Darinka - signature

hi@darinka.design

Your website design in good hands.

I build websites for small companies and start-ups. 13 years of experience as a freelance UI/UX designer.

Certification and awards - Appeared in net magazine, Elite Envato author, Process Masterclass certified completion, UX Process certified completion
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    WEBSITE & MOBILE APP

    Design, Branding, Illustration

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    Website & Mobile App

    WaterTaps

    Task: To design landing pages with mobile & desktop app for a company that navigates people to refill their reusable water bottles with free tap water.

    A project good for the planet, WaterTaps was a dream to work on. I was honored to be such an integral part of it.

    Deliverables:
    • Design direction
    • Vector logo & branding for social media
    • Design of all landing pages in Figma
    • App's UI/UX for mobile and desktop in Figma
    Challenges:
    • This was a larger project, as I was the main designer for everything. I felt a lot of responsibility, but also pride and joy when we finished.
    • A desktop app, where you have a lot of space, is different than it's mobile counterpart. Yet they still have to present the same. This was interesting and challenging to figure out.
    • A lot of illustrated graphics was needed for every landing page. I helped myself with a illustration library which let me compose all the images more easily.
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    WEB APP

    UI/UX, Branding

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    Web App

    RealList

    Task: To design a real estate investors' social network as a proof of concept.

    This website would allow investors to connect to each other, scout properties and investments, and create funds. It was a fun project for me! I love doing anything that revolves around the world of real estate.

    Deliverables:
    • Design direction
    • Vector logo
    • UI/UX prototype in Adobe XD
    Challenges:
    • Although I prefer Figma, it was very interesting designing in Adobe XD. Since the time I started with web design more than 10 years ago, the software changed a lot. I cannot emphasise enough how lucky we are to have the correct tools for the job.
    • I got only a few very basic wireframes from the client and my job was to craft that into a clean & modern-looking user interface.
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    BRANDING GUIDE & WEBSITE

    Style Guide, Design, WordPress

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    Branding Guide & Website

    AKSmihulova

    Task: To design a branding guide and a website for an attorney. To create a WordPress website with a custom theme out of the design.

    Deliverables:
    • Website design
    • HTML / CSS / JavaScript
    • Full-fledged WordPress website
    • Branding guide for a related project
    Challenges:

    Many designers "design" by selecting a popular WordPress theme and then customise it to look like the website really is custom. I don't blame them - a lot more work goes into creating a true custom WordPress website. So the challenge really is on the client: Will you buy a cheap coat from a hanger with 10 same coats or will you visit the seamstress and let her create something just perfect for your style and body type?
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    WEBSITE REDESIGN

    Design, HTML/CSS

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    Website Redesign

    Intersoft

    Task: to create a full redesign for an AI-focused software company.

    I helped bring the company's brand to new life by freshening it up, cleaning the content into biteable pieces and making sure it's all sweet and fast under the hood!

    Deliverables:
    • Design
    • Copywriting
    • HTML / CSS on shared CodePen project
    • Modular design system
    Challenges:
    • There was a lot of content on their outdated site. I played a role of a copywriter and a content strategist.
    • I prepared a set of reusable and combinable CSS classes so they can craft more pages with ease on their own.
    • There is not be a single photograph on the site. I used some sweet minimal illustrations and SVG shapes and brought it to life with CSS animations.
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    WORDPRESS THEMES

    Design, HTML/CSS, WordPress

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    WordPress Themes

    Themes & Templates

    Task: To design and code a WordPress theme from scratch and sell it commercially through ThemeForest to create a passive income for myself.

    I've been creating templates and themes for a long time now. It is my safe space when I need a timeout from client projects. I sell these on Envato and enjoy the monthly income stream they create.

    Deliverables:
    • Full-fledged WordPress theme with a commercial appeal
    • Documentation for buyers
    • Marketing materials
    Challenges:
    • The biggest challenge: how to create a theme that sells well, that is a good market fit and gets noticed.
    • It takes weeks to create a theme, so the second biggest challenge is automation and process.
    • Marketing is always tough for me. The least enjoyable part of creating a theme, I am thinking about delegating it to someone on a good-enough professional level.
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    E-COMMERCE

    Design, WooCommerce

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    E-commerce

    Wallure

    Task: Completely redesign an e-commerce store for a wall paneling manufacturer.

    For this project I partnered with a great developer Ivetka Tonhauserova and we designed and developed a whole new store for the company.

    Deliverables:
    • Design direction & branding
    • New design of the whole store
    • Switch from Magento to WooCommerce
    • Multi-lang, multi-currency
    Challenges:
    • As this was a large-scale project, we closely worked with our client in incremental steps. This was to ensure large changes were not required after we moved to another stage.
    • The client was confused about how he wanted to represent multiple languages on his store, so we presented several options and laid out the pros and cons of every solution.
    • The design was highly custom, so developing it for WooCommerce took time.
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    LANDING PAGE & APP

    Style Guide, UI/UX

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    Landing Page & App

    Honeycomb

    Task: To design a landing page and a web app for a tax return service. To make tax returns fun.

    I loved designing this project as I got a lot of freedom from the founders. This is simply one of those feel-good projects that you just enjoy working on.

    Deliverables:
    • Design direction
    • Landing page in Figma
    • Style guide
    • Desktop app UI/UX in Figma
    Challenges:

    When you get a complete freedom in design direction, sometimes you end up just... going in the wrong direction. First draft of the landing page was "too cute" for the client. I realised we could use a style guide to show just enough of elements to confirm the design direction. After I created that and client felt it's right, it was a breeze creating all the screens.

Star Service

Website Design

From one-pagers to big shops

  • Landing pages
  • One-pagers
  • Company websites
  • E-commerce
  • Web apps

WHAT I WORK WITH

Tools for webdesign: Figma, Adobe XD, Adobe Photoshop, Webflow, HTML, CSS, IavaScript, WordPress, WooCommerce
Part of Envato Elite author's group

Theme Development

WordPress

Creating websites and themes for WordPress from scratch

Process & Deliverables

  • Moodboards for design direction
  • Wireframes & content structure
  • Creative copywriting
  • Design for conversion

Motto:

”Intuition gets better with experience.”

Contact me

hi@darinka.design

Ing. Darina Kostelníková
Park duklianskych obetí 4
040 01 Košice
Slovak republic
IČO: 43656838
DIČ: 1077266575
Darinka standing and smiling

Well, hello there!

My name is Darinka and I am a professional webdesigner with 13+ years of experience. After getting my Master's Degree in Computer Science in 2007, I've worked on 100+ projects for small and medium-sized businesses and designed and developed websites for WordPress & WooCommerce, Drupal, Magento and various custom platforms.

I am an Elite author on ThemeForest with more than 2500 happy customers, having sold more than $75,000 in WordPress themes. I appeared in 3 issues of "net magazine", a printed magazine for web designers. Web design is my second nature and my dream job.

I live in Slovakia with my husband and baby girl. When I'm not designing, I enjoy biking, dancing, hosting friends & family and playing 8-ball.

THOUGHTS & IDEAS

💡 BUSINESS GOALS

Conversion designer. A new kind of web designer

🎨 WEB DESIGN

Stock photography on your website — yes or no?

🎨 WEB DESIGN

I don't get your design! Debate over hero illustrations

My Medium page

 Logos of companies I worked with