Aneta Kmiecik

Be Your Own Design Team

𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗜𝗖𝘀

At Be Your Own Design Team, I help designers at all levels to grow skills and lead end-to-end projects with confidence, without needing a full design team or senior support.

🏆 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁-𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗫 𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗼 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲 (uxportfolio.co)
Launched with a product-led approach, self-paced course with asynchronous support, and scalable systems designed to serve hundreds without losing the personal touch. In its first week, 362 designers, from juniors to seniors, gained the confidence and tools to build standout portfolios and tell compelling design stories.

What I teach in the course:
• Growth mindset to have resilience to any challenges
• Self-awareness to clearly communicate designer profile
• Brand positioning and stories prioritisation
• Storytelling to tell stories from any project mess
• Visual storytelling to present designs like a pro
• Handling portfolio constraints

This course is the first in a planned series designed to shift designers’ mindsets and skillsets toward becoming empowered Super ICs.

🏆 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴/𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴/𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴
I work with designers 1:1 and in groups to build skills like:
• Build UX portfolios
• Lead UX projects on their own
• Run both qual and quant research
• Measure design impact
• Work well with stakeholders
• Make design decisions with confidence

🏆 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗨𝗫 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴
My free content on Instagram (@ux.aneta), LinkedIn, and in my newsletter reaches over 155,000 designers, providing accessible, actionable UX tips that complement deeper learning and create a strong funnel into my courses and coaching.

Founder & Design Educator

Vipps MobilePay

Senior UX Designer in Fintech, shaping the B2B merchant experience for SMEs. Focused on onboarding, upselling, and helping merchants make smarter business decisions through better product design.

🏆 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀
• Initiated and led a dashboard project in close collaboration with data and business teams, helping merchants track and predict sales without spreadsheets. The solution aimed to improve retention and engagement, reduced churn, and opened a new B2B revenue stream
• Improved the product ordering flow, increasing order volume and reducing time to order
• Helped launch in Finland and Denmark by adapting product ordering for new markets
• Made it easier for merchants to manage payments while lowering support costs
• Interviewed and reviewed candidates for design intern roles
• Mentored a designer on UI design, raising quality and consistency across B2B features

Senior UX Designer

Helped 100+ designers worldwide build standout UX portfolios, land roles in tech, and confidently lead projects as solo designers in both startups and corporate settings. Through personalised coaching, actionable feedback, and mindset shifts, I helped designers not just get hired, but mainly lead without a design team by collaborating better with cross-functional teams, prioritising effectively, and making design decisions with confidence.

🏆 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗜 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽
• Growth mindset to have resilience to any challenges
• Storytelling to effectively communicate career stories
• Leading UX projects to manage any UX project
• Research skills to conduct both qual and quant research
• Metrics to measure design success
• Stakeholder management to collaborate effectively
• Planning and prioritisation to manage careers and projects
• Making design decisions confidently

Product Design Career Coach/Mentor/Educator

Knowit

Senior UX Designer at a Nordic consulting company, focused on improving how consultants get matched with job opportunities. I worked closely with business stakeholders and internal users to redesign the matching process and tools.

🏆 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀
• Improved a core business workflow by reducing time spent on matching consultants to roles and increasing successful placements
• Helped the business grow revenue faster by speeding up the offer process and improving internal collaboration across sales and staffing teams

EcoOnline Global

UX Designer in the HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) industry, working across multiple B2B safety and sustainability products for SMBs and Enterprise. As the first UX hire, I built UX and research practices from scratch and focused on designing experiences that scaled adoption, reduced friction, and opened new growth paths.

