UX Designer + Art Director + Visual Communicator
costi Gurgu Design
A visual communicator, proficient in brand strategy, creative planning and implementation, conceptualizes and executes seamlessly across a range of traditional and digital media platforms.
Digital
- UX Design
- Online Advertising
- Social Media
- Digital Branding
- Marketing Collateral
- Editorial Design
- Print Advertising
- Corporate Identity
Sitemaps
These are the sitemaps I designed and presented for the Art for Rent app, Asengana Writing Platform, GAFA – Games for Aliens website, and Fiction Writer‘s online home.
Art for Rent
UX Research, Strategy, and Design
I lead the branding strategy, research, and design for a start-up in Toronto. From designing the corporate identity, coordinating the user interviews to prototyping and usability testing, I helped shape the vision and execution of a seed-funded start-up that offers tools for local artists and their patrons. Art for Rent is a platform for patrons to rent art for events or spaces. The app will promote local artists and serve as a tool to help interested parties curate, select, and secure different types of local artwork for a set period of time.
(See Art for Rent Case Study)
Asengana
UX Research and Strategy
I participated in creative planning, strategy, developing, and implementation of the Asengana platform. I had a lead role in research and usability testing and spoke to real users in the target audience about Asengana platform. I designed the user personas, the user journey map, the sitemap and the low-fi prototypes for the platform, and made proposals for the functionality and usability of the platform. Asengana is the first online interactive platform that offers support to authors and guides them step-by-step in writing their fiction and non-fiction books.
Games for Aliens (GAFA)
UX Research, Strategy, and Design
I managed GAFA project from planning, designing, to final stages of implementing, and contributed to building the marketing strategy. I designed the user personas, the user journey map, the sitemap and the low-fi prototypes for the website. I researched and presented the Business Model Canvas and the Competitive Analysis. The website we created and the content we produce helps increase awareness about GAFA brand and to sell games. GAFA offers unique tabletop games based on real-life experiences and published books, that could change gamers’ life, perceptions, and views for better.
(See GAFA Case Study)
Fiction Writer
UX Research, Strategy, and Design
I assessed the needs of a fiction writer and researched the target audience and their online expectations and habits. I created several user personas based on different fiction genres and the lifestyles they imply. I created a sitemap and flow to satisfy both the writer’s needs for exposure and book sales, as well as the potential customers’ online preferences and approaches. This Fiction Writer website is the online home of Costi Gurgu, a multiple awarded speculative fiction writer and screenwriter from Toronto.
“User-centered design means understanding what your users need, how they think, and how they behave – and incorporating that understanding into every aspect of your process.”
Jesse James Garrett
User Journey Map
I researched and designed the User Journey map for GAFA client, using the Persona (the main character) that illustrates the needs, goals, thoughts, feelings, opinions, expectations, and pain points of the users. I had a finite amount of time (1 week) of variable phases (e.g awareness, decision-making, purchase, play, and share). I’ve illustrated also the Emotions (peaks and valleys illustrating frustration, anxiety, content, happiness etc), Touchpoints (customer actions and interactions with GAFA), and Channels (where interaction takes place and the context of use). (See GAFA Case Study)
This is one of the User Journey Maps for Ontario Photo Card, using one of the four main Personas identified for this product.
User Personas
These are the user personas I researched, designed and presented for GAFA – Games for Aliens website (See GAFA Case Study), the Art for Rent app (See Art for Rent Case Study), and the Ontario Photo Card renewal app.
Asengana User Experience Research
Asengana platform is built on an extensive user experience research, its aim is to accommodate all writer’s needs during the writing process. Asengana is specifically designed for a singular type of user: the writer. It’s an efficient writing software with a friendly user interface – Manuscript v1.0 PLANTSER.
Asengana Project Management
Asengana Omni Tool
Low-fidelity Wireframes
These are the wireframes I designed and presented for the Art for Rent app (See Art for Rent Case Study) and GAFA – Games for Aliens website (See GAFA Case Study).
“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Costi and watching him work with graphic designers, editors, freelance photographers and stylists, as well as his own staff, with whom he offered patient and wise tutelage, building a graphics resource that served not only Playboy but a host of other publications in the market.”
David Walker–VP, Editorial Director, International Publishing, Playboy Enterprises
ABOUT COSTI GURGU
I am a highly creative and results-oriented professional with extensive experience in print and digital design, visual communication, and project management.
I find creative and effective user-centered design solutions.
I draw upon a diverse background, one with roots in print design— in corporate, studio and startup environments— and which gave me experience in consumer brand communication, managing business objectives, directing photo-shoots, video editing, writing, cross-team collaboration, and more.
My professional journey continued as I nurtured my creative side through graphic and digital design, which extended my ability to develop more effective solutions for my clients. I find I enjoy the challenge of achieving visual unity in a composition as much as I do finding a creative solution using a holistic approach.
I’m in my element when I’m creating, but I understand that creativity without context lacks purpose.
My identity as a user experience (UX) designer is grounded in a capacity for cognitive empathy, a deep interest in how people connect through verbal and visual communication— and a passion for languages and cultures, enriched by years of living abroad, and also by being a professional writer.
I have trained in print design and the various stages of user experience design and I feel my multifaceted background and skill set has given me a deeper understanding of — and unique perspective into — the UX design process.
Technical Summary
- SOFTWARE: Adobe CS (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat and Premiere Pro), QuarkXpress, and Sketch.
- WEB TOOLS: WordPress, HTML, CSS, Google Analytics, and Mail Chimp.
- PRINT: Editorial Design, Print Advertising, Marketing Collaterals, Promotional Materials, Corporate Identity, Directing Photoshoots, and Prepress.
- DIGITAL: UX Design, Web design, Social Media, Digital Branding, Web-based documents, Video Editing, and Infographics.
- Photoshop – 100% 100%
- InDesign – 85% 85%
- Illustrator – 80% 80%
- WordPress – 70% 70%
- Premiere Pro – 50% 50%
- Sketch – 80% 80%
- Adobe Creative Cloud XD – 100% 100%
- FIGMA – 90% 90%
Projects
Satisfied Clients
Ongoing Projects
Cups Of Coffee
Video Editing
These are examples of videos I edited in different formats: commercial, one camera interview, multi-cam concert, and a promotional video for the first GAFA product, a game called Absolutism.
Let’s Start Something new Say Hello!
If you have any questions, comments, feedback, or you’d just like to reach out, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. I’d love to hear from you.