Name: Interviews — FlowMapp
Brand: FlowMapp
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<p><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#0e101a;">Nina is a product designer at Instagram based in New York. </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">She defines herself as a designer with a strong visual expression and a product mindset. Some of her award-winning works have gone viral over the years, and her work has appeared in major design publications.</span></p>

Nina Geometrieva, Senior Product Designer at Instagram

<h3>Nina, please tell us a bit about yourself and where this interview finds you</h3><p>Hi, I’m Nina, a product designer at Instagram based in New York. I learned design by myself, mostly online, and by observing others.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Originally from Eastern Europe, the career took me to unexpected places around the world. After a couple of short stints in Europe, I moved to Singapore, where I transitioned from visual to UX design and got hired by Google, and then to Japan, where I grew as a UX designer and started calling myself a product designer, and now just a few months ago I made it to New York.</p>

<h3>Wow! That is fascinating! Do you remember when you first got interested in design?</h3><p>My first design influence was my dad. And he has nothing to do with design, aside from a great taste in aesthetics. I still keep a super cool Sun Microsystems pin he gave to me a few years back. I distinctly remember a Circus Medrano poster he took off the street to hang at home, which had a blinding neon pink background. I fell in love with the color combo.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>He introduced me to Adobe Flash, and when I was 9 my design made it into the official New Year postcard for the Council of Europe in Macedonia.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Fast forward to my Computer Science college days, I was in a band and we needed a poster for our gig. I opened Photoshop and haven’t really closed it ever since (even though I no longer use it for my primary job).</p>

I also realized two big things:  firstly, yay, I can get paid for this! Secondly, wait, I can get paid a lot more for this

<h3>How did you study design? (at school, courses, library, etc.)</h3><p>I started off with the sole interest in making beautiful things. I experimented with shape, color and layout in Photoshop and used Google search and Youtube to ask questions. With every new trick I’d learn, new opportunities would open up.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>After moving to Singapore, I came across UX Designers for the first time. I was impressed by their analytical mindset and comprehensive understanding of the product. Ever since then, I learned a lot on the job by observing different people and trying things out.</p>

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<h3>What did your first design job look like? What did you learn from it?</h3><p>At my first design job, I’d collect any crumbs on the floor that more senior designers would drop. And I loved the work — I did anything from logos and brochures to websites and learned a ton of crafts.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I also realized two big things:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><ol><li>Yay, I can get paid for this!</li><li>Wait, I can get paid a lot more for this.</li></ol><p>&nbsp;</p><p>With this assumption, I tried freelance, and it went so well that I quit my job a few months after.</p>

My mindset shifted from “life happens to me” to “life happens by me”

<h3>That’s a bold move! And soon after that, you got a job at Google, right? How did you learn about the job position?</h3><p>Landing my job at Google wasn’t easy.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Just getting on the radar of Google recruiters can be a multi-year challenge. At one point I decided to give my best in putting together a portfolio and I asked a Google designer for advice on how to improve it in order to get an interview at Google. He gave me some advice and told me he would refer me if I wanted to. The mistake I made is choosing to interview for a role I knew nothing about. I was a visual designer then but I desperately wanted to interview for a UX role and, of course, the interview was an epic fail.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>My next encounter with Google was while I worked at a local startup in Singapore, right as I was transitioning to a UX role. This time Google reached out to me because someone discovered my portfolio and loved it. I still had to go through the full interview process and pass the bar.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><ol><li>It started with an interview over the phone to assess my broad skill set.</li><li>Then I was given a hard, ambiguous design problem to solve in a matter of days.</li><li>Next up was the final boss of all interviews — the dreaded onsite. Google flew me to the headquarters in California and I went through five 45-minute interviews where they assessed different aspects of my skills and personality.</li></ol><p><br>My favorite part of every interview ever is always the whiteboard exercise, which is a design problem you need to solve in 45 mins. It feels a bit like a performance where I unravel my thoughts and personality. It can be especially fun when the interviewer engages and turns it into a collaborative session rather than a monologue.</p>

