/ Multidisciplinary Creative
Hello, my name is Chris. I am a creative designer. This is my story.
With more than 16 years of experience I am ready to tackle any design challenge.
I have been playing around with design programs since I was a kid with a CGA monitor. Being an early adopter of all-thing-tech I have a background that allows me to be a digital jack of all trades. Always keen to learn, with a can-do attitude, I have never said “this is not a part of my responsibilities” or shied away from a new challenge. This allowed me to work and gather experience in many design fields – from retouching, desktop publishing, gamedev, 3D, web design, user experience, product and brand design, basic animation – to social media management, becoming an advocate for UX writing and even preparing digital marketing strategies.
I am “always on” about the next design project. Preferably the one we can share together.
Some of my work
How I got here
2007 – Present
Freelance graphic designer and retoucher
Being a freelancer allows me to stay on top of the game and tackle interesting side projects. I started as a web designer and then branched out to photo retouching and other areas of digital design – learning the basics of 3D and even taking parts in some indie gamedev projects.
Notable clients include: Mc Donald’s Corporate / Kellogg School Of Management / ArentFox Schiff.
2019 – 2022
Creative Director / Product Designer @ Blaze Information Security
My biggest success story so far. An intensive ride – from a startup – to a recognized name in the cybersecurity, all in just three years. I developed memorable branding, provided all the content creation, design services, digital marketing and managed company social media.
Simultaneously, I was conducting extensive user research, audited the existing product UI, lead the UX workshops with the management and the team, and created a prototype for Lantern 2.0 – a SaaS vulnerability management platform. I also conducted competition analysis which allowed me to lay the groundwork for an inbound marketing strategy.
By enabling the team’s sheer talent with good branding and marketing materials – and getting myself educated and immersed in the cybersecurity landscape – I managed to help in shaping the company and steering it out of the critical startup phase. The end result is a mature brand, that is constantly growing, with a client portfolio that – in the words of the founders – “could rival the biggest cybersecurity consultancies in the world”.
2018 – 2019
Senior Graphic and DTP Designer @ Comarch
Right in-line with my formal education, I was a part of the Finance and Banking Marketing Department for one of the biggest IT software houses in Poland. My main design duties were designing desktop publishing materials, but digital marketing and international events were also a large part of that journey.
This is where – by being an ally to a copywriter coworker – I picked up interest in the emerging field of UX writing. We always pushed for less words with more meaning. This is also where I continued my User Interface Design training and earned an in-house certificate. Still miss those gals and girls.
2017
An eventful adventure – which unfortunately got cut short real fast by an unannounced restructuring, and a merger with a sister company – resulting in a closing of an entire polish branch.
Still – in the brief period I was there – I managed to get the website design approved, work on social media campaigns, press ads, marketing and desktop publishing. After a month, I got promoted to the Senior UX/UI role and joined the team working on the company’s pivotal mobile app, where I was tasked with auditing the already shipped UI and improving it.
2016 – 2017
Graphic Designer @ Ailleron
In-line with my interest in tech, I was a part of the Marketing Team for an emerging big name in the polish IT sector. Daily tasks consisted of desktop publishing work, supporting the HR team, working on digital and social media marketing materials and sometimes being handed web design duties from the company’s UX / UI team. This is where I first took interest in User Research and Workshops.
I learned a lot but also brought my knowledge of retouching to the table. That office often turned into a creative party (literally) – with a kind of a team that everybody would hope to find themselves in.
Skill set
Education and languages
2002 – 2008
Master’s Degree – Finances and Banking @ Krakow University of Economics, Poland
Specialty: Banking / Full-time studies
Languages / Sprache
English: fluent aka “I know my way around them words”.
Deutsch: Mittelstufe aka “Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch”.
I still believe that a good picture is worth a thousand words though.
…or shoot me a message.
© Krzysztof Róg, 2024.
All trademarks and photographs are the property of their respective owners.
All retouching and post production work was contracted.