Valentin Filippov
I’m a product designer focused on startups. I love creating things from scratch, helping teams through the first stages of projects.
Valentin Filippov
I’m a product designer focused on startups. I love creating things from scratch, helping teams through the first stages of projects.
Valentin Filippov
I’m a product designer focused on startups. I love creating things from scratch, helping teams through the first stages of projects.
1 Researching users and context, helping founders to refine their idea and shape it into a vision.
2 Sketching concepts, designing the MVP, helping the product launch.
3 Listening to feedback, iterating on the design, supervising early product development.
1 Researching users and context, helping founders to refine their idea and shape it into a vision.
2 Sketching concepts, designing the MVP, helping the product launch.
3 Listening to feedback, iterating on the design, supervising early product development.
I’ve been designing digital products for over 15 years. Here are some of my favorite projects.
I’ve been designing digital products for over 15 years. Here are some of my favorite projects.
Everyone has important personal stories that they would like to share. But few people actually write them down and compile into a book. It requires lots of work.
Listening to my Granny’s memories, I came up with the idea of a service that could help with this task. It’s a place where one could add stories in any order, just as they come up. Then the service would help to organize these memories around the timeline, places and people, eventually mapping the whole person’s life.
The tool could be used to collect personal memories, gather family stories, or create interactive biographies of famous people.
Everyone has important personal stories that they would like to share. But few people actually write them down and compile into a book. It requires lots of work.
Listening to my Granny’s memories, I came up with the idea of a service that could help with this task. It’s a place where one could add stories in any order, just as they come up. Then the service would help to organize these memories around the timeline, places and people, eventually mapping the whole person’s life.
The tool could be used to collect personal memories, gather family stories, or create interactive biographies of famous people.
Everyone has important personal stories that they would like to share. But few people actually write them down and compile into a book. It requires lots of work.
Listening to my Granny’s memories, I came up with the idea of a service that could help with this task. It’s a place where one could add stories in any order, just as they come up. Then the service would help to organize these memories around the timeline, places and people, eventually mapping the whole person’s life.
The tool could be used to collect personal memories, gather family stories, or create interactive biographies of famous people.
2021 ∙ with Dmitry Sullivan (art-director) and Julia Karamova (lead designer)
Education is the largest market in the chess world. However, online teaching can be challenging, especially for kids.
As we’ve witnessed in our research, most coaches simply share their screen on a Zoom call, and open a chessboard on a chess site. While this setup works well for giving lectures, it doesn’t provide a great experience for playing and solving problems together.
We’ve envisioned a platform that would make chess teaching easier and more enjoyable. It allows coaches and students to set up a video call and share an interactive chessboard on the same screen. Coaches can seamlessly switch between Game and Analysis modes, load games and positions, play with the students, and ask them to solve puzzles.
2021 ∙ with Dmitry Sullivan (art-director) and Julia Karamova (lead designer)
Education is the largest market in the chess world. However, online teaching can be challenging, especially for kids.
As we’ve witnessed in our research, most coaches simply share their screen on a Zoom call, and open a chessboard on a chess site. While this setup works well for giving lectures, it doesn’t provide a great experience for playing and solving problems together.
We’ve envisioned a platform that would make chess teaching easier and more enjoyable. It allows coaches and students to set up a video call and share an interactive chessboard on the same screen. Coaches can seamlessly switch between Game and Analysis modes, load games and positions, play with the students, and ask them to solve puzzles.
2021 ∙ with Dmitry Sullivan (art-director) and Julia Karamova (lead designer)
Education is the largest market in the chess world. However, online teaching can be challenging, especially for kids.
As we’ve witnessed in our research, most coaches simply share their screen on a Zoom call, and open a chessboard on a chess site. While this setup works well for giving lectures, it doesn’t provide a great experience for playing and solving problems together.
We’ve envisioned a platform that would make chess teaching easier and more enjoyable. It allows coaches and students to set up a video call and share an interactive chessboard on the same screen. Coaches can seamlessly switch between Game and Analysis modes, load games and positions, play with the students, and ask them to solve puzzles.