🏆 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀
• Introduced PLG-driven improvements like self-serve onboarding, mobile-first reporting, and simplified navigation that reduced dependency on support and helped scale adoption
• Replaced a broken product configuration process with a self-serve carbon reporting setup, increasing retention and unlocking new monetisation opportunities
• Took a carbon accounting product from 0 → 1, enabling customers to track emissions independently and driving engagement in a growing industry
• Co-designed a mobile-first incident reporting tool that allowed frontline workers to report incidents without training, driving organic usage and trust
• Designed a unified platform experience (global nav + dashboard) and improved feature discoverability, enabled cross-product growth and upsells
• Built research operations from scratch, bringing user insight into day-to-day product decisions
• Helped grow the design function - reviewed portfolios, interviewed candidates, and co-created the internal Product Design Newsletter (500–1000 readers/month)

UX Designer

UX Designer taking freelance gigs after hours to support startups (e.g. Her Impact) and agencies (e.g. Ten Media) with website and B2C product design. Delivered improvements in brand reputation, user engagement, satisfaction, and business revenue.

Freelance Product Designer

Coinfirm

Junior UX/UI Designer in the Fintech industry, responsible for the whole process of designing Coinfirm website and AML platform for SMBs (small and medium businesses). 

🏆 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀
• Redesigned company's website and increased its brand reputation, as well as signups to AML platform
• Redesigned risk management, resulting in higher user satisfaction and more risk cases closed
• Proactively built style guidelines and kicked off the design system creation to improve consistency across products
• As the first designer with UX knowledge in the startup, I initiated research processes to help the company build solutions more aligned with customer needs

Junior UX | UI Designer

Junior UX/UI Designer at an agency, working on e-commerce projects for clients like Adidas, Reebok, and other fashion brands.

🏆 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀
• Designed landing pages and online stores tailored for the Polish market, increasing sales
• Focused on creating smooth, engaging user experiences that encourage product discovery and repeat purchases, supporting growth through product-led engagement

Grupa 5 Architekci

Architect working on concepts, technical drawings, and realistic visualisations for multifunctional buildings on Szwedzka Street, Warsaw. This project created thousands of apartments and commercial spaces, driving significant revenue growth for the company and investors.

Architect

Kengo Kuma and Associates

Architect collaborating with various teams to design buildings in Japan, Switzerland, and Australia. This included creating technical drawings, concepts, and visualisations, leading to increased revenue and architectural awards for the business.

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

Designing for growth and teaching designers to do the same 💫

👷🏻‍♀️ 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿
I’m the founder of Be Your Own Design Team, where I help designers grow through mentoring, community, and self-paced courses. My first course, the UX Portfolio Course (𝘂𝘅𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗼.𝗰𝗼), sold to 285 designers in its first week - all through organic marketing and a product-led approach. 

✏️ 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗿
13+ years of creative problem-solving: from architecture to graphic design to UX. I now help startups and B2B teams solve messy UX challenges, launch new products, and drive retention, monetisation, and product adoption through design. I plug in fast, work independently, and focus on outcomes.

👩🏻‍🎤 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀
I design with both strategic range and execution-level craft. My sweet spot: sustainability and fintech, where I build B2B products that retain users, unlock monetisation, and support product-led growth. As a founder, I’ve learned how to ship fast, test positioning, and create experiences that make people convert. I bring that same energy into every project I touch.

I thrive in high-energy, get-it-done environments. And yes, I’m an INTJ.

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

Positioning has been hard for me.

Some people niche down. Some don’t. I’m in the second group.

Lately I’ve been questioning my identity to figure out my next steps in business. I have about 10 things I want to work on, I get bored quickly, I don’t like solving the same problems all the time. But I also get tired of constant changes.

If you’re a designer like me, juggling interests and skills, you’re not alone.

Yesterday, here’s how I navigated it ⬇️
✅ honest SWOT analysis of my business, career, and lifestyle
✅ reviewed all personality and talent tests I’ve done: Gallup, DISC
✅ noted what my gut feeling tells me
✅ checked trends, market, and competitors
✅ reviewed post performance
✅ reviewed my portfolio

Now I’ve decided what the next season of my life will be and I know what I want my last season to look like.

You don’t need to do it all at once. Step by step, test, resign, try new things. Just don’t limit your true identity.

💌 If you want more insights on navigating a versatile design career and finding your next season, sign up for my newsletter: 
https://lnkd.in/dp8Dgp9d

#Designer #DesignCareer

uxportfolio.co | Helping designers build their portfolios

Unfortunately as a designer I do love

How to make your portfolio stand out: Position yourself as a Super IC. Here’s what I mean ⬇️

✅ Storytelling
✅ Strong taste and craft
✅ AI fluency
✅ Business impact

I know this because I teach designers how to build senior portfolios in my portfolio course, I analyse top portfolios, and I regularly talk with design recruiters.

