Maruša Novak

Product Designer and Illustrator

Nesøya, Norway
Fight for what you love.

Work Experience

GVC Group

Product Designer

Bwin (part of the GVC) is a b2c and b2b online gaming and betting operator and I joined their UX team in 2015 as a product designer.

My role is to be the Senior UI/UX designer for Sports and some of the in-house CRM tools.

The biggest challenge was the new sports betting product (horse & dogs racing) that I got full ownership over UX & design.

I enjoyed working directly with business and product stakeholders and later with developers to make sure the implementation was spot on.



January 2016 - Present Austria

Blok_blok

Lead Designer

Co-founder and lead designer in a 2-person design studio

Responsible for branding and designing products for many interesting clients, from Mayo Clinic to Gorenje.

The worked in the areas I loved the most: Illustration. Critical Design. Graphic Design. Iconography. Information visualisation (Infographics). Visual brainstorming & storytelling. Life sketching. Storyboarding.
January 2010 - December 2016 Maribor, Slovenia

EDGAR

Chief Creative and co-founder

Edgar gives brands the tools and access to the best creatives (brand storytellers, writers, illustrators) so that they can delight their customers with awesome stories.

My role as the creative co-founder was to go end-to-end, from research and ideation to UX design and final visual design.

I was working closely with developers during the implementation and then closely with the freelancers on our online marketplace. After launch, I also took over most of the visual content marketing efforts.

Edgar was an unforgettable experience that gave us all much more than just the VC funding round in the USA and awards we collected on stage.
March 2013 - December 2015 California, United States

24alife And Mikropis

Product and UI Designer

24alife (previously @Life) is a holistic corporate (and personal) wellbeing platform with web, native mobile and desktop applications. The product is accompanied by an expert service, stretching from doctors, nutritionists and psychologists who collaborate on the platform and tailor individual programs.

I was the art director and lead designer in the small team that launched iOS applications that have been validated and implemented at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester (US).
2013 - 2013 United States

Challenge:Future

Illustrator and Visual Designer

Challenge:Future is a global youth think-do-tank. The open innovation platform connects youth around the globe and encourages them to participate in solving major challenges the world is facing today.

The platform hosts more than 50.000 active and creative individuals.

I have filled the roles of the lead creative, and visual design lead. The main design challenge was always how to design for such a diverse community; from the Philippines to Norway.

As a non-profit NGO, it was hard to enforce our Design Strategy, but we’ve developed a unique visual language that was easily applied locally. I was mixing digital and analogue both online and in print materials.
2010 - 2012 Netherlands

Art&Fun

Intermedia artist & illustrator

Data visualisation, visual storytelling and interactive art.

It's sometimes that I call myself an artist turned illustrator, turned product and UX designer...

During all those years I've shaped myself into a product person, but my roots are still in the Arts. I'm always active organising and participating in workshops. I’m proud to have co-founded a local Rails Girls group, ran numerous DIY & coding workshops for kids and helped design and run two TEDx events. Also, co-created interdisciplinary art installation(s) Biomodd and Seeker.

Most importantly, I’m a maker. I love to build products, prototypes, services. Build them fast. With my son. With my colleagues. With the world. It's what keeps me going.
2008 - Maribor, Slovenia

Education

University Of Maribor

Fine Arts Education

October 2007 - September 2012 Maribor, Slovenia

University Of Lapland

None/Student Exchange

Went to Rovaniemi (Finland) for half of the year (whole winter) (2009/10) to study Fine Arts Education at University of Lapland and had an awesome experience. Awesome! Than, I decided to be an artist.
July 2009 - February 2010 Rovaniemi, Finland

Languages

Slovenian (Native),
English (Advanced),

Skills

Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Indesign, Adobe Photoshop, Agile, Branding, Character Design, Comics, Critical Design, Drawing, Figma, FinalCut, Graphic Design, Iconography, Illustration, Infographics, Life Sketching, Painting, Photography, Product Design, Scrum, Sketch, Storyboarding, Storytelling, UI, Ux, Visual Brainstorming, Visual Storytelling, Watercolour, Wireframes,