The future of cars is electric, but there are still many combustion engine cars around. These cars are essential for people who can’t afford expensive vehicles and can be used safely for many years if properly maintained. But how to do it right if you’re not a car expert?
We’ve envisioned an app that could help with that. A user can add their car to the app, update its mileage and keep track of all the service work done. The app knows care schedules for all popular cars and creates a personalized maintenance plan for the user, telling the user what parts will need attention soon.
There is also a community of car owners within the app. A user can join groups of people who own the same car model, learn from their shared experiences, and ask for advice.
The future of cars is electric, but there are still many combustion engine cars around. These cars are essential for people who can’t afford expensive vehicles and can be used safely for many years if properly maintained. But how to do it right if you’re not a car expert?
We’ve envisioned an app that could help with that. A user can add their car to the app, update its mileage and keep track of all the service work done. The app knows care schedules for all popular cars and creates a personalized maintenance plan for the user, telling the user what parts will need attention soon.
There is also a community of car owners within the app. A user can join groups of people who own the same car model, learn from their shared experiences, and ask for advice.
The future of cars is electric, but there are still many combustion engine cars around. These cars are essential for people who can’t afford expensive vehicles and can be used safely for many years if properly maintained. But how to do it right if you’re not a car expert?
We’ve envisioned an app that could help with that. A user can add their car to the app, update its mileage and keep track of all the service work done. The app knows care schedules for all popular cars and creates a personalized maintenance plan for the user, telling the user what parts will need attention soon.
There is also a community of car owners within the app. A user can join groups of people who own the same car model, learn from their shared experiences, and ask for advice.
Style Concierge, an app for clothing management
2020 ∙ with Anna Pestich (UX + graphic designer)
Project story coming soon
Women often feel like they have nothing to wear, even when their closet is full. Choosing an outfit for each day can be a challenge. We’ve created a tool to help with that.
The app invites a user to take photos of their clothes. It automatically identifies the type of each garment and organizes them in a convenient way. Using AI, it can generate stylish looks with these items. Users can customize the looks, create their own from scratch, and eventually create a catalogue of outfits for every occasion.
There’s also a marketplace built in with clothes from various stores. It lets the app suggest new items that would complement the user’s existing clothes and looks. Instead of buying individual garments, users can plan new looks that serve a specific purpose. This way we hoped to transform the whole approach to clothing, replacing exhaustive shopping with efficient management of one’s appearance.
Style Concierge, an app for clothing management
2020 ∙ with Anna Pestich (UX + graphic designer)
Project story coming soon
Women often feel like they have nothing to wear, even when their closet is full. Choosing an outfit for each day can be a challenge. We’ve created a tool to help with that.
The app invites a user to take photos of their clothes. It automatically identifies the type of each garment and organizes them in a convenient way. Using AI, it can generate stylish looks with these items. Users can customize the looks, create their own from scratch, and eventually create a catalogue of outfits for every occasion.
There’s also a marketplace built in with clothes from various stores. It lets the app suggest new items that would complement the user’s existing clothes and looks. Instead of buying individual garments, users can plan new looks that serve a specific purpose. This way we hoped to transform the whole approach to clothing, replacing exhaustive shopping with efficient management of one’s appearance.
Style Concierge, an app for clothing management
2020 ∙ with Anna Pestich (UX + graphic designer)
Project story coming soon
Women often feel like they have nothing to wear, even when their closet is full. Choosing an outfit for each day can be a challenge. We’ve created a tool to help with that.
The app invites a user to take photos of their clothes. It automatically identifies the type of each garment and organizes them in a convenient way. Using AI, it can generate stylish looks with these items. Users can customize the looks, create their own from scratch, and eventually create a catalogue of outfits for every occasion.
There’s also a marketplace built in with clothes from various stores. It lets the app suggest new items that would complement the user’s existing clothes and looks. Instead of buying individual garments, users can plan new looks that serve a specific purpose. This way we hoped to transform the whole approach to clothing, replacing exhaustive shopping with efficient management of one’s appearance.
