Calin Balea

Contrast Studio

Contrast Studio was launched publicly in early 2023 to help more start-ups design better, establish a strong foundation, avoid common mistakes, and smooth the road to product-market fit. If you're looking for a design partner who can deliver quickly and understands the start-up game, email us at hey@contrast.studio.

Founder & Designer

Toptal

Toptal is a network of the top 3% of worldwide talent in design, development, marketing, and finance. Having crossed that bar, I'm now available for projects through Toptal at https://www.toptal.com/designers/resume/calin-balea.

Freelance Product Designer

Mochary Method

👤 As the only designer on a small team, I was involved in the entire production process, from strategy to final design. 

💬 Interviewed users to understand their needs or how the product is performing, summarized findings, and presented them to the team regularly.

🧭 Advised on product roadmap prioritization and strategy

💻 Designed dozens of new features and improvements

🔨 Collaborated with developers to get features implemented

Senior Product Designer

Havr

Single designer in the company working between both the product and marketing departments.

Most of my work was product-focused, helping shape and design major new features and improvements to the apps that make up the BrightLock system (iOS, Android, and web)

✅ Helped redesign the marketing website to drive more conversions (havr.io) and develop it in Webflow

✅ Refreshed the company logo and occasionally designed marketing collateral and printed materials for the physical product (user manual, etc.)

Xapo

Worked as part of an 8-person design team.

Spearheaded the adoption of Figma in the company and setting up the first design system

Designed features in the mobile app necessary for ordering and managing Xapo's new bank card

Helped design a concept app that won the company hackathon (Madrid, 2018). Fun stuff.

Product Designer

Crossover for Work

Involved in designing new features for the Crossover hiring platform
Contributed to setting up the first design system in the company
Lead the design of Worksmart, a new productivity-focused time-tracker, working directly with the CEO, Andy Tryba

UI Designer

eJobs Romania

For the first 12 mo. I was the only designer on the team, collaborating with both the tech and marketing departments
I refreshed the company logo and designed marketing materials for the release of the refreshed brand
I redesigned the main sections of the website (homepage, job search, candidate profile, company profile)
I redesigned the mobile app for candidates, fixing a long list of usability issues
In early 2017 I helped hire the second designer that went on to take charge of design for marketing efforts so I could focus more on product
I led the redesign of the ejobs ATS working with management, customer support, and development to define product strategy, identify paint points, and define features

I specialize in helping start-ups create standout software experiences. With over a decade of experience building brands and products from 0 to 1, I've learned how to avoid common mistakes start-ups make and build products people actually want.

Take a moment to appreciate the intricacy and beauty of this project by Think Bold Studio 🤌

In a world dominated by minimalist design, and shelves stacked with poorly designed packaging, this one stands out in a sea of sameness. 

I often argue for simplicity and minimalism in digital design because in general people need to spend less time being attracted to shiny things on a screen. 
Digital apps need to help you do the job, and get out of the way, so you can enjoy life in the real world.

However, when it comes to things in the real world, such as a bottle of fine artisanal spirit, minimalism can take a back seat. The world needs more physical things designed to delight and tell a story, not only to efficiently deliver a product and make a sale.

Călin Balea

Designer for Start-ups / UI, UX, Brand Design / Founder at Contrast Studio

I'm working with a design file made by a big agency.
At first glance: Oh, looks nice! Good job.

After working with it for a bit:
Oh, a couple of UI components don't work well with longer text strings.
Oh, a bunch of components are not properly structured.
Oh, there's inconsistent text styling.
Oh, the icon set is not converted to shapes and doesn't scale well
etc.
🤦🏻‍♂️

Big agency ≠ quality.
My stuff is not perfect either but I'll for sure not ship crap like this to my clients at Contrast Studio. 

Why?
Such things could go unnoticed by the untrained eye, but any design work needs to be reusable and easy to build on.
There's a cost to dealing with a poorly created design file. Other designers will waste hours trying to understand and fix it. All this amounts to higher costs and slower delivery times.

Pro-tip for non-designers: if you're receiving work from an agency, have your designer friend check the deliverables before approving them. It might save you a lot of headache in the future.

