hello@tijocreative.com

+91 9947004850

Tijo Kuriakose, freelance UI/UX Designer and Frontend Developer, Kochi Kerala

About Me

"

I design products that feel obvious to use, because the best interface is one the user never has to think about.

UI/UX Design Frontend Dev Branding Figma Motion

15+

Years crafting digital products

UI/UX Designer & Frontend Developer

Based in Kochi, Kerala, I'm a Google Certified designer who blends design thinking with clean code. My work spans UI design, branding, and development, always with a focus on clarity, purpose, and beautiful execution.

Kochi, Kerala

300+

Clients served worldwide

My Design Process

How I turn problems
into polished products

Every project starts with curiosity and ends with clarity. Here's the repeatable framework I use, whether I'm redesigning a checkout flow or building a product from scratch.

01

Discover

Kick off every engagement by immersing in the business context, stakeholder interviews, competitor audits, analytics review, and a first look at existing user feedback.

02

Define

Synthesise findings into a clear problem statement and success metrics. I map user journeys and agree on scope before a single pixel is drawn.

03

Ideate

Generate a broad range of concepts through sketching, crazy-eights, and reference exploration, then narrow down to the most promising directions with the team.

04

Prototype

Build interactive Figma prototypes at the right fidelity for the question being tested, lo-fi for layout, hi-fi for interaction and visual feel.

05

Test

Run usability sessions, gather quantitative feedback, and iterate rapidly. Every round of testing tightens the design and reduces risk before dev handoff.

06

Deliver

Hand off design systems, annotated specs, and assets. Stay involved during development to QA and close the loop, launched ≠ finished.

New Problem Approach

How I tackle an
unfamiliar challenge

Facing a blank slate isn't a blocker, it's a signal to ask better questions before reaching for Figma.

Ask

Start with questions, not solutions

Before sketching anything I define what success looks like, who's affected, and what constraints exist. This prevents solving the wrong problem elegantly.

Look

Study what already exists

Audit the current experience end-to-end, review analytics data, and benchmark against competitors to understand the gap between today's reality and the desired outcome.

Listen

Talk to people who live the problem

Even a handful of 20-minute user conversations surfaces insights that weeks of assumption-making miss. Empathy before aesthetics, always.

Frame

Restate the problem clearly

Write a focused "How Might We" statement that captures the user need without prescribing a solution, then use it as the north star for all design decisions.

Research & Discovery

How I understand users
and surface pain points

User Research

Methods I use to understand real people

  • User interviews— open-ended 1:1 conversations to uncover goals, frustrations, and mental models.
  • Surveys— quantitative validation of patterns seen in interviews at scale.
  • Contextual observation— watching users in their natural environment to catch behaviour they can't articulate.
  • Analytics review— heatmaps, session recordings, and funnel data to see where people actually drop off.
  • Card sorting & tree testing— reveals how users expect information to be organised before any UI is built.

Pain Point Identification

Turning observations into diagnosed problems

I cross-reference signals from multiple sources so pain points are evidence-based, not assumed:

Affinity mapping Journey mapping Empathy mapping 5 Whys analysis Error log review Support ticket audit A/B test results Heuristic evaluation

Each pain point gets a severity score, frequency × impact, so the most important ones rise to the top before any solution work begins.

Feature Prioritization

How I decide what
gets built first

Saying yes to everything is saying no to quality. I use a structured lens to cut through opinion and focus effort where it matters most.

Primary framework

Impact × Effort Matrix

Features are plotted by the value they deliver to users against the cost to implement. High impact, low effort items ship first, every time.

01

Anchor to user goals

Every feature candidate is tested against the validated user need. If it doesn't move users closer to their goal, it doesn't make the list.

02

Weight by evidence, not opinion

Frequency of the pain point in research + business impact score + technical complexity = a defensible priority ranking, not a HiPPO decision.

03

Align with business constraints

Timeline, team capacity, and strategic goals shape what's viable. I work with stakeholders to balance ideal and achievable without losing user value.

04

Validate before committing

Before investing in full design and build, I push for low-cost experiments, a prototype test or a fake-door A/B, to confirm the feature is worth its slot.

Tools &
Technologies

A curated stack built up through shipping real projects, every tool earns its place.

Tools

Figma Claude Code CodeX Claude Design Google Stitch Affinity Photoshop Illustrator

Tech

HTML5 CSS3 Sass WordPress WooCommerce Shopify BigCommerce jQuery / JS

Life Beyond Work

A few family moments and everyday selfies

A personal gallery from life outside work, simple selfies, family time, short trips, and the moments I like to keep close.