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<h3>Sounds very stressful! If you had to choose, what are the most important lessons you’ve learned during your work journey at Google?</h3><p>The first two years at Google were a challenging time in my career. This was mostly due to my shift from visual to UX design, but also due to the lack of support, micromanagement and power dynamics in my immediate team. Nonetheless, I loved the product we built and still learned a ton along the way.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>In my second team, I immediately felt strong independence, allowing me to try, fail and learn on my own which supercharged my growth. I started developing a sense of agency and ownership. <strong>My mindset shifted from “life happens to me” to “life happens by me”</strong>. This gave me the confidence to get involved in product strategy and planning more deeply.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><ul><li>I also became more aware of my assumptions and thought processes when designing. I got better at asking and answering “why” questions. The level of scrutiny at a large tech company trains you to become very intentional in your decision-making.</li><li>I started putting all pieces of the puzzle — insights, data and intuition — together more seamlessly to get things done. I fully embraced a bootstrapping mindset.</li><li>As my core work became more comfortable, I started getting involved in additional efforts. One of them was designing for accessibility, and at some point, I led a Google Maps wide effort in making the app more accessible.</li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p><h2>Part 3. Talk about money</h2>

<h3>As a young professional, how did you learn to negotiate your salary?</h3><p>At my first job interview, I fell into the most common salary negotiation trap: I blurted out a number. “350 euros a month”, which is precisely half a peanut, even for Macedonian standards. I remember my then manager’s reaction: “Pffft! You’re hired!”. I’ll never forget that smug “Pffft”.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>In parallel, I started doing freelance and in just an hour or two a day I was earning multiple times more than my full-time job salary.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Salary negotiations only work if you have leverage, but given how desperate I was to leave my home country at the beginning of my career, I would have taken any job for any money. So I only really started having leverage after I moved to Singapore.</p>

I remember my then manager’s reaction: “Pffft! You’re hired!”. I’ll never forget that smug “Pffft”

<h3>What are your go-to strategies to negotiate a salary or bonus now?</h3><p>When I was interviewing with Grab, the largest unicorn startup in Singapore (now a public company), I wanted to increase my leverage so I applied for any available design roles with their competitor, Uber. Upon hearing that I’m interviewing with Uber, Grab fast-tracked my interviews and offered me a great base-heavy package.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>When I interviewed with Google, I was offered a much better total compensation than the one I had at Grab, but the base salary itself was still lower. The Google recruiter told me the offer is non-negotiable and my friends also told me not to attempt negotiating with Google. But I remembered that “Pffft!” reaction from my first boss and decided to YOLO it and ask for more $$ using the Grab base as leverage. Guess what? It worked.</p>

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<h3>Congrats on your most recent position at Instagram! Did you apply for the job or did they find you?&nbsp;</h3><p>Thank you! Facebook/Meta was reaching out to me regularly since 2017, but last year was the first time I considered their invitation to interview, with my eyes firmly set on Instagram. I love Instagram’s simplicity, I use the platform as a creator and I knew it would be dope to work there as a designer.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>At the same time, I got a referral to Apple, and the interviews started in parallel. I was genuinely excited about both companies and I wanted to have options, or, at the very least, salary negotiation leverage. As it turns out, timing interviews is a form of art, but I somehow managed to receive an offer from both on the same day.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I brought the Instagram offer to Apple, and then the revised Apple offer to Instagram, and then I patiently waited in silence for one intense day. I woke up to an inbox full of beautiful emails from all the interviewers, each convincing me to join their company.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>There was even an email from Luke, Instagram’s Head of Design! I had never seen anything like that, I cried out of overwhelming happiness, anxiety, confusion, and did I say happiness?!</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Nested between those emails were two brand new offers from both Apple and Instagram. Identical and super strong. I wrote a draft email and took an hour to think it through before I finally hit “send” accepting the Instagram offer.</p>

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<h2>Part 4. A portfolio, degree and other fantastic beasts</h2>

<h3>Did a diploma take a part in your recruitment process at any point in your career?</h3><p>I don’t think design recruiters particularly care about education. You might come across a design education requirement in various job descriptions but that’s often used as a proxy for experience. If you can demonstrate that you have the experience needed, your education won’t matter.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Immigration laws, on the other hand, tend to care a lot about degrees</strong>, and it’s super hard to move countries if you don’t have that piece of paper. I think a lot of these laws are yet to catch up to how the industry evolves and the increasing availability of free high-quality online education. By online education here I mean anything from Youtube videos, Twitter influencers and Medium articles to more traditional courses and books.</p>

