Yekaterina Ratner

I’ve been passionate about visual arts from early childhood. Design became a natural extension of this passion. Originally, I started my professional career in designing for print and that led me to the digital world where I focus on both design and user experience for websites and apps. In addition to digital products, I also help emerging startups to develop their logos and brand identities. Working at Cloud gives me an opportunity for my work to reach thousands of users every day, which I find incredibly rewarding. My favorite part of the digital design field is its fast pace of innovation. As new technologies emerge, they always present new design opportunities, which I love.

I love designing for mobile experiences, especially touchscreen kiosks and dashboards. I like the challenge of displaying complex data in intuitive and user-centric way.

To me, usability is the ultimate proof of “good” design. The challenge is to deliver the right cues to users and intuitively guide them to their goals, all while communicating brand values in an aesthetically pleasing way.

My style is minimalistic, clean, and well-structured. That’s another reason why I love designing dashboards and data-centric apps. I strive for minimal use of colors and typography to avoid designs hindering usability.

I’m a strong believer that collaboration is the best way to create exceptional experiences. That’s why I involve my team as early as possible.

I continue being inspired by the pioneers of the design world, including Massimo Vignelli, Paul Rand, Sol Bass, Neville Brody, as well as many other leading 20th century designers. I also draw inspiration from contemporary designers, by browsing awards sites, dribble portfolios, and attending design events and presentations.

User experience design is more important today than ever: from driving a car by using a touchscreen, making a life-saving decision by viewing medical data, and so on, all require almost a neurosurgical precision in creating the right user experience.

Thank you! It’s an honor for the whole Cloud Construct UXD team to receive this recognition. I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with such a talented group of individuals.

Our team was very happy when Kevin and Anne from GabrielesVault chose Cloud Construct to craft the user experience and bring their ideas to life. It was a pleasure to work on a mission-driven project aimed at bringing families and friends together and connecting people without the typical pressure of existing social media platforms. This project helps to connect generations and preserve family history, and we were honored to be a part of it.

The biggest challenge was keeping the right balance of design that can appeal to audiences of all ages and making the flow easy to understand for any user.

Winning this award inspires us to continue investing into the community and we hope it helps to spread the word about our capabilities and how we can help future clients.

It’s never boring! I always have a lot to learn, a lot to be inspired by, and I get to be surrounded by other creative and talented individuals. I also like that the digital industry strives to be inclusive and accessible to all people.

I’m excited about the capabilities that virtual reality can bring for creating organic and intuitive immersive experiences.

To quote Vignelli - “Design is a field that encompasses the entire outside world around us.” It’s important to think not only about the work itself but also your impact on the world and people who live in it.

A foundation of every good design—no matter how innovative it may be—are the fundamental design principles of layout, typography, and colors. It’s important to study and understand these principals to improve and innovate. I’m also a strong believer in going to art and design exhibits to draw inspiration from other greats.

My incredibly talented family, Cloud’s UXD team, my designer friends that I’ve been lucky to know and work with in Moscow and Boston.

Remember to listen to your users' feedback and look at your work through their eyes. People can’t always articulate precisely what bothers them, but they have intuition on where you can use improvement.

Try to enjoy all art forms, after all, the most talented people of their generation who created them!