Your portfolio is your best tool to prove you’re that designer. The one who delivers more than just nice visuals, but also drives impact. And if your experience isn’t that strong yet, or you haven’t worked for a well‑known company, your portfolio is your passport to prove your value.

And honestly, this one makes me happy. I’ve always been that hands‑on girl. The one who loves getting things done but still cares about making an impact. For me, that’s often meant becoming a founder. But being a Super IC inside a company? I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of it. Why?
↳ More fun
↳ Fewer meetings
↳ Still great salary

If you want to build a top‑notch portfolio in 2025, focus on showing these skills and positioning yourself well.

Free lessons to help you learn Super IC skills ⬇️
1️⃣ Create AI-Powered Prototypes as a Product Designer by Xinran Ma: https://shorturl.at/WpGzY
2️⃣ AI Customer Insights: Prompt Fixes + Top LLMs for Analysis by Caitlin Sullivan: https://shorturl.at/eol0K
3️⃣ Rapid Product Discovery with AI-Powered Interviews by John Whalen, PhD: https://shorturl.at/nQYRB

My 3 top Maven course recommendations for 2025 ⬇️
1️⃣ AI for Product Designers by Xinran Ma - https://bit.ly/3S60V2z
2️⃣ Describing the ROI of design by Ryan Scott - https://bit.ly/3JgbUoX
3️⃣ User-Centric Product-Led Growth by Kate Syuma - https://bit.ly/46ZAXX7

What do you think make a design portfolio stand out in 2025? Curious to hear your thoughts on this 😊⬇️

#MavenPartner #Maven #UXDesigner #AI

5 Top skills to show in your design portfolio

Spice up your design portfolio in 5 fun ways.

Want to make your portfolio fun, interactive, and totally you? Let’s spice it up in Framer.

✅ Stylish headings → makes your portfolio look clean
✅ Hover effects → instantly makes them unique
✅ Before/After Image Slider → shows your design decisions visually
✅ Swipe a background colour to a photo → makes your visual pop
✅ Bonus: Framer hack → use HTML to Framer extension to copy designs

Are you building your portfolio in Framer? Let me know 😊


#FramerPartner #BuiltWithFramer #UXPortfolio

Designers grow the most when they stop reading and start building.

I’ve read articles about AI, watched tutorials, and figured things out on my own. But the real learning happened when I started building.

When you build, you spot blind spots you didn’t even know you had. You learn faster by solving real problems and end up with something to actually show, not just notes.

That’s why, when I decided to learn AI, I didn’t want to just read about it. I built an AI project and joined Maven’s “Master UX Design for AI” course. It gave me:
✅ A clear building path
✅ Expert feedback on what I made
✅ Accountability to finish

Through building, I figured out how to translate vague AI ideas into real user flows, what makes AI features useful vs. gimmicky, and how to explain complex systems simply to stakeholders.

Now I feel more confident designing AI products and I got there much faster than I would have by only reading.


I want to help you do the same. Because when you build, you:
✅ Become more confident
✅ Get a promotion
✅ Find new clients or land a job
✅ Increase your prices

So I curated a list of practical courses that don’t just talk theory, they push you to build, apply, and grow. Whether you want to sharpen AI skills, connect design with business impact, or master pitching ideas to stakeholders. There’s still time this year.

Here are my top picks to help you hit your goals before 2025 wraps up ⬇️

1️⃣ AI for Product Designers by Xinran Ma - https://bit.ly/3S60V2z
2️⃣ Master UX Design for AI by Rupa Chaturvedi- https://bit.ly/42N3JGH
3️⃣ Describing the ROI of design by Ryan Scott - https://bit.ly/3JgbUoX
4️⃣ User-Centric Product-Led Growth by Kate Syuma - https://bit.ly/46ZAXX7

🎁 Use my code ANETAxMAVEN to save on any of these Maven courses
What’s one new skill you’re learning this year? Let me know! 😊⬇️


#MavenPartner #Maven #UXDesigner #AI

9 Lessons about building AI products

Struggling to make your portfolio stand out?

