Sunday, July 23
12023 Human Era

Andy
Jakubowski

Software engineer

“Great designer, quick prototyper, and master of the customer-centric approach.”
Davide Mazzanti
Director of Mobile Product Development
lastminute.com

Demystifying Flexbox

8 overlapping cards with illustrations explaining Flexbox and ethereal concept art of some faraway world

In my spare time I work on Flexbox Land, an online guide to CSS Flexbox.

This will be an interactive guide for engineers who need to know exactly why layouts keep breaking, and how to build them with confidence and speed.

The course will include tens of chapters, hundreds of illustrations, and code playgrounds with FlexRay.

An arrow with a label FlexRay Sneak Peek

FlexRay is a visual Flexbox inspector for seeing the invisible parts of layout like different types of spacing, or gaps.

Writing a custom Flexbox implementation wasn’t exactly my goal when starting out. But I believe layout should be taught visually, and I think it’s worth the extra effort!

Flexbox Land Site →

Statechart Watch
A replica of the Citizen Quartz Multi Alarm III watch based on David Harel’s 1987 paper introducing statecharts
Demo →GitHub →Twitter thread →
Tokenhost 3000
Manage design styles in a web app and access them through an API or a live WebSocket connection
GitHub →
Digit Recognizer
Digit-recognizing machine learning model running in the browser
Demo →GitHub →Twitter thread →
Color Classifier
Machine learning model trained to classify colors into broad categories
Demo →GitHub →Twitter thread →

Writing

Ink bleed effect with SVG filters
Creating a lo-fi print effect with CSS and SVG filters.
Alfred custom web searches
Get faster access to docs, assets, browser compatibility and package info.
How I use MindNode
MindNode is great at summarizing videos, learning, and helping you remember things.
You can do anything, but not everything
Life after Launch School’s Core curriculum
Stay focused on Core — my Launch School story
Process is just as important as fundamentals at Launch School.
I’m building a new product to make Flexbox easier to learn
Becoming a Flexbox pro is hard. I’d like to create a place that makes learning easier.

Designing scalable foundations for a fast growing scooter startup
Learn more
App Store →Play Store →
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TIER hired me in 2018 to design, prototype, and document their first in-house app.
I built multiple complex prototypes and worked with the founders to perfect the user experience.
We mixed periods of focused work, short check-ins, and longer deep dives. That yielded best results.
The extendable design system we built and documented made it easy for future teams to pick up where we left off.
The apps launched about 4 months after we finished. The iOS version hit #1 in Germany one day after launching.
Improving Doodle’s scheduling app feature by feature
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App Store →Play Store →
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Doodle hired me in 2016 to improve their native apps designed for frequent users.
We’d deliver everything the website had, but better. We’d make it the best version of Doodle.
We ran extensive user interviews and usability testing. Designed an iMessage app. Increased poll creation by 30 %. Launched a full visual redesign. Lifted ratings from ~4.0 to 4.6–4.8 out of 5 stars.
Our incremental process was very rewarding. I had such a great time working with all the talented people at Doodle.
Reimagining the future of Red