ABOUT

Persona: curious designer

Tsovinar Hakobyan

Location: Redmond, WA, USA
Experience Level: 5+ years
Industries: Cybersecurity, Fintech, Design Agencies

Behavior

I work in a fuzzy loop, not a straight line, lots of back-and-forth until things make sense.
I’m great at asking for help from people in other departments, so far, 100% success rate.
I stay updated by following industry folks, podcasts, and Reddit conversations.
I sketch ideas anywhere: buses, airports, waiting rooms, wherever my brain decides to cooperate.
I talk to AI tools like they’re coworkers (“please stop hallucinating, we talked about this”).
I keep a huge spreadsheet of resources, articles, books, talks, and every useful quote or explanation. It’s now 400+ pages long.

Values

I value good documentation and a solid Design System.
I like companies that invest in team-building.
I enjoy teams where curiosity, weird ideas, and experimentation are normal.
I appreciate workplaces where small talk is welcomed, yes, I want to hear about your day.

Goals

I want to make products normal humans can use, not just people with perfect eyes and perfect screens.
I want to keep leveling up in AI-assisted design.
I want to design stuff I’d proudly show both my designer friends and my non-tech aunt.
I aim to get good enough to mentor fresh designers and give back to the community, without giving anyone trauma.

My skills

Interface design

User Interface design

UX research & synthesis

Design systems management and utilization

AI-assisted workflow design

Sketch & wireframe

Iterative usability testing

Rapid prototypes

Documentation & presentation

Rapid AI prototypes with prompt-to-code tools

Workshop facilitation

Mapping experiences

Storyboarding user scenarios

Competitor analysis

HTML/CSS (Basic)

Recommendation letters

Tim Woods
Head of Product Management at TryHackMe
I had the pleasure of working with Tsov on a particularly complex and ambitious project at TryHackMe. She led the end-to-end discovery, user research, and prototyping for a major new product initiative, taking on a scope that spanned well beyond core design work.

Tsov conducted user interviews, researched adjacent products, and gathered insights to shape our strategy. She wore multiple hats — not just as a designer building wireframes, mockups, and clickable prototypes, but also stepping into a product management role to scope features, manage stakeholders, and drive the project forward. She even used AI tools like Bolt to build functional MVPs we could test with real users.

Throughout the project, Tsov was highly self-organized, adaptable, and proactive. She worked independently where needed but was also a strong collaborator across our team. Despite the complexity and steep cybersecurity learning curve, she handled challenges with creativity, initiative, and a positive attitude.

I’d happily recommend Tsov to any team looking for a talented, flexible designer who can take ownership, communicate clearly, and deliver high-quality work from concept through to launch.
Lusine Demirchyan
Managing Director at CLEO digital
Tsovinar is a rare gem you wish you could hold onto. I hired Tsov to start as a part time designer at our boutique marketing and design agency. It didn't take long for her to show how valuable she would be to our company. Within a year Tsovinar was leading the rebrand of our own logo and website as the Head of Design. Her aptitude for research, analytics, pitching, communication, and organization on top of her incredible design aesthetic was why she was able to take charge of implementing much needed processes we lacked. Her wonderful attitude and can-do spirit makes her really easy to collaborate with. She was an intricate part of our client onboarding process as Head Designer. Her subject matter expertise in UI/UX Design was always appreciated by our clients who adored working with her. They always loved her designs and learned from the process with Tsov. I threw a lot of new challenges at Tsovinar and she met them head on with a lot of grace and patience. Her talents and friendly personality is very much missed!
Marco Neumayer
COO & CFO at Brickwise
Ms Hakobyan has extremely comprehensive and versatile specialist knowledge, which she always brought to our company in a profitable manner. Her extraordinary creative as well as organizational competence should be emphasized, which enabled her to put new ideas into practice at any time, to plan projects well as to execute them in order to meet the agreed targets in every respect and in the best possible way. Due to her very good comprehension skills, she was always able to quickly grasp even the most difficult situations and to find appropriate solutions. She also impressed at all times with her above-average enthusiasm.
Ms Hakobyan's performance exceeded our expectations at all times and in every respect. She was appreciated at all times because of her always open, friendly and balanced nature.
Her performance always met our expectations in every respect and in the very best way.
Johannes Schrefl
Product Owner at Brickwise
I highly recommend Tsov for her exceptional skills in user experience and design in general. I had the pleasure of collaborating with her on a mobile and web app for a FinTech product, and her expertise in Figma was truly impressive. Tsov's attention to detail, creativity, and ability to transform ideas into visually stunning designs made a significant impact on the project's success. She consistently demonstrated professionalism, responsiveness, and a strong work ethic. It was a pleasure working with Tsov, and I have no doubt that she would be a valuable asset to any team or organization.
Hans Keifer
CFO at Trails For Change
I had the pleasure of working with Tsov at Trails For Change. Not only does she believe in giving back to the community, but she's also a joy to work with.
Tsov has an amazing ability to connect with people from all types of backgrounds and manners, from villagers in Artsakh to challenging clients. She handles it all with proactiveness and positivity. Plus, in the end, all our visuals, websites, signposts, and presentations looked amazing, bringing lots of attention, admiration and compliments.
In short, once you work with Tsov, you won't want to let her go.

