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René Manikofski René Manikofski
René Manikofski

About me

Last 12 years

Start-ups, incubators & e-commerce companies

Resume (PDF)
Portfolio (PDF)
LinkedIn profile
Languages

German – native
English – fluent

FTI Group

Head of Design & UX
Jun. 2021 – present

Leading and owning the global product design strategy and roadmap of all FTI owned platforms, operating in two regions across the globe. Line manage UX and design team to create solutions based on UX analytics, customer feedback, and remote testing.

  • Set up and manage the UX Design team, made up of 12 experts and 2 Team Manager with core skills in UX design and research; also visual design, prototyping, and service design
  • Managing the modular design system and best practice UX-UI pattern of the new white-label internet booking engine
  • Created FTI’s first Digital UX Design Language to ensure consistency across products
Team Manager UX
Sep. 2019 – May 2021 (1 year 9 months)
Senior UX / UI Designer
Mar. 2018 – Aug. 2019 (1 year 6 months)

MYTOYS GROUP

UX / UI Designer
Jun 2015 – Mar 2018 (2 years 10 months)

As the Lead UX Designer, I brought user-centric design and business needs together with strategic insights to create solutions, products, and services for the multishop concept of Germany’s leading online retailer of kids’ toys, adult shoes, and furniture.

Project A Ventures

UX / UI Designer
Jan 2012 – Jun 2015 (3 years 6 months)

As the Lead UX Designer, I devised, wire-framed, and validated the design solutions to prepare for the development of successful startups like Wine in Black, Saatchi Online, Contorion, Tirendo, and many others.

Rocket Internet

UX / UI Designer
Oct 2010 – Dec 2011 (1 year 3 months)

Part of UX and UI team to create designs, in close collaboration with the product team and founders, for startups within Rocket Internet’s portfolio.

rocket-int-logo
pr-a-logo
m-toys-group-logo
mT-logo
mira-logo
cont-logo
cour-logo
fti-group-logo-001
5vf-001-logo
fti-001-logo
tirendo-logo
wib-logo
h-fresh-logo

UX Design Approach

My UX process draws inspiration from the methodology adopted by Google for their product development and is closely aligned with the principles taught in Stanford’s product design courses. This versatile approach can be tailored, ranging from a few weeks for extensive projects to mere days when crafting new features.

  • Understand
    01
    Understand and Frame the Problem
  • Uncover
    02
    Uncover Insights Through Research
  • Define
    03
    Define the User's Journey and Goals
  • Ideate
    04
    Ideate and Generate Solutions
  • Create
    05
    Create Prototypes and Test
  • Implement
    06
    Implement and Iterate

Methods & Tools of choice

Methods and tools i use in my daily work. I always try to incorporate new methods into my work.

Teamwork

It’s all about the Team that creates excellent ideas and great products. Celebrate Achievements, Cross-functional Collaboration, Empowerment, Mentorship, Feedback Culture, User-Centered Mindset, Design Sprints, Daily Standups, Design Language, Design Critiques, Regular Retrospectives, Clear Roles & Responsibilities, Open Communication, Continuous Learning

Methods

Design Thinking, Agile Working (ScrumBan), User Flows, Wireframing, Prototyping, Information Architecture & Hierarchy, A/B Testing, Heuristic Evaluation, User Research, Usability Testing, Personas, User Journey Mapping, Accessibility (WCAG), Design Systems, Responsive Design, Interaction Design, Pattern Libraries, Consistency, User Feedback Incorporation

Tools

Figma, Sketch, Principle, InVision & Craft, Zeplin, Miro, Mural, Storybook, Rapid User Tests, UserTesting, Maze, SurveyMonkey, Hotjar, Crazy Egg, Maxymiser, Notability, Xmind – Mind Map, Overflow, Balsamiq Mockup, Axure RP, HTML, CSS, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Google Docs

Little bit more about me

It’s very important for me to have beside the daily work a balance with my hobbies.

Basketball

For me, sport is having fun in a team and sharing my experience with younger players. Basketball & Streetball have been part of my life for more than 25 years. Since 1993 I have been a big Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan fan.

Travelling

Travelling is one of the most beautiful experiences. To experience new countries, new cultures, the people, the food is what travelling means to me. Travel changes perspective and perception.

Food

Like travelling, I love to eat. Both can be perfectly combined. As Mark Wiens says in his Travel VLOG “I travel for food” – I feel exactly the same. I also love to cook myself, always trying out new things.

Would you like to see my work?

My Work

© 2023 René Manikofski – Made with love in Berlin – Germany – Impressum