextually aware AI in natural language.

From deciding what to watch, to letting the algorithm show you what you already like.

From searching for new music, to a recommended playlist to listen to.

This is a world we already live in.

The REAL debate isn't about interfaces.

It's about prediction.
It's about intention.
It's about control.

And maybe designers are scared the machine will…

→ Predict better than they can design
→ Wrongly guide our intentions
→ Take control

And they're not wrong to be.

What do you think?
Is UI pre-AI?

———

📰 Get more honest notes about the work behind the (design) work in my 2-minute email each week: https://lnkd.in/gmTfNKwN

taplio

The Battle

Zee Shawn

Christopher Nguyen

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