TAD is a system that allows cellular carriers to monitor attacks in signal networks. It has a web interface that helps security staff to examine threats and respond to them.
I’ve created a concept of the interface that could significantly reduce the time required for specialists to detect and investigate attacks.
While observing security experts at work, I noticed how they identify and analyze threats. Typically, this involves filtering data step-by-step to pinpoint the source of a traffic anomaly and determine if it's a deliberate attack. I’ve packed the data they need most on a single screen and updated the filter UX, aligning it with their scenarios.
TAD is a system that allows cellular carriers to monitor attacks in signal networks. It has a web interface that helps security staff to examine threats and respond to them.
I’ve created a concept of the interface that could significantly reduce the time required for specialists to detect and investigate attacks.
While observing security experts at work, I noticed how they identify and analyze threats. Typically, this involves filtering data step-by-step to pinpoint the source of a traffic anomaly and determine if it's a deliberate attack. I’ve packed the data they need most on a single screen and updated the filter UX, aligning it with their scenarios.
TAD is a system that allows cellular carriers to monitor attacks in signal networks. It has a web interface that helps security staff to examine threats and respond to them.
I’ve created a concept of the interface that could significantly reduce the time required for specialists to detect and investigate attacks.
While observing security experts at work, I noticed how they identify and analyze threats. Typically, this involves filtering data step-by-step to pinpoint the source of a traffic anomaly and determine if it's a deliberate attack. I’ve packed the data they need most on a single screen and updated the filter UX, aligning it with their scenarios.
Mem2, a knowledge management system
2010
Mem2 was a startup that had a simple idea: to help users in retrieving the data they need at the moment, even if they don’t know how to query it directly. In essence, this is how knowledge operates — as a collection of information pieces connected by semantic links, enabling the owner to recall pieces they need instantly while they think and work.
We decided to start by making a note-taking service with tools helping users to organize and connect their notes.
The service offered to create spaces for different topics. We called these spaces ‘cards’. Users could add notes with tags to a card, and all tags would show up at the right side. Eventually, users could organize these tags: promote some to ‘contents’ and group other tags by type. This way users would connect their notes in multiple ways, and our search engine would use these connections to retrieve related data.
Groups were our alternative to hierarchies that were popular at the time. We borrowed this idea from the works of Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist. He studied the creative development of kids and noticed that they constantly form groups of notions as they learn about the world. We felt it would be a natural and simple way to organize tags.
Mem2, a knowledge management system
2010
Mem2 was a startup that had a simple idea: to help users in retrieving the data they need at the moment, even if they don’t know how to query it directly. In essence, this is how knowledge operates — as a collection of information pieces connected by semantic links, enabling the owner to recall pieces they need instantly while they think and work.
We decided to start by making a note-taking service with tools helping users to organize and connect their notes.
The service offered to create spaces for different topics. We called these spaces ‘cards’. Users could add notes with tags to a card, and all tags would show up at the right side. Eventually, users could organize these tags: promote some to ‘contents’ and group other tags by type. This way users would connect their notes in multiple ways, and our search engine would use these connections to retrieve related data.
Groups were our alternative to hierarchies that were popular at the time. We borrowed this idea from the works of Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist. He studied the creative development of kids and noticed that they constantly form groups of notions as they learn about the world. We felt it would be a natural and simple way to organize tags.
Mem2, a knowledge management system
2010
Mem2 was a startup that had a simple idea: to help users in retrieving the data they need at the moment, even if they don’t know how to query it directly. In essence, this is how knowledge operates — as a collection of information pieces connected by semantic links, enabling the owner to recall pieces they need instantly while they think and work.
We decided to start by making a note-taking service with tools helping users to organize and connect their notes.
The service offered to create spaces for different topics. We called these spaces ‘cards’. Users could add notes with tags to a card, and all tags would show up at the right side. Eventually, users could organize these tags: promote some to ‘contents’ and group other tags by type. This way users would connect their notes in multiple ways, and our search engine would use these connections to retrieve related data.
