MAKEUX

Marek Nowakowski · Senior Product Designer · Design Systems · UX/UI

Making SaaS products easy to use and ready to scale

Delivered solutions to SaaS startups and big players like Intel, McDonald’s and Capgemini.

Selected work

Real products, measurable outcomes — three stories of UX turning into revenue, retention and ratings.

Coming soon

Research & redesign of a network management tool

Global top 5 tech company · Case study coming soon

200k+Users on platforms I’ve designed
GMV growth at Nais
78%NPS growth at Nais
28%Increase in mobile app ratings

Selected UI shots

Shipped work across fintech, e-commerce, loyalty programs and internal tools.

    • Investment webapp — landing page
      Investment webapp — landing page
    • Investment webapp — offer preview
      Investment webapp — offer preview
    • Online banking platform — webapp
      Online banking platform — webapp
    • Online banking platform — 3D ad creation
    • Online banking platform — app
      Online banking platform — app
    • Customer loyalty application & CMS
      Customer loyalty application & CMS
    • Employee satisfaction measuring webapp
      Employee satisfaction measuring webapp
    • E-commerce app for a shoe retailer
      E-commerce app for a shoe retailer

My experience

  • 12+ years of experience designing advanced enterprise systems, FinTech and SaaS applications — from startups to global brands

  • Specialist in tokenized, headless design systems and DesignOps

  • AI-assisted, coded prototyping with direct contribution to production codebases

  • Can build and lead products / modules creation from idea to “go live” stage

  • Spreading UX/UI/Product design knowledge as a mentor and UX trainer

  • Worked closely with clients, stakeholders and product teams

  1. 12.2023 — current

    Senior UX/UI DesignerSymfonia(opens in a new tab)

    All-round designer at one of Central & Eastern Europe's leading financial & accounting software vendors (B2B contract, remote) — shipping across desktop, hybrid desktop+web and web-only products.

    • I own the design system for a group of products — a tokenized, headless system I keep extending so every app ships a consistent, accessible UI.
    • I design and ship across desktop and web, building components and AI-assisted prototypes with Claude Code and Figma MCP and merging my own pull requests straight into the production codebase.
    • Part of my role is design operations — automating the repetitive parts of our design workflow and keeping tooling efficient (for example, an icon-library migration that used to take 60–80 UX hours now runs in about 15 minutes).
  2. 02.2022 — current

    Senior Product DesignerDevelocraft(opens in a new tab)

    End-to-end product design, UX strategy and DesignOps for international clients — freelance, fully remote:

    • Employee Experience PlatformDesktopIceland
      • Owned the experience end-to-end, from research through to a full design system.
    • Blue-Collar ATS SystemDesktopMobilePoland
      • Led design across Web, iOS and Android — mobile app ratings rose 28%.
    • Customer Loyalty Application + CMSMobileDesktopPoland
      • Designed the mobile loyalty app and the admin panel that manages its content.
    • Develocraft.com — No-code WebpageDesktopPoland
      • Marketing site built entirely no-code in Webflow.
  3. 12.2021 — 08.2022

    Product DesignerCodiLime(opens in a new tab)

    Deep-tech platforms built with some of the world's biggest tech companies:

    • 5G Network Virtualization & ManagementDesktopUnited StatesChina
      • UX research and interface design for a telecom infrastructure management system.
    • Data Engineering WebappDesktopUnited States
      • Focused UX/UI for demanding data-engineering tooling.
    • Event Planning WebappDesktopUnited Kingdom
      • End-to-end experience design for an events platform.
  4. 01.2021 — 12.2021

    Product DesignerIntendent Pro(opens in a new tab)

    A SaaS for institutional kitchens to plan menus and run meal services — the first product I built end-to-end from zero.

    • Meal Planner for Educational InstitutionsDesktopPoland
      • Reached break-even within the first year.
      • Owned the product design, research and the design system from the ground up.
      • Drove the product and marketing strategy.
      • Launched with an average NPS of 70 and churn under 1%, and became the Top 1 recommended product in its niche in 2023.
  5. 03.2019 — 12.2021

    Product Leader / UX/UI DesignerNais(opens in a new tab)

    My most formative chapter — I helped take a young benefits marketplace from an unknown startup to a real market competitor.

    • Cafeteria-Benefits PlatformDesktopMobilePoland
      • Grew NPS from 24 to 45 (+78%), multiplied GMV 6× and doubled the user base.
      • Designed and maintained 10+ cross-platform modules serving 100,000+ users, with churn hovering near 0%.
    • Product Leader (2020–2021): defined and owned the vision and roadmap.
    • Head of UX/UI (2019–2020): built and led the design team.
    • Worked directly with enterprise clients, including McDonald's, Capgemini and Dentsu.
  6. 06.2018 — 02.2019

    UX/UI DesignerHRsys(opens in a new tab)

    A high-volume product used by more than 100,000 people across the CEE market.

