Hi, I’m Sorin.
Designer.
Curious about almost everything.
I work through complex product problems and help designers grow. I make mistakes, ask questions, and prefer conversations that sound like actual people.
- Timișoara, Romania
- 20+ years in design
- UX/UI & design leadership
The person behind the work
I’m drawn to the problems that take some untangling. Complex environments, awkward workflows, the things that keep annoying people: that’s where I like to get involved.
I look for teams that trust experience and give design leaders room to grow both the work and the people doing it. Supporting younger designers matters to me, too. I mentor and offer guidance free of charge.
Outside work, I’m a dad, an illustrator, a photographer, and a sometimes over-excited shower singer. I’m silly, sometimes serious, and I try to lift the mood of the teams I work with.
Working with me
Trust, independence, and a chance to keep learning bring out my best work.
What gives me energy
- Trust and room to make decisions
- Learning something new
- Recognition for the work
- Fairness and equality
What wears me down
- Micromanagement and a lack of choice
- Rules that no longer serve a purpose
- Office politics and power plays
- Too much routine
A personality-test footnote
Across several retakes of 16 Personalities, I’ve scored as an Advocate: the Diplomat role, with a “constant improvement” strategy.
- 57% introvert / 43% extravert
- 93% intuitive / 7% observant
- 64% feeling / 36% thinking
From understanding to making
Research, hands-on design, and helping a team move the work forward.
Design
- Wireframes and UI design
- Interaction design and prototyping
- Design systems: creation and scaling
- Information architecture and flowcharting
Research & strategy
- Discovery interviews
- Usability and A/B testing
- Hotjar and NPS feedback
- Problem definition, metrics and analytics
Leadership & communication
- Coaching and constructive feedback
- Empowering teams to take initiative
- Stakeholder management and conflict resolution
- Brainstorming and exploration
Process
- Agile methodologies, since 2010
- Kanban
- Design thinking and Lean UX
- Setting a shared vision
At my desk
- Design & production
- Figma, Sketch, Adobe Suite, DaVinci Studio Advanced
- Collaboration
- Jira and Confluence Daily use
- Development
- HTML/CSS, JavaScript, Python, React, Tailwind, Docker
- Platforms
- iOS, Android, and responsive web
On my bookshelf
Design is only part of the shelf. Psychology, leadership, and the way people make decisions keep pulling me in.
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Strategy
Creative Strategy and the Business of Design
Douglas Davis
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Cognitive Psychology
The Upside of Irrationality
Dan Ariely
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Motivation
Payoff
Dan Ariely
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Success
Barking Up the Wrong Tree
Eric Barker
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Productivity
Anatomy of a Breakthrough
Adam Alter
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Psychology
ADHD: A Hunter in a Farmer's World
Thom Hartmann
Browse all 28 books I’ve read
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Neuroscience
The Molecule of More
Daniel Z. Lieberman
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Leadership
Nine Lies About Work
Marcus Buckingham
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Life Philosophy
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
Mark Manson
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Self-Help
The Gifts of Imperfection
Brené Brown
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Psychology
The Elephant in the Brain
Kevin Simler
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Work Culture
It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work
Jason Fried
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Decision Making
Hell Yeah or No: What's Worth Doing
Derek Sivers
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Product Design
Build
Tony Fadell
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Psychology
Grit
Angela Duckworth
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Philosophy
Fooled by Randomness
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
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Career Development
Range
David Epstein
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Philosophy
Everything Is F*cked
Mark Manson
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Leadership
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Ben Horowitz
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UX/IA
Information Architecture
Louis Rosenfeld
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UX Fundamentals
The Design of Everyday Things
Don Norman
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Psychology
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman
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Problem Solving
Upstream
Dan Heath
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Research Methods
Qualitative Literacy
Mario Luis Small
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Research Methods
The Science and Art of Interviewing
Kathleen Gerson
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Product Management
Continuous Discovery Habits
Teresa Torres
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Decision Science
The Elements of Choice
Eric J. Johnson
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Negotiation
Never Split the Difference
Chris Voss
Next on my reading list (34)
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Design
Discussing Design
Adam Connor
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UI/UX
UI is Communication
Everett N. McKay
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Psychology
100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People
Susan Weinschenk
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Design Business
Design is a Job
Mike Monteiro
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Cognition
Learnability and Cognition
Steven Pinker
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Language & Thought
The Stuff of Thought
Steven Pinker
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Rationality
Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters
Steven Pinker
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Product Management
Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love
Marty Cagan
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Product Leadership
Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products
Marty Cagan
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Sociology
Outliers
Malcolm Gladwell
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Design Leadership
Design Leadership Ignited: Elevating Design at Scale
Eric Quint, Gerda Gemser, Giulia Calabretta
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Innovation
Transform with Design: Creating New Innovation Capabilities with Design Thinking
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Longevity Design
Designing for Longevity: Expert Strategies for Creating Long-lasting Products
Louise Moller Haase & Linda Nhu Laursen
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Social Design
Design for the Real World
Thames & Hudson
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Design Philosophy
Design is a Bliss of Solitude
David Lo
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Innovation
Design and Innovation: 50 Ways to Create the Future
Eisuke Tachikawa
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Participatory Design
Collectively Designing Social Worlds
Carlo Sedini
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Service Design
The Materials of Service Design
Edward Elgar
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Longevity
Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity
Bill Gifford
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Product Innovation
Mastering Product Innovation: The Ultimate Guide for Successful Design
Walter B. Herbst
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Life Design
Right Place, Right Time: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Home for the Second Half of Life
Ryan Frederick
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Design Research
Explorers: Thoughts on Mapping in Design Research
Megan Anderson & Geke van Dijk
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Longevity
The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity
Lynda Gratton
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Design & Society
Design as Democratic Inquiry
Carl DiSalvo
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Strategic Design
Dark Matter and Trojan Horses: A Strategic Design Vocabulary
Dan Hill
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Design Ethics
Ruined by Design: How Designers Destroyed the World, and What We Can Do to Fix It
Mike Monteiro
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Design Education
Designerly Ways of Knowing: A Working Inventory of Things a Designer Should Know
Danah Abdulla
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Art Theory
Artful Objects: Graham Harman on Art and the Business of Speculative Realism
Isak Nilson & Erik Wikberg
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Creativity & Education
Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play
Mitchel Resnick
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Design Anthropology
The Language of Things: Understanding the World of Desirable Objects
Deyan Sudjic
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Research Methods
Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes
Robert M. Emerson, Rachel I. Fretz, Linda L. Shaw
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Human-Centred Design
The Life-Centred Design Guide
Damien Lutz
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Aging & Policy
The Upside of Aging: How Long Life Is Changing the World of Health, Work, Innovation, Policy, and Purpose
Paul H. Irving
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Design Critique
How Capitalism Took Hold of Graphic Design, and How to Escape from It
Ruben Pater