Tim Woods
Head of Product Management at TryHackMe
I had the pleasure of working with Tsov on a particularly complex and ambitious project at TryHackMe. She led the end-to-end discovery, user research, and prototyping for a major new product initiative, taking on a scope that spanned well beyond core design work.

Tsov conducted user interviews, researched adjacent products, and gathered insights to shape our strategy. She wore multiple hats — not just as a designer building wireframes, mockups, and clickable prototypes, but also stepping into a product management role to scope features, manage stakeholders, and drive the project forward. She even used AI tools like Bolt to build functional MVPs we could test with real users.

Throughout the project, Tsov was highly self-organized, adaptable, and proactive. She worked independently where needed but was also a strong collaborator across our team. Despite the complexity and steep cybersecurity learning curve, she handled challenges with creativity, initiative, and a positive attitude.

I’d happily recommend Tsov to any team looking for a talented, flexible designer who can take ownership, communicate clearly, and deliver high-quality work from concept through to launch.
Lusine Demirchyan
Managing Director at CLEO digital
Tsovinar is a rare gem you wish you could hold onto. I hired Tsov to start as a part time designer at our boutique marketing and design agency. It didn't take long for her to show how valuable she would be to our company. Within a year Tsovinar was leading the rebrand of our own logo and website as the Head of Design. Her aptitude for research, analytics, pitching, communication, and organization on top of her incredible design aesthetic was why she was able to take charge of implementing much needed processes we lacked. Her wonderful attitude and can-do spirit makes her really easy to collaborate with. She was an intricate part of our client onboarding process as Head Designer. Her subject matter expertise in UI/UX Design was always appreciated by our clients who adored working with her. They always loved her designs and learned from the process with Tsov. I threw a lot of new challenges at Tsovinar and she met them head on with a lot of grace and patience. Her talents and friendly personality is very much missed!
Marco Neumayer
COO & CFO at Brickwise
Ms Hakobyan has extremely comprehensive and versatile specialist knowledge, which she always brought to our company in a profitable manner. Her extraordinary creative as well as organizational competence should be emphasized, which enabled her to put new ideas into practice at any time, to plan projects well as to execute them in order to meet the agreed targets in every respect and in the best possible way. Due to her very good comprehension skills, she was always able to quickly grasp even the most difficult situations and to find appropriate solutions. She also impressed at all times with her above-average enthusiasm.
Ms Hakobyan's performance exceeded our expectations at all times and in every respect. She was appreciated at all times because of her always open, friendly and balanced nature.
Her performance always met our expectations in every respect and in the very best way.
Johannes Schrefl
Product Owner at Brickwise
I highly recommend Tsov for her exceptional skills in user experience and design in general. I had the pleasure of collaborating with her on a mobile and web app for a FinTech product, and her expertise in Figma was truly impressive. Tsov's attention to detail, creativity, and ability to transform ideas into visually stunning designs made a significant impact on the project's success. She consistently demonstrated professionalism, responsiveness, and a strong work ethic. It was a pleasure working with Tsov, and I have no doubt that she would be a valuable asset to any team or organization.
Hans Keifer
CFO at Trails For Change
I had the pleasure of working with Tsov at Trails For Change. Not only does she believe in giving back to the community, but she's also a joy to work with.
Tsov has an amazing ability to connect with people from all types of backgrounds and manners, from villagers in Artsakh to challenging clients. She handles it all with proactiveness and positivity. Plus, in the end, all our visuals, websites, signposts, and presentations looked amazing, bringing lots of attention, admiration and compliments.
In short, once you work with Tsov, you won't want to let her go.

Life out of design

Hiking

I find it oddly satisfying to hike 30-40km, find a tent spot, and stare at the sunset in the same stinky clothes day after day. I have seen bears steal my M&Ms, deer peeing on my tent, elephants trample a neighbor’s yard, the sunset over the Grand Canyon, Sunrise over Patagonias… the list is long.

Handcraft

One of my favorite things to do is to listen to an audiobook while creating handmade decorations, like these macrame mirrors, for my apartment and friends.

Storytelling and doodling

I focus best when I doodle. During calls, podcasts, or audiobooks, my hand just starts drawing little faces on autopilot. It helps me stay relaxed and pay attention. By now, I have a couple of sketchbooks full of these faces.

ABOUT

ABOUT

My skills

Interface design

User Interface design

UX research & synthesis

Design systems management and utilization

AI-assisted workflow design

Sketch & wireframe

Iterative usability testing

Rapid prototypes

Documentation & presentation

Rapid AI prototypes with prompt-to-code tools

Workshop facilitation

Mapping experiences

Storyboarding user scenarios

Competitor analysis

HTML/CSS (Basic)

Tim Woods

Lusine Demirchyan

Marco Neumayer

Johannes Schrefl

Hans Keifer

Tim Woods

Lusine Demirchyan

Marco Neumayer

Johannes Schrefl

Hans Keifer

Life out of design

Hiking

Handcraft

Storytelling and doodling