    • HRM PlatformDesktopMobilePoland
      • Single-handedly drove a full redesign and UX overhaul of the core product.
      • Shipped new modules for large corporate clients.
      • Handled UX/UI design and project management end-to-end.
  7. Additional experience
    • Six years of graphic-design background before moving into product design.
    • UX trainer at infoShare Academy — delivered a 3-month UX/UI course for a Boeing Group company (20 participants, near-perfect scores).
    • Regular design mentoring.
    • Hands-on marketing experience.

My skillset

  • 12+ years of UX/UI experience across enterprise systems, FinTech and SaaS — from startups to global brands

  • Specialist in tokenized, headless design systems and DesignOps

  • Deep UI and interaction design knowledge empowered by HTML, CSS and JS skills

  • AI-assisted, coded prototyping — hands-on contribution to production codebases

  • Ability to explain UX/UI design decisions based on data or domain knowledge

AI & No-Code Tools6

  • Claude (Claude Code) — AI-coded prototyping & production contribution
  • ChatGPT, Gemini — research & synthesis workflows
  • Figma AI / Figma Make
  • Webflow, FlutterFlow — no-code builds
  • LLM-assisted synthesis of interview transcripts
  • Self-built AI tooling for DesignOps automation

UX Design10

  • Workshop facilitation (Design Sprint 2.0, discovery workshops — on-site or Miro / FigJam)
  • Qualitative research (focus groups, user interviews, expert interviews)
  • Quantitative research (Google Analytics, Hotjar, UXcam)
  • Usability testing — qualitative & quantitative
  • Prototype creation & testing (Figma, Webflow, FlutterFlow)
  • Information architecture development & optimization
  • User flows & user stories — creation & optimization
  • UX audit / heuristic evaluation
  • Competition & market analysis (desk research, Similarweb)
  • Copywriting and copy management (Weblate)

UI Design9

  • Wireframe creation (Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD)
  • Mobile application design
  • Grid systems (4pt / 8pt) — disciplined spacing with optical compensation for 1px / 2px details
  • WCAG-compliant design, APCA-enhanced
  • Interactive components in Figma — full coverage of component states
  • Color systems built to WCAG + APCA — AA “base 500” scale with 1.36 contrast steps for safe mix-and-match palettes
  • Tokenized, headless design systems — creation, governance & maintenance (DesignOps)
  • FinTech dashboards & enterprise-grade UI
  • Icon library creation — with a preference for ready-to-use coded sets (e.g. Lucide)

Tech Skills7

  • HTML, CSS, working JavaScript
  • Applicable knowledge of Bootstrap & Tailwind
  • Ability to discuss & propose code solutions (e.g. npm packages)
  • Familiarity with front-end frameworks (React, React Native, Vue)
  • Familiarity with back-end solutions (databases, PHP, SQL, REST APIs)
  • Familiarity with DevOps solutions (Kubernetes, Docker, Snyk)
  • Version control (Git)

Management & Organization6

  • Task & project management (Jira, Asana, ClickUp)
  • Documentation (Confluence, Notion)
  • Communication with stakeholders, developers, customer service and clients
  • Roadmap creation and maintenance
  • Product strategy creation and adaptation
  • Scrum or Kanban workflows, agile approach

Graphic Design, Presentation & Animation4

  • 2D graphics — print, digital & DTP (Adobe Creative Cloud / Affinity)
  • UI micro-interactions & motion design (DaVinci Resolve, Blender)
  • 3D design (Blender)
  • Presentations (Google Slides, PowerPoint)

Soft Skills & Attitude5

  • Critical thinker
  • Problem solver
  • Negotiation skills
  • Dependable
  • Positive attitude and sense of humor

Notes & opinions

Short takes on design, shipping and AI — written on LinkedIn.

What people say

  • Marek is a great professionalist in his field, providing exceptional value to the team. He has no problem with expanding horizons, discovering new lands and presenting his ideas, especially to the technical members.

    Krzysztof GruszewskiEngineering Manager · AppfireRecommendation · 2022
  • Marek always explores the client's needs before starting work. He tries to combine the current functions with the proposed solutions. It draws attention to details and offers thoughtful solutions.

    Ewa OlejnikBusiness & System Analyst · HRnestRecommendation · 2018

There’s more when we meet.Drop me a hint what your needs are.

Tell me about your product, your users and the problem that keeps you up at night. I usually reply within 48 hours.

marek@makeux.pl