<h3>Your experience is breaking so many barriers for people without an academic background dreaming about working at Google or Instagram. What, in your opinion, is more important than a degree. A portfolio?</h3><p>I don’t think it all hinges on the portfolio but it plays a huge part. I’m not embarrassed to admit that I spend almost as many hours on the presentation of my work as on the work itself. Ok, maybe a tad embarrassed.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I sleep on it, cut out whole chunks, simplify sentences, try a completely new format, create a copy and start from scratch, sleep on it again… for many days until I have run out of ideas to try. And it becomes a tiny bit better each day.</p>

<h3>What should a great design portfolio include?</h3><ul><li>A great portfolio will easily stand out, be it in the format of storytelling, types of projects or visual treatment.</li><li>I also think great portfolios are simple yet comprehensive and can show both breadth and depth of your work.</li><li>Designers often miss highlighting how their design made a difference and showing successful outcomes.</li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The best portfolios I’ve seen tend to be easy to follow, catchy and almost telepathically anticipate what questions and thoughts the viewer might have and address them along the way.</p>

<h3>Quick question: any tips for people moving to another country in 2022? :)</h3><p>Don’t be like me, and remember to buy a blanket for your first night in a new apartment in the middle of winter :)</p><p>&nbsp;</p><hr><p>&nbsp;</p><p>If you want to tell a story about your career or share your expert opinion, send us a pitch at <a href="mailto:serafima@flowmapp.com">serafima@flowmapp.com</a></p>

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Senior designer at Instagram talks about not having a degree, salary negotiation and reveals how to get a job at Google and Instagram

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Interview with Nina Geometrieva — FlowMapp

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<p><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">What if I told you that you don’t *necessarily* need a degree in order to get a job at Google or Instagram? Would you believe me? You should! If not me then our today’s guest, Senior Product Designer at Instagram, Nina Geometrieva, who dropped out of school many moons ago and still ended up in Instagram’s New York office. She got offers from three out of five MAAMA members (Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Amazon), and worked at two of these giants. In the interview, Nina reveals what the recruitment process looks like at Google, how to negotiate a higher salary and what it feels like to get an email from Instagram’s Head of Design.</span></p>

You Don’t Need a Degree to Advocate Your Way to MAAMA

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Nina Geometrieva

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<p>Rodolpho has been working in digital design for 10 years, creating interfaces that transform people’s lives. He works as a hands-on designer, turns ideas into first-class experiences and runs design operations for big leaders and startups over the world</p>

Rodolpho Henrique, Design Lead at McKinsey & Company

<h3>Rodolpho, please tell us a bit about your design background</h3><p>I am a Brazilian designer who has been working on digital product design for the past 10 years. I focus all of my energy on interaction design, user interface and the general visual aesthetics of digital products so they can stand out as a unique product in the market and amongst the competitors.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I’ve studied Graphic Design and discovered this passion for the craft and the aesthetics in the early days of my career. Even though I've been focusing all of my time on digital design over the last few years, graphic design still serves as my main source of inspiration and helps me&nbsp; in solving design problems.</p>

<h3>Do you remember when you first got interested in design?</h3><p>I got into design because of music. Looking back, I remember being fascinated by music and skateboarding from the early age. I eventually started playing musical instruments and landed as a drummer in a punk rock band where I was responsible for designing all promotional materials (album artworks, concert posters, etc.). Nobody asked me to do that; I took the initiative myself because I thought this was something I should be responsible for. And that's how it all began.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I started playing around with Photoshop designing concert flyers, MySpace layouts and everything we needed to promote the band. In a short period of time, I was not only doing artwork for my band, but also for friends' bands, local music festivals and other artists.</p>

Here’s a tip I give to every design student: start working as soon as you can

<p><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#0e101a;">This period of my life was inspiring because I understood that I was able to express my view, thoughts and feelings using colors, typography and forms. Fast-forward 10 years, graphic design still plays an important role in my life when it comes to inspiration, rules and definitions I use for my daily work.</span></p>

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<h3>You suggested a topic about trading Design Thinking for Design Doing. Could you describe the core idea behind this transition?</h3><p>I have a feeling that Design Thinking has become a buzzword —people think they can use this methodology to come up with innovation and that is not true. It works for some specific scenario problems, but I don't believe that such a simple step-by-step methodology can be a universal methodology for solving all the design problems in the digital world.</p>

A simple sentence written in a pink post-it will not solve any real-world problem. On the other hand, sketches, concepts, prototypes or any other ways to express things in a tangible way will do

