Web Design

responsive design, information arhitecture, wireframes, user flows, interactive prototypes, interface design, usability testing. (Bootstrap, HTML5/CSS3, UXPin & Adobe Photoshop)

desktop & mobile applications: UX/UI design, information arhitecture, interaction design, wireframes, page prototypes. (UXPin & Photoshop)

responsive design: UX/UI (information arhitecture, interaction design, wireframes, page prototypes, interface design, usability testing. UXPin, InVision, Validately & Photoshop)

web applications: UX/UI (interaction design, wireframing, visual design, prototyping and user testing. Balsamiq & Photoshop)

websites (Photoshop & Illustrator, HTML & CSS with JavaScript)


Graphic Design

book illustrations (Illustrator)

presentations, direct marketing material, stationery, logos (Illustrator & Photoshop)

hand drawings, architectural renderings, maps (free-hand, Illustrator, Photoshop)

Testimonials

what people say about my work

Irina is a top-notch designer with a solid understanding of functional, user-oriented design. I greatly valued her ability to work through customer requirements to design interfaces that are intuitive, functional, and aesthetically pleasing. Her designs were always well received by both the customer/end user community and the development teams who found her work highly achievable.

Recommend Irina highly for your user-experience design team!

— Louis Klein, PMP
Network Designs, Inc.

During the time of her contract with Bloomberg BNA, Irina worked on various projects that required her extensive skills and talents which she used to develop wireframes, mockups, graphics and user flows. She also participated in many visioning sessions and helped refine a number of our products.

I highly recommend Irina for any user experience/user interface/visual designer position.

— Roxanne Saldivar, Director
Product Design
Bloomberg BNA

Irina Kuzes is a delight to work with, due to her ability to communicate with team members, and her skills as a designer. All of the developers and analysts enjoyed working with her, as she is easy-going, but at the same time, insisted on solving problems and bringing her design knowledge into our collective thinking.

Irina made valuable contributions to the Tools group. I would recommend her in a heartbeat.

— Paul Mulgrew, Manager
Product Development Tools
Bloomberg BNA

At the demo of the application we built that Irina was the assigned UX/UI designer, an important executive said, "that's the best presentation of multiple data streams that I've seen at our company." Through pixels, colors, artwork and positioning Irina was able to create a business presentation that "just made sense to the user."

— Carl Fischer, Project Manager
Bloomberg BNA

While working at SRA Touchstone Consulting Group Irina was responsible for designing and implementing several client web sites, the largest of which was the Small Business Administration's Business.gov. This was a web site with multiple applications and design challenges. The client was very satisfied with her work, and results from focus group testing were positive towards the new look and feel.

Irina has excellent work ethic and tenacity in finishing a project, regardless of how difficult the time-fame. She is well organized and reliable, can work independently and is able to follow through to ensure that the job gets done.

— Tim Brennan, Creative Director
SRA Touchstone Consulting Group, Inc.

Irina's remarkable aesthetic sense and expertise in web design have greatly contributed to the beauty and navigation of Mapping Petersburg. She worked very well with each of the authors of ten separate but interconnected sections of the website: the word "amazing" regularly came up in the authors' responses regarding their experience. Irina was extremely timely and responsible in regard to all deadlines. Her competence and engagement in the project were indeed remarkable. If I were to embark on another web project, I would hire her at the drop of a hat.

— Olga Matich, author & project director,
Prof. of Slavic Languages & Literatures
University of California, Berkeley

I really like the layout and topic reorganization of the new USAC website. It is now so much easier to find everything. I think for people coming to the site, it is very clear and what they need (or don't know they need) is right up front and in great order. I think the layout, function, and navigation are much more 2012. Congratulations on a great job!

— Jean Morrison, Technology Consultant
Missouri State Library
Jefferson City, MO

I began working with Irina Kuzes when I realized that some of the concepts and ideas I was describing in my book were challenging for many readers to imagine. After talking with her about my ideas, Irina read my book and then began drafting. The creative process working with her was powerful and exciting. Irina asks probing questions and then uses her intellect and artistic brilliance to illustrate complexity in ways that draw the eye and the mind into the content. Working with her is invigorating and highly collaborative.

— Ann Baker, author and professor
School of Public Policy
George Mason University

The original text of St. Petersburg Music Guide  richly illustrated with photographs was intended for a book, but I chose to go with a website and asked Irina to design it. I truly enjoyed working with her and was highly satisfied with the result. The website’s sleek, easy-to-navigate design received very favorable reviews.

— Amy Ballard, Historic Preservation Specialist
Smithsonian Institution

Irina's illustration brilliantly captures the essence of an entire concept – one that would otherwise require many words to convey the meaning to a reader. In the illustrations, charts, tables and research she has done for my articles and books, Irina has mastered complex subjects and analysed massive amounts of data – always with fastidious accuracy and speed. And she never misses a deadline!

— Janine Wedel, author and professor
School of Public Policy
George Mason University

Irina has a unique ability to visually highlight the heart of a subject – conveying complex ideas with illustrations that can be understood and appreciated by everyone. Again and again, I have seen her translate the core meaning of verbal narratives into a single graphic image that not only summarizes but also clarifies. Hers is a rare talent that is seldom approached by her peers.

— Lynn Nelson, author and professor
International Studies
Virginia Commonwealth University

Irina's work is always clever – ingeniously so. She has the knack of dramatizing and simplifying complicated facts and theories, and she does it with spirit and wit….

— Nancy Dunne, columnist
Financial Times

About me

portrait

I'm a Web and Graphic Designer living in Crystal City, just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. With my background in fine arts and architecture, and knowledge of user-centered design, I am passionate about providing effective visual communication solutions by integrating form and function with content. I understand the process of creating user-friendly websites and applications from conception to completion. My experience includes managing complex projects from start to finish, while working independently or as a team member.

A former manager noted: "Irina has an excellent work ethic and tenacity in finishing a project, regardless of how difficult the time-frame."

For a full work history, have a look at my LinkedIn Profile or download my resume.

About this website

This site

This one-page portfolio site is built with HTML5 and CSS3. Thanks to a responsive, fluid 12-column grid system of the Bootstrap framework, no matter what device you are using, the layout scales to the viewport size. Based on the site content, some of the framework's native breakpoints were modified and a few new rules were introduced. In addition to the plugins included with Bootstrap, Ariel Flesler's jQuery scrollTo helps to enhance the navigation, and fancyBox by Jānis Skarnelis adds zooming functionality for project thumbnails.