Groups were our alternative to hierarchies that were popular at the time. We borrowed this idea from the works of Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist. He studied the creative development of kids and noticed that they constantly form groups of notions as they learn about the world. We felt it would be a natural and simple way to organize tags.
Analytical Desk, a tool for a wholesale VoIP carrier
2006
Wholesale VoIP carriers buy and sell services of terminating internet calls to cellular and landline networks. It’s a dynamic market that requires continuous monitoring of all traffic parameters. I was invited to a carrier company to improve the interfaces they were using for this task.
I’ve observed how managers work and gathered their daily scenarios. They had to use over 40 data tables each day, some of which took time to fetch all the numbers. After learning about the kinds of data slices the managers needed, I’ve managed to fit all of them into a single screen. The system was updated to calculate and cache all the data in advance, making it possible to display it instantly in the interface.
This design has worked quite well, helping the company to increase its profits by up to 45%.
This was my first serious design project. It's somewhat amusing to look at it now. Some solutions could still work today, while others seem obsolete. Note how dense those interfaces were to fit on smaller screens. Look at this fancy header background that a graphic designer made for us, it seemed so cool back then. Those were the days…
Analytical Desk, a tool for a wholesale VoIP carrier
2006
Wholesale VoIP carriers buy and sell services of terminating internet calls to cellular and landline networks. It’s a dynamic market that requires continuous monitoring of all traffic parameters. I was invited to a carrier company to improve the interfaces they were using for this task.
I’ve observed how managers work and gathered their daily scenarios. They had to use over 40 data tables each day, some of which took time to fetch all the numbers. After learning about the kinds of data slices the managers needed, I’ve managed to fit all of them into a single screen. The system was updated to calculate and cache all the data in advance, making it possible to display it instantly in the interface.
This design has worked quite well, helping the company to increase its profits by up to 45%.
This was my first serious design project. It's somewhat amusing to look at it now. Some solutions could still work today, while others seem obsolete. Note how dense those interfaces were to fit on smaller screens. Look at this fancy header background that a graphic designer made for us, it seemed so cool back then. Those were the days…
Analytical Desk, a tool for a wholesale VoIP carrier
2006
Wholesale VoIP carriers buy and sell services of terminating internet calls to cellular and landline networks. It’s a dynamic market that requires continuous monitoring of all traffic parameters. I was invited to a carrier company to improve the interfaces they were using for this task.
I’ve observed how managers work and gathered their daily scenarios. They had to use over 40 data tables each day, some of which took time to fetch all the numbers. After learning about the kinds of data slices the managers needed, I’ve managed to fit all of them into a single screen. The system was updated to calculate and cache all the data in advance, making it possible to display it instantly in the interface.
This design has worked quite well, helping the company to increase its profits by up to 45%.
This was my first serious design project. It's somewhat amusing to look at it now. Some solutions could still work today, while others seem obsolete. Note how dense those interfaces were to fit on smaller screens. Look at this fancy header background that a graphic designer made for us, it seemed so cool back then. Those were the days…
I fell in love with computers at the first sight as a kid. Fascinated by the power of my first PC with MS-DOS, I wanted to create new things with it. I started with writing simple programs, eventually shifting into web and later product design.
Since then I’ve worked on many startups as well as for established companies. My favorite thing is creating new products based on user research, and I try to find this kind of opportunity at any job.
Besides that, I love learning history behind the places where I live and work. I’m mesmerized thinking about events that were witnessed by these very streets in the past and try to learn more about it.
I fell in love with computers at the first sight as a kid. Fascinated by the power of my first PC with MS-DOS, I wanted to create new things with it. I started with writing simple programs, eventually shifting into web and later product design.
Since then I’ve worked on many startups as well as for established companies. My favorite thing is creating new products based on user research, and I try to find this kind of opportunity at any job.
Besides that, I love learning history behind the places where I live and work. I’m mesmerized thinking about events that were witnessed by these very streets in the past and try to learn more about it.