Interview with Aliaksei Makeyeu | The Lead UX Designer in Designing for Baby K’tan

My name is Aliaksei Makeyeu, I live in Belarus and have extensive experience in B2B and e-commerce on the other side of business. I worked as an Operations Director for a B2B company for almost 8 years before embarking on a new career path that allowed me to explore my creative side.

In 2019, I graduated as a designer and it was more of my passion and outlet, but in recent years, external events in the world and region have had a great influence on my thinking and outlook on life, I became more and more immersed in the creative process and at some point, I decided to completely switch to curing myself through design.

I am attracted to design first of all by its lack of restrictions. In almost any problem, I can implement some non-trivial ideas and apply a different approach to finding a solution. And I am always focused on solving the problem. This is an important mission because you always feel the importance of your role, as well as participation in this progress of the design industry.

Currently, my role is Lead UX Designer in an e-commerce company. My main task now is to redesign the site in such a way as to preserve the authenticity of the brand, it's deep meaning, and its social component while solving business problems through UX design.

For me, design is part of communication with people. This is a process that lasts throughout our lives. And through this communication, you can influence a person in different ways. This can be as simple as a change in our mood at the sight of a banner, or something more global that radically changes our way of life for years to come.

I feel comfortable when a project has a solid idea that needs to be communicated. I like to let this idea pass through me, immerse myself in the details, and then work on the design. By working this way, I can think ahead about the strategy, I have confidence in my design, and when I encounter a challenge in developing a solution, I always return to the central idea.

Good design should introduce the product while creating extremely positive emotions. It should be native and quickly read. The user should always feel comfortable using it, both when getting to know a new product and during long-term interaction (if such is provided). At the same time, the design obviously must be modern and highlight the product, which is especially important today, because the industry is developing actively and the world in general has become more dynamic.

I was inspired by the idea of ​​the product, the deep meaning of the mother-child bond, I wanted to show the value and uniqueness of the early stage of parenthood. Empathy, strong connection, caring - these are the qualities that guided me while working on this project.

I tried to convey sincerity in the relationship between mother and newborn child. This is a very intense, at times complex, period filled with vivid emotions. At this moment, two people are maximally focused on each other. And of course, my personal experience, as a father of two wonderful daughters, spending every day with my family, it was easy for me to catch the right vibe and work on this project.

I don’t think so, or rather, it’s not entirely true. Inspiration is important to me to stay productive. This is an internal state. But it is shaped not only by the cultural heritage of my country. On the contrary, I am drawn to see as many countries and works of art as possible. I travel a lot and have many friends all over the world. For me, it is very important to be open and want to see something new.

Thank you! It's very exciting and I am extremely happy about this award. Often a person is prone to self-examination and limiting himself, this is a contribution to each of us to be more free and self-confident. For the entire team, this means that we are on the right track and of course, it's inspiring. So I can't wait to start working on the next project.

I work as a lead UX designer for an e-commerce company. A complete redesign of the website in the Belarusian region included several indicators that we must achieve while maintaining the positioning of an international company but integrated into the local market. We know our users very well and we know our product very well. This project is very important from a social point of view.

Society often puts pressure on a mother, forcing her to part with her child prematurely, go to work early or conduct business activities, which brings suffering to her and the child’s mental health. I would like society to turn its face to parents so that they can be happier during the first year of a child’s life.

A particular challenge for me was maximum responsibility since we were talking about the health of a newborn child. We know that during the postpartum period, all the mother's attention is focused only on the child. The goal was to make navigation as simple as possible. And at the same time, maintain consistency in presenting relevant information throughout the user journey.

The complexity of the product lies in the need to accompany it with a large amount of information describing its properties and confirming its reliability. At the stage of initial communication and further testing with a focus group, it was possible to divide this information into three levels of importance and develop a system for its presentation.

I would like to be part of the international community. Events in my region in recent years have moved us away from globalisation and made it difficult to communicate with colleagues and clients. I hope this will introduce me to the participating professionals and improve my understanding and competence.

First of all, it is boundlessness and dynamics. I love feeling like I am part of this community, I love this freedom of thought. It’s great that the industry is developing so dynamically that it’s difficult to imagine what our solutions will look like even in 3-4 years.

I really think that 10 years is too long to imagine what the industry will look like. It is quite obvious that neural networks will be with us and will help speed up and automate some of the processes. I think the designer's focus will shift a little due to this, other processes that require more of our attention. We also need to understand that in this matter we depend on devices and platforms that will be used by the user in 5-10 years.

Focus on your goal and in any difficult or simply new situation for yourself, continue to move towards your goal and try to do everything possible for this.

It is best to create the right environment. Getting inspired and simply keeping your finger on the pulse can be conveniently started by following Instagram influencers of the industry and design award platforms, such as the London Award. Of course, Behance is for observation and a constant daily search for new cool websites, applications, and just features.

Be sure to stay tuned for updates to Figma, Webflow, and Framer. They are a must-have in our craft, they usually roll out good guides on their updates, but if they missed something, influencers immediately highlight all the details. Well, if you have time and energy, then the community and various design events for inspiration.

Sometimes I'm scared to take a new step, but every time I take it, I know I did the right thing.

Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson. I have been following the Manchester United football club for a very long time. I was inspired by his strength, relentless dedication, and discipline. I believe that the key to success is consistency and effort coupled with talent.

Focus on your goal and in any difficult or simply new situation for yourself, continue to move towards your goal and try to do everything possible for this.