You’re not alone. Most portfolios look the same.

That’s why I put together a few portfolio examples to inspire you.
✅ Unique portfolios
✅ Creative ideas
✅ Strategic approach
✅ Easy to adapt to your own style

All of these examples were built in Framer 

With Framer, you can ⬇️
✅ Design and launch in one tool
✅ See all breakpoints side by side
✅ Add smooth interactions easily
✅ Publish your portfolio without stress

Use these examples as inspiration to refresh your portfolio and get noticed by hiring managers.

Which example is your favourite? Let me know 😊

#FramerPartner #BuiltWithFramer #DesignPortfolio

Want personality in your portfolio? Make it pop in under 1 minute

✅ Hover interactions → add life to every click
✅ Colorful accents and playful fonts → make your style shine
✅ Quick project presentation → tell your story visually
✅ Embedded video → show your work in action
✅ Playful logos → highlight that you’re a visual person
✅ Creative layout → if you want a bold move

Your portfolio can stand out too. Build it faster, more fun, and fully interactive in Framer ✨

Check links to all these portfolios in the comments ⬇️
Which example is your favourite? 😁

#BuiltWithFramer #FramerPartner #DesignPortfolio

Design and launch your portfolio in minutes with Framer

Don’t spend hours on your portfolio. Here’s how Framer can help:

✅ Quickly lay out a simple portfolio page
✅ Copy cool layouts from other websites in a few clicks
✅ Mix ideas for a unique look
✅ Adjust responsiveness, add interactions, and sprinkle in personality
✅ Publish easily

No need for ten tools or ten tips. With Framer and these steps, building a portfolio is that simple.

Tell me your questions about portfolios, Framer and websites! I’ll help you 😊


#FramerPartner #Framer #DesignPortfolio

Working as a designer in today’s market is not easy.

But it all depends on how you approach it.

The pressure is real. Companies want to win markets, stay ahead of competitors, and ship solutions that don’t just work but also work the best. The stakes are even higher now, with AI available. And who’s responsible for designing these solutions?

Designers 😄

You push hard, create multiple versions and try to be more creative than AI. But nothing seems ideal for your stakeholders. You test, learn, ideate until you feel tired. Delays, frustrations, misalignment. It can be exhausting.

But what if you shift your approach and use AI not just for speed but to generate better ideas?


I’ve been testing Figma Make, and here’s how it helps me be more creative ⬇️

✅ Expand your thinking - prompt Figma Make to give you more ideas
✅ Explore industry standards - get flows and patterns you might not have considered
✅ Design critique - ask Figma Make to review hierarchy, clarity, and interactions
✅ Merge promising ideas - create new, stronger directions
✅ Ideate from inspiration - upload reference files and ask Figma Make to expand
✅ Visualise long-term product visions - go wild and see how your ideas could evolve


Plus, turn static drawings into interactive prototypes for quick user testing, and share live links with stakeholders to get feedback instantly.

Suddenly, your concepts are richer, multiple directions are visualised, and ideas are ready for testing and discussion.


Be more creative with Figma Make. Try it yourself ➡️ https://lnkd.in/d5ASHbtR

I’ve dropped some helpful resources to get you started in the comments.

What are you doing these days to be more creative? Let me know! 😊


#Sponsored #FigmaPartner #Figma #UXDesigner #AIDesigner #AIDesign #AIPrototyping

Want to make your portfolio thumbnails stand out? 

This hover effect in Framer takes under 30 seconds to set up.
No code needed, just this simple plugin ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gEM2tvmd
It’s perfect if you want to add a fun, pixelated vibe to your portfolio. 

Will you try it? Let me know! 😎

Got questions about Framer? Drop them in the comments and I’ll cover them in my next posts 😊


—
Portfolio example → miggyfajardo.com

#FramerPartner #BuiltWithFramer #UXPortfolio #DesignPortfolio

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