Work
Sr. Design Manager / Undisclosed Fintech (2022–)
I lead the core design team working launching new products and features, delivering a new design system
Head of design / Credit Suisse (2020–2022)
Led a multidisciplinary team delivering online banking and wealth management apps
Head of UX / Numbrs, Zürich (2013–2020)
Led the design team building a multi-banking platform and a top 25 financial app
Director of product design / Ustream, IBM (2012–2013)
Built and led the 9-people team at the leading live streaming platform with 60 million users
Co-founder / MK Media (2010–2014)
Launched and led a market-leading deal aggregator to a successful exit
Head of UX / Isobar, Dentsu (2004–2012)
Led a team of 10 working for T-Mobile, Samsung, Nokia, World Economic Forum, etc.
Selected projects
Credit Suisse
Leading the product design team to redefine online and mobile banking
Numbrs / Home
Redesigning the banking app home screen for behavioural change
Numbrs / Details
Transforming the canonical transaction details screen into an enriched and insightful feature
Mathilda
Helping hundreds of schoolkids in Zürich to get into grammar school
Parkiert
Putting an end to the search for the elusive parking space with the help of machine learning
Team leadership
I built and managed teams of 4–10 UX/UI designers and researchers. I nurture a culture of trust, passion, courage and ownership. I encourage open and productive disagreements. In my experience, this leads to great performance and a happy, fulfilled team with an extremely low turnover. I believe that creating opportunities for personal growth is just as important as the pursuit of company objectives.
I managed my teams through many challenging organisational and business strategy shifts. One of the biggest such changes was the pivot from consumer to enterprise focus at Ustream, which resulted in the company later being acquired by IBM.
As part of management, I take part in shaping our product development and business strategy. I champion a user-centered and data-inspired approach in the wider organisation, aligning the different teams to a shared design vision.
Thought leadership
UX Myths
UX Myths is one of the top UX blogs receiving millions of visits. It has been translated into 13 languages, and is frequently referenced by UX professionals worldwide like Jared Spool or Luke Wroblewski.
Contrast Rebellion
An Awwwards-winner manifesto to fight low contrast websites that put form before function. Contrast Rebellion went viral, reaching more than 400,000 designers and receiving tens of thousands of shares.
Uninvited Redesigns
Designers all over the world put enormous effort into redesigning their favorite products. The blog collects these unsolicited redesigns to promote the value of speculative work.
Swiss UX Survey
The study paints a comprehensive picture of UX design in Switzerland focusing on the daily activities, toolkit, work environment, satisfaction and salary of UX designers.
European Design Awards
I'm on the digital jury of leading design experts, reviewing website and app submissions from all over Europe.
Talks
Some of my talks from conferences, design courses and universities:
Frontend Conference, Zürich – Host, 2018
Design in the age of AI / Frontend Conference, Zürich, 2017
Design in the age of AI / Drinks+Tech, Basel, 2017
In pursuit of simplicity / UX Romandie, Lausanne, 2015
How we make design decisions / PanTalks, Zürich, 2015
Mobile design myths / Frontend Conference, Zürich, 2014
Doing something well vs doing the right thing / HMC, 2013
The design process / Smartmobile Digital Course, 2012
Data-driven design / Web Conference, 2012
Guerilla usability testing for mobile / Smartmobile Conference, 2012
UX and conversion/ Evolution Conference, 2012
Designing web applications / MOME Digital Design Course, 2012
The good designer / Krea Webdesign Course, 2011
User experience on the web / Corvinus University, 2011
Frustration-free online banking / Finnovation, 2011
7 tips to gain our visitors’ trust / Finnovation, 2010
Let the numbers speak / Emoráció, 2010
Beliefs
I believe that great design is achieved at the intersection of data and gut instinct. I like working in environments that value both worlds, where people have strong opinions, weakly held.
I'm a generalist:
- designer – I enjoy solving problems by exploration, sketching and iteration
- researcher – I conduct surveys, usability tests and interviews
- analyst – I spend a good part of my time in databases and spreadsheets
- copywriter – I believe that words are more powerful than pixels
- student of psychology – I craft products that give meaning
© Zoltan Gocza