<p>We have so many people calling themselves design experts and teaching about success but when you look closer, they never really shipped a real product in their lives. It’s scary to see people without real experience talk about rules and methodologies.</p>

<h3>How did you start working at McKinsey &amp; Company?</h3><p>McKinsey's recruitment process is pretty solid and transparent. It is not difficult, but it requires a lot of organization and planning before going to the interviews. What I like the most about this process is that you get the chance to speak with a lot of people from different workstreams and backgrounds — <strong>designers are only 60% of the process</strong>, so you need to be able to communicate design to non-designers.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>A funny story about my recruiting process: during that time, I was working in Thailand on a confidential project for my previous company and I had one of the most important interviews scheduled — with a partner from the New York office — during my time in Thailand. As the time zones were completely different, I remember setting up the alarm for 3 AM Thailand time to have the interview with her.</p>

<h3>While working at McKinsey &amp; Company you traveled to Olso for 8 months. What was the project you worked on during that time? Did you like that experience?</h3><p>That period of my life was astounding, both from personal and professional perspectives. I moved to Norway to work with a big client from the travel sector that was redesigning their B2B experience.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>During my living there, I tried to absorb inspiration and knowledge from the nordic people who I already admired for their simplicity, functional thinking, democracy and habits.</p>

It was a great learning experience that helped me rethink how I used to approach and solve problems, highlighting that the simplest solution is always the best one

<h3>What did you like the most about switching continents and climates for almost a year?</h3><p>Getting to know different people and learning from them. In the end, it's all about people.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I try to get the most I can from dealing withdifferent cultures and different perspectives; we all have so much to learn from our equals. We always have something to learn from someone else — from the way they present something to the way they structure a problem.</p>

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<h3>Is such rotation popular at McKinsey &amp; Company? And do you think it’s good for a company to have such projects?</h3><p>Absolutely yes. McKinsey has offices and clients all over the world, so we're constantly traveling to work with clients in other countries. This is a great environment for designers because we're constantly exposed to different types of problems and cultures, so we're forced to reeducate ourselves on each project. I enjoy every second of these experiences. Working in different countries with different behaviors and habits puts you in a constant mood for learning. I love this quote: “If you're the smartest person in the room, then you're in the wrong room.”<br><br>I remember working with Asian client where I accidentally used an icon that was quite normal here in Brazil, but represented something completely different — and also offensive — to the Asian population. So these are the moments where you need to reshape your mindset and learn new cultural aspects.</p>

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<ol><li>'Better Web Typography for a Better Web' by Matej Latin<br>This is a new book I recently read and found it extremely useful to understand and approach one of the most important things for any digital product, typography.</li><li>'Grid Systems in Graphic Design'<br>Know the rules, so you can break them with purpose. Understanding grids is one of the most essential things for any designer and developer.</li></ol>

Rodolpho recommends

<h3>Ok, earlier we touched the Design Thinking vs Design Doing. Could you explain what is Design Thinking? Why, in your opinion, it has become a buzzword?</h3><p>Design Thinking is a solid problem-solving methodology to that only works for some specific cases and does not make any sense for others, but, for some reason, people decided to copy and paste it for every project or problem they need to solve. Most people are lazy so they think there is a perfect recipe they can apply to everything and it will be successfully solved. This is not how it works in reality.</p>

<h3>What are the significant pros and cons of the Design Thinking approach?</h3><p>Design Thinking is built as a tool for innovation, it’s an approach for the development of innovative solutions. This methodology is just a starting point for going deeper.<br><br>The methodology itself has helped a lot to bring the user focus to the table with С-levels and big companies — as designers who have been fighting with this over the past years, we should be extremely grateful for that.&nbsp;<br><br>But we can't forget that following a methodology will never bring you ready-to-use solutions of your complex problems.</p>

What software do you commonly use? 

