# Mini Kurhan > Creative Direction, UX Design, Innovation (Rothy's, Walmart, ModCloth, Cariuma) Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/mini As a seasoned leader in user experience and digital marketing, I’m in touch with the intangibles that make customer journeys amazing. My expertise revolves around creating cohesive end-to-end experiences, product optimization, and setting foundations for scale. Being detail-oriented, I notice problems others might not see, and I passionately devise strategies for improvement. Innovation is key—­leveraging proven methods while exploring new ideas with creativity and data-driven testing to come up with something even better. I put my heart into my work, always aiming for the highest positive impact on the business. I am excited to help build a brand, scale a team, and take the customer’s experience to the next level. You can find me cooking healthy meals, snapping photos, spinning 1960s reggae records, and hunting for vintage collectibles. *Expertise:* User-centered design thinking and personalized omni-channel customer experiences for mission-driven brands. Personalization and relevancy, clothing fit and user reviews, responsive web and iOS apps, A/B testing, e-commerce, social and marketplace shopping, content integration, acquisition, and retention. *Management & Direction (since 2011):* Operational improvements for scaling teams using principles of servant leadership. Foundational structure, process enhancement, workflow efficiency, strategic systems thinking, cross-departmental collaboration, design libraries, problem-solving, and course correction. *Mobile Design (since 2002), Web Design (since 2000), Print Design (since 1998):* Thoughtful, purpose-driven design across a broad spectrum of mediums. Responsive web, UX design, UI design, graphic design, creative direction, art direction, photo art direction, branded experiences, website and product audits, landing pages, newsletter and social marketing, iPhone apps, marketing materials, and logos. ## Work Experience ### UX/Creative Design Consultant & Freelancer @ Unknown Jan 2024 – Present | San Francisco, California, United States Freelance: UX & creative design for web, mobile, and print Consulting: Identify hidden weak spots in the end-to-end customer experience and recommend targeted improvements to boost acquisition and retention – from quick wins to complex challenges Services: Comprehensive audits and strategy for website UX & creative, product photography, off-site marketing touchpoints, copywriting, branding, and packaging ### Founder @ Analog Side Hustle Jan 2024 – Present | San Francisco, California, United States Expressing the artistic side of my brain creating DJ-inspired resin accessories and jewelry. Flexing the mechanical side of my brain with problem-solving in the making process: learning new skills like mold making, craft fair booth display, and strategically planning out new design concepts based upon my ideas and customer feedback. ### Head of Design @ Stealth AI Startup Jan 2022 – Jan 2024 | San Francisco, California, United States AI-powered journaling app delivering data-driven personal insights. Translated an early concept into user-centered, buildable designs and defined a phased design roadmap—from Alpha and Beta to MVP and future vision—to guide product evolution as the technology and user base scaled. ### Director Of User Experience @ Dropps® Jan 2020 – Jan 2022 High-growth DTC, eco-friendly cleaning. As the first Design leader, I completely redesigned the website and created workflows for the UX and Dev teams. Responsibilities included website creative direction, architecture and optimization (for acquisition, retention, and subscriptions), create brand styles and pattern library, photo art direction, personaliza- tion foundations, and cross-team collaboration for cohesive customer journies. Additionally, I advised on brand rede- sign, marketing creative, and packaging innovations. ### Principal UX Designer and Art Director @ CARIUMA Jan 2019 – Jan 2020 High-growth DTC, eco-friendly sneakers. My work included art direction for ADA compliant web styles, creating brand-heavy acquistion landing pages, redesigns for PDP and PLP, designing systems for responsive graphics, and con- sultation on product photography. UX and website performance was tested and validated with data. ### Principal UX Designer and Art Director @ Anatta Jan 2019 – Jan 2020 Top-ranked DTC growth agency, staffing mission-driven brands. Brand-heavy user-centered designs for core shopping funnel and acquisition pages, a complete website overhaul for a brand launch, style guides, and direction for product photography and responsive graphics. Clients included Cariuma, Dry Farm Wines, and FOCL CBD. ### Website Design Director & Creative Consultant @ Rothy's Jan 2017 – Jan 2018 | San Francisco, CA High-growth DTC, eco-friendly women’s shoes. I created foundational structure for the Design and e-commerce Photog- raphy teams to improve efficiency and workflow for scaling, created visual consistency across the website and market- ing channels, led creative direction and hands-on UX design for the website, art-directed product photography, with occasional creative direction for marketing emails. ### Designer @ Zenefits Jan 2017 – Jan 2017 | San Francisco Bay Area I took a customer-centric approach to conceptualize and design website landing pages which explained the product. In addition, I worked on various design needs including digital promotional assets for the product and the annual company trade show. ### Principal, User