First Figjam. Now, Figma Slides. 
Figma is looking at Canva's success and trying to build an ecosystem of apps for everyone in a company - marketing, sales, etc.
I worry this might dilute their focus from their core audience - UI designers. We'll see.

This is what timeliness design looks like.
You might not like it, but it will live on…
because it’s flawless.

No alternative text description for this image

👀 Lookback at recent work made at Contrast Studio.

Creating UI is now easier than ever.

Knowing WHAT UI to create is harder than ever. Users have high expectations and many alternatives. 

True innovation comes from understanding humans. 

Only humans can understand humans. 

AI might extrapolate conclusions from behavioral data but understanding goes deeper than that.

I've worked with founders obsessed with speed of execution...
and less so with precision.
The result? It never helped reach product-market fit faster.
On the contrary... a lot of running around aimlessly.

Take time to think and research why a design doesn't work. 
Don't rush to design another variation or draw conclusions.
1 hour of research will save you days or weeks of design and development.

You can ask AI about your symptoms but you'll still see a doctor.
Even if you have a good idea of what ails you, you'll still see a doctor for treatment and monitoring. 

AI will take away some of the ideation and discovery work designers do. 

Pixels are easier than ever to create.

Problem-solving is not.
It still takes experience and expertise.

"Freelancers are unprofessional"
I keep hearing this on sales calls.
It happened again yesterday.

Why is this such a common problem?
It's not hard.

Communicate clearly and often.
Keep the promises you make.
Don't nickel-and-dime your clients. 
Be upfront about the things you can and cannot do.

It's surprising how having basic business hygiene will probably put you in the top 10% of businesses in your niche.

I see many companies, start-ups included, feeling FOMO about AI. 
They're adding AI to their tool not because users request it or because it adds major value, but because they're afraid they'll fall behind if they don't. 
In reality, the value-add is often marginal.

Two school girls, one holding a tuba as if she's playing it, and has put the large opening over the head of the other.

The school girl with the tuba is labeled "Every company."

The tuba is labeled "Unwanted AI" and the girl with her head in the tuba is labeled "ME."

No matter how formulaic some aspects of design become, 
the essence of the design craft is a form of artistry. 

That is inherently human. 

AI can generate.
Humans create.

A logo is not an illustration.  
It doesn’t need: 
 
- Tell the whole story 
- Show products or services 
- Be literal 
- Be trendy 
 
It just needs to be: 
 
- Clear even at small scales (24px high) 
- Memorable  
- Working well in black & white 
- Timeless 
 
Remember: a logo is like the period at the end of the sentence, not the sentence itself.  
 
It punctuates everything else you're saying.  
 
Similar to a dot, keep it simple.

In-office is for the plebs. 
Remote is for the top dogs.

Jokes aside, return-to-office mandates are in many cases simply a power play. It's an employer's market now. During the pandemic, it was reversed. 

Did it affect productivity? In many companies that adapted well productivity increased. Others didn't transition well and productivity tanked. It depends. No two businesses are the same. 

In any case, you can't help but notice the double standard.

I Teach People How To Land Amazing Jobs Without Applying Online // Ready To Land Your Dream Job? Head To 👉 CultivatedCulture.com/Coaching

Zoom announced a return to office plan.

Employees within 50 miles of an office have to go in twice a week.

Zoom’s Chief People Officer recently said this about the move:

"In-office days for local workers are filled with meaningful in-person work."

When asked if he’d be returning to the office, he said:

“I think I can manage people at Zoom effectively while working fully remotely,” 

“I go into the office from time to time, obviously, for my role, but the majority of the time I’m home.”

Let me get this straight.

The benefits of in-office work are critically important and incredibly meaningful.

But we don't trust our employees to see that on their own, so we had to mandate it.

And, conveniently, that mandate doesn't apply me.

Funny how that works, isn't it?

Knowing when to fold is more important to success than knowing when to bet big.

We should make Jul 19 Worldwide Windows Day.
Windows shuts down their servers and everyone enjoys the outdoors for a change.

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