It is a simple and obvious way to keep my to-do list neat and organized throughout my various devices

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Apple Reminders

I found sketching and drafting ideas on paper the best way to document and communicate them with my team

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It might sound silly, but my calendar agenda is the source of truth about what I should spend my time on it

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<h3>What do designers miss out on while concentrating only on theoretical approaches, such as Design Thinking (DT)?</h3><p>Design Thinking is pretty effective, the problem is that we cannot make it sound like this is all that Design can do. An architect is recognized by their constructions and buildings — and, of course, to achieve the final result you need a process, but the final result is what means the most. So why are we highlighting so much of the process and not the final result in the digital design world?</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The design market is filled with people with no technical knowledge and no real experience, who use these buzzwords and jargon to sound impressive and intelligent to the clients, but they lack understanding of how things are really done in the design world. People are sugarcoating terms to make them sound more important and this ultimately leads to failure. You don't create innovation or ship a real product by only using words written over pink post-its. That is a fact.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I believe that using a bunch of jargon and buzzwords doesn't make you create a great digital product. Designing, shipping, failing and designing it again will do.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>And don’t forget aesthetics, functionality, balance, composition and visual structure. From my perspective, these are the main things we constantly see when we're interacting with digital products. These ones deserve a high level of attention, too.</p>

You don't create innovation or ship a real product by only using words written over pink post-its. That is a fact

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<h3>If you weren’t a designer, what would you do?</h3><p>I’d definitely become a musician. I would be playing drums in a punk rock band touring the country or making music in a studio somewhere in the world.</p>

<h3>How do you think the design industry will evolve in the next 10 years?</h3><p>I'm really optimistic to see how the "no-code'' tools (like Webflow — which I'm a huge fan of) are growing fast. I don't believe they will ever replace the full development, but there is a great thing that comes with these tools — the fact of democratizing the web.</p>

<h3>What would be your professional advice to those designers who’re stuck in the ‘thinking’ phase?</h3><p>Forget about other designers for a second. Call different people outside your industry to help you think about the problem. You will be surprised by how many different and useful insights you will get.</p>

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People talk about Design Thinking as if it’s a cure-all, but our interview guest disagrees with that. He believes that Design Thinking has become a buzzword and sometimes Design Doing is much more efficient strategy for designers

Rodolpho Henrique

<p>Design Thinking is a popular approach to solving problems that’s being actively used by millions of designers and other professionals around the world. People often talk about the efficiency and great productivity that Design Thinking brings to the table. But is it really a remedy from all difficulties, especially in design? Our today’s guest, Rodolpho Henrique, Design Lead at McKinsey &amp; Company, challanges this idea as he believes that Design Thinking is not a cure-all and actually working on designs and perfecting them matters even more</p>

Stop Design Thinking and Start Design Doing

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<p><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">Andrey is an experienced entrepreneur with more than 10 years of experience in design. In 2012 he started a web design agency which became one of Top-100 agencies in Russia. After that, in 2017, he became the CEO of FlowMapp. He plays bass guitar and even traveled with his band to numerous festivals in Poland and Russia. He enjoys being in nature with his wife and son, hiking and kayaking</span></p>

Andrey Severin, CEO and Founder of FlowMapp

<h3>How did you come up with the idea for FlowMapp in the first place?</h3><p>I had an initial idea for this project back in 2014. At that time, my team created numerous websites as an agency, and even then, the idea of ​​a visual sitemap was in the back of my mind. I wanted to simplify work processes and improve communication with our clients. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough experience to create a high-quality product at that time. But three years later, everything changed. This time we were ready to build and share a valuable tool for UX designers and other professionals. With new team members on board, we started developing a tool that would eventually have 200.000+ users worldwide, known as FlowMapp. The rest, as they say, is history.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><figure class="image"><img src="https://fm-blog-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/img_1_de53caf716.jpg"><figcaption>Andrey Severin and Paul Mit, FlowMapp founders</figcaption></figure>

<h3>How many people were in the team at the beginning of this journey?</h3><p>At the start, we had a small team consisting of only two developers, two design specialists, one project manager, my co-founder Paul and myself.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The development process was challenging since we had to work on client sites in parallel with the development of the FlowMapp tool. In addition to that, FlowMapp is a bootstrap company, and we did not attract external funding. So we had to pay salaries regularly as well as all our other basic operational expenses. I won’t lie; it was a tough couple of years. But, hey! Now we are here, doing this interview. So, everything turned out great after all.</p>

<h3>What did the first version of FlowMapp look like?</h3><p>As simple as it could be! The main features were designing a sitemap using a collection of covers and writing page descriptions. Then users were able to share a link with colleagues and export the data to PDF. That’s it! Even with such a shortlist of features, we got a lot of positive feedback, which helped us a lot and encouraged us to continue working on the product.</p>

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<p>From FlowMapp’s official <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://twitter.com/flowmapp">Twitter page</a></p>