Experience @ Walmart eCommerce Jan 2014 – Jan 2016 | San Bruno, CA Coming to @Walmartlabs via the Luvocracy acquisition, I created customer-focused omnichannel vision strategies for a millennial segment, led a small team of designers in a responsive web home page redesign and ongoing hypothesis testing, and reduced workload across teams through revised UX systems with solutions for responsive graphics. I ex- plored explicit vs. implicit personalization and led a complete redesign of a personalized home page and global nav experience. I was dubbed “the liaison between UX and Creative” teams. ### Senior Art Director @ Luvocracy (acquired by @WalmartLabs) Jan 2013 – Jan 2014 | San Francisco Bay Area Social shopping platform leveraging online influencers. I developed the company’s visual identity in all marketing com- munications and created foundations for growth. The company was acquired by Walmart E-commerce in July 2014. ### Senior UX Designer @ Dolls Kill Jan 2013 – Jan 2014 | San Francisco, CA High-growth e-commerce fashion and lifestyle. My work included designs for an m-web overhaul, editorial landing pages and lookbooks, shopping funnel pages, global nav, feature enhancements, and website art direction. ### Senior Designer @ TrendyBlendy.com Jan 2013 – Jan 2013 | San Francisco Bay Area For this small fashion and beauty e-commerce startup, my projects included incorporating editorial content into the shopping experience via collections, incorporating Instagram feeds, home page redesign focusing on flash sales and collections, collection landing pages, templates for marketing and site graphics, and style guide standardization and web font enhancements for legibility across devices. ### Senior Art Director, Senior UX Designer @ flit.com Jan 2012 – Jan 2013 | San Francisco Bay Area Social shopping iPad app startup. Hired to do a visual redesign, I was kept on to develop the product. I worked with the CEO, CTO, and PM to translate physical shopping experiences into a digital experience, thinking through in-store cus- tomer behaviors with a focus on the social interactions inherent to human emotion and thought processes. ### Senior Designer @ Stella & Dot Family of Brands Jan 2012 – Jan 2013 | San Francisco Bay Area E-commerce MLM, women’s jewelry. I worked on website product enhancements and accompanying email newsletters for new features including social-focused Trunk Shows, event invitation pages, portals, theme personalization, RSVP, and sign-in and check-out revisions. I worked cross-functionally between the UX and Creative teams, ensuring consis- tency of branding and design patterns. ### Design Manager/Associate Creative Director @ ModCloth Jan 2010 – Jan 2012 E-commerce, vintage-inspired women’s fashion and lifestyle. While encouraging inter-departmental collaboration, I built a team of graphic designers, strengthening brand recognition through visual consistency and the introduction of style guides. I gave direction on all design projects, managed team assignments, art-directed Creative Team projects, worked closely with Marketing, Ad, Editorial, Social Media, and Blog teams on project briefs and strategy, and created process and structure for the Creative Team. ### Senior Graphic Designer @ ModCloth Jan 2010 – Jan 2010 I conceptualized and designed story-driven interactive lookbooks, email newsletters, home page graphics, ads, social media graphics, blog and editorial graphics, and designed internal-facing materials as needed. I created cross-platform consistency to bring awareness to new campaigns as well as ensure brand consistency. ### Senior UX Designer @ ModCloth Jan 2010 – Jan 2010 I created new site features and functionality from concept through visual design phases, including revamping user reviews and creating My Measurements (a system to help customers find clothes that fit). ### Senior Designer @ Moderati Jan 2002 – Jan 2010 Mobile apps, marketing agency. I was a pioneer in the early days of mobile, pushing the boundaries of tech constraints. I conceptualized, designed, and art-directed mobile phone and iPhone applications, animated ringtones, mobile wallpa- pers, printed marketing collateral, and web design. Clients Include: glaceau/vitaminwater, Harrah’s, NBC, Nickelodeon, AOL-Time Warner, Zippo, A&E Television Network, EMI/Capitol Records, Sony Music, Cosmopolitan, Virgin Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Qualcomm ### Retail — Manager and Store Associate @ Independent Retail Stores Jan 1993 – Jan 2002 | Los Angeles and SF Bay Area I worked for several small, independently run retail boutiques in trendy Los Angeles and Bay Area shopping districts starting at age 15. This gave me foundational knowledge of customer experience design—creating shopping experienc- es based on the needs and responses of the customer. My goal was to create an atmosphere that encouraged the customer to return—whether it be through directing them to the right item to purchase, helping them discover new things, or giving genuine recommendations of where else they might find the items they're looking for. With experience from sales to management, I ran the day-to-day operations, managed employees, created window and in-store displays, and turned a store from loss to profit. ## Education ### Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Design UCLA ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/minikurhan - Portfolio: https://www.minikurhan.com/ --- Source: https://flows.cv/mini JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/mini/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13