Episode #74: Designing for Usability, Accessibility, and Creative Clarity with Katsiaryna Chupryna

Good UX is not decoration. It is the work of helping people understand what to do next, across devices and without unnecessary friction. In Episode #74, Katsiaryna Chupryna shares how she moved from teaching into UX design and what that transition taught her about research, creativity, accessibility, and practical decision-making.

From education to user-centered design

Katsiaryna's route into UX began through several connected experiences. As a private tutor, most of her students worked in technology as developers, UI artists, and graphic designers. Their conversations introduced her to their tools and responsibilities. Later, while teaching technical English in a university software department, she had to learn technical subjects before presenting them to students. A website-building course provided the final push to explore digital products more deeply.

Her master's studies in education also gave her experience with research and an audience-centered approach. Those habits transferred naturally to product work: learn about the people involved, understand the context, and organize information around their needs. The difficult part was not becoming comfortable with technology. It was starting again as a beginner after already building experience as a tutor and lecturer.

That shift offers a useful reminder for career changers. Existing skills do not disappear when a title changes. Research, teaching, listening, and structuring information can all support UX work, even when the tools and deliverables are new.

What you'll learn

• How an education and research background can support user-centered product work

• Why usability and accessibility matter more than visual novelty

• How to balance business requests with the needs of real users

• Why responsive design requires more than shrinking a desktop layout

• How stepping away from the screen can unlock better design ideas

Balance business needs with user needs

Katsiaryna describes the designer as a third party connecting two groups: the business asking for a product and the users trying to accomplish something with it. The job is not to follow one side blindly. It is to hear both, then make choices that support a usable experience and a viable business outcome.

This balance becomes especially important when a client asks for something visually distinctive. Katsiaryna warns against treating UX as a beautiful picture. Interfaces also need clear navigation, readable content, sufficient contrast, and attention to accessibility. Animation or an unusual layout may suit a design studio, but the same choices can create problems in a product meant for a broad audience.

Her example of shopping on Nike's website makes the issue concrete. She found an important tab positioned where it was easy to miss and also noticed slow page loading. The lesson is broader than any one site: prominent actions need prominent placement, and visual polish cannot compensate for basic usability or performance problems.

Design across screens and look beyond them

Figma is Katsiaryna's primary design tool for wireframes and visual exploration. She also sees AI-driven plugins as useful ways to make routine work more efficient. Still, tools do not replace design judgment. As she notes later in the conversation, AI may produce websites or images, but the result will not work well if the person directing it does not understand clear navigation and sound design fundamentals.

She enjoys desktop applications because the larger canvas creates room to work, but she emphasizes that modern products must be responsive. Moving from desktop to mobile is not simply a resize. The same essential experience has to be reorganized through different elements and constraints.

When ideas stall, her process expands beyond digital reference sites such as Behance and Pinterest. Dancing, hiking, walking, and listening to podcasts can create the distance needed for a solution to emerge. While designing an application for children, for example, she reframed doctors' qualities as superhero-style powers represented by medals. The idea helped make the material more engaging without losing its meaning.

Build judgment, boundaries, and accessibility habits

Katsiaryna expects tools to keep changing, especially as AI develops, but she believes the foundations will remain important. Designers still need to know how to use those tools, evaluate the output, and create straightforward experiences. She was also studying digital accessibility at the time of the interview, reinforcing her view that accessibility should be part of design practice rather than an afterthought.

Her final lesson concerns capacity. A tendency to accept every interesting project can lead to overcommitment. Learning to say no, set boundaries, and prioritize full-time work, freelance commitments, and personal life became a professional strength. Good design judgment includes deciding what not to take on.

Episode #74 connects career transition with the everyday discipline of UX: listen closely, protect usability, design for different contexts, and make room for ideas. Listen to the full conversation on Spotify.