<h3>What about first customers? How did you find them?</h3><p>Believe it or not, we never actively looked for new clients.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>All we did was announce the launch of FlowMapp on specialized platforms, such as Designer News and Quora. We wrote posts, such as: “Hey, we launched a cool UX tool. Check it out and let us know what you think."</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>After that, word-of-mouth worked for us, which was awesome to see. As ever-evolving specialists, designers are very active online and constantly search for new tools to share with each other. They also often publish reviews on their blogs and post a lot on social media.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>We still get a massive percentage of new users through word-of-mouth marketing practices.</p>

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<p>"Rework" by Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson<br>&nbsp;</p><p>"Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't"&nbsp;by Jim Collins<br>&nbsp;</p><p>"Screw It, Let's Do It" by Sir Richard Branson</p>

Andrey recommends these books:

<h3>What was the moment you realized the potential demand for FlowMapp?</h3><p>We received the first few reviews and had a couple of sales even before the official launch, so I had a gut feeling that everything was going to work out early on.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>As we were getting ready for a product launch, I wrote tons of tweets on our official Twitter account because I didn't want to launch with blank social media pages. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://twitter.com/jydesign">James Young,</a> a famous design expert, saw one of the posts and retweeted it to his feed. After that, we saw a rapid growth in our user base and made our first sales.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><figure class="image"><img src="https://fm-blog-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/img_4_1_f3cc8237ac.jpg"><figcaption>From Paul’s <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://twitter.com/pmitu/status/1349713168596148224">Twitter page</a></figcaption></figure>

<p>It took some time before we realized where people were coming from. So even with a far-from-perfect product, we recognized a great demand for such tools.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I think this trend is even more noticeable now because, after FlowMapp’s release, many similar services have appeared that copy our fundamental ideas and features. Some of them even look identical to us, but I won’t mention any names.</p>

<h3>FlowMapp users often ask this question on social media, so I have to ask: why haven't we seen a product update this year?&nbsp;</h3><p>This is a difficult question for me and the whole team, to be honest. For the first three years, the product has developed rapidly and expanded with new functionality. The team grew consistently. At the same time, we had a backlog of technical tasks so big that they simply had to be dealt with.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>When the pandemic began, we realized that we needed to improve the platform’s collaborative features for remote teams. Furthermore, our old technology stack restrained us from implementing new ideas, so we made it a priority to improve this situation. We approached the challenge head-on and started rewriting the platform practically from scratch.</p>

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<h3>During the development stage of FlowMapp 2.0, the team implemented a lot of new updates on the platform. Could you specify the fundamental changes in FlowMapp 2.0 from its last version?&nbsp;</h3><p>You’re right; we’ve made a lot of improvements to the platform. I’m not sure if the technical side will be interesting for our readers, so let me tell you about the changes that users will notice while working with the platform.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><ol><li>FlowMapp will become more intuitive and easy-to-use;</li><li>We’ve improved UX and debugged it;</li><li>We’ve also significantly improved collaboration features;</li><li>We have completely modernized the design so that it meets current trends in the industry and, most importantly, the expectations of our users. FlowMapp 2.0 looks organic among trendsetters and market leaders.</li><li>And, of course, we laid the foundation for the next set of significant changes in the future (spoiler: we’ve started working on one of the most anticipated features - Wireframes).</li></ol>

What are your favorite tools for a productive work?

I know, I'm not too creative with this one, but I use standard Notes on iOS for short notes

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Notes

Notion helps me structure important information about product and processes in the company

Notion

FlowMapp

<h3>Wow! I’m excited for users who will try it out very soon! Could you share more details about the collaborative features that were anticipated by FlowMapp users?</h3><p>I can’t give out everything, as you know. But I can share this:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><ul><li>First, we replaced Teams with <strong>Workspaces</strong>. Workspaces will straighten the project management system in the product.</li><li>A <strong>Personal workspace</strong> is automatically created for each user by default regardless of their plan. For project teams starting from the Team plan, we’ve added the option to create a Team Workspace, invite other users, and manage their permissions. This feature will help teams organize workflows and demonstrate intermediate outcomes to clients.</li></ul>

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<p>FlowMapp 2.0. Personal workspace page</p>

<ul><li><strong>Collaboration</strong> will become more effective. For example, users will be able to see their colleagues in the project online and see what they are working on. It will allow people to work more productively by swiftly joining forces and adding necessary changes. They will also be able to leave comments almost anywhere in the project, which will help teams stay on the same page.</li></ul>

<h3>Which new feature are you proudest of in the FlowMapp 2.0 release?</h3><p>Text editor! I think our team has created one of the best editors in the design tool market. It is not perfect yet, but give us a couple of months to get there.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Also, many people asked us to make it possible to create several different Sitemaps within one project. And we listened! From FlowMapp 2.0, our users will be able to do this and speed up their work processes by working with several sitemaps within one project.</p>

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<h3>What advice would you give to young designers?</h3><p>Learn about new technologies and be more observant. Watch what top designers are doing and try to do the same. Practice. Practice that an infinite number of times. At some point, you will realize that you are creating many cool things automatically, and you will be able to add your own style to it.</p>

<h3>There’s only one question left. What are you planning to do next?</h3><p>Celebrate the release of FlowMapp 2.0 with the team, of course! Relax for a couple of days with my family. After that, we will focus on releasing wireframes.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>We plan to release new features much faster than before, so <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://flowmapp.com">stay tuned</a>!</p>

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An interview with CEO of FlowMapp about FlowMapp 2.0

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Andrey Severin

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<p><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">FlowMapp 2.0 is almost here! For this interview, we invited a special guest, Andrey Severin, a CEO of FlowMapp, to take a look behind a curtain of the development process, spill the tea on Sitemap and Teams updates, and reveal (several) new and exciting FlowMapp’s features</span></p>

The Road to FlowMapp 2.0

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Medium

<p>Long is a Product Designer with 5+ years of experience. A dedicated and innovative leader with a knack for integrating user insights to tackle complex problems, she strives to create meaningful experiences that delight users and drive business growth.</p>

Long Hung, Product Designer at Goldman Sachs

<h3>Please tell us a bit about your background in design</h3><p>I’m a Product Designer with 5+ years of product design experience. ​In my current role, I work as a senior designer at Goldman Sachs. Previously, I have led designs for the award-winning mobile apps SongPop 2 and SongPop Live at FreshPlanet. I’m experienced in working with various startups to transform their missions into products and better experiences. My clients span several industries including finance, social, nonprofit, sportswear and gaming. My work has been recognized in the Webby Awards 2020 and Core77.</p>

I would say design awards could be part of your story when you talk to recruiters

<h3>Do you remember how you first discovered design competitions?</h3><p>Design competitions are young designers' or design students' entry tickets to the professional world. They can pay a cheaper entry fee and use their concept design to enter design competitions.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Senior college students in Taiwan can enroll their graduation projects in the Taiwan Young Designer’s Awards. My graduation project (teammate: Yuhao Chiu) got Bronze awards for industrial design and was exhibited at Taiwan World Design Expo.</p>

<h3>Wow! How did they help you get noticed by recruiters?</h3><p>Honestly, it didn’t help me get noticed by recruiters because it’s not an international competition. I would say design awards could be part of your story when you talk to recruiters.</p>

Product or graphic designers are not like architects that have a license to prove their ability. If young professionals need to be seen, design competitions are a badge for them to prove their ability and skills

<h3>That’s an interesting concept. In what other ways did they help you enhance your design skill set?</h3><p>Young designers have lots of different concepts and ideas they want to try out. Design competitions are the ways for them to prove their ideas and sharpen their presentation skills by showing solutions and prototypes.</p>

<h3>Why do you think design competitions have become so popular among young professionals in recent years?</h3><p>Product designers or graphic designers are not like architects that have a license to prove their ability. If young professionals need to be seen, design competitions are some kind of a badge for them to prove their ability and skills, as well as showcase their projects or products.</p>

Our guest, Long Hung, a Product Designer at Goldman Sachs, talks about design competitions and winning Webby Awards 2020

Long Hung – FlowMapp

<p><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">Design competitions, when done right, can be a great opportunity for young designers to showcase their talents and start building a professional network in the industry. Our guest today, Long Hung, a Product Designer at Goldman Sachs, has started participating in design contests at university. She </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#0e101a;">sat down with us to talk about getting into design contests, winning Webby Awards 2020, as well as which contests to consider if you feel ready to join the race.</span></p>

Interviews

Nina Geometrieva

Rodolpho Henrique

Andrey Severin

Long Hung

Niya Watkins

Eva Cochet-Weinandt

Marc Leitzel

Katrina Liu

Top-8 Design Trends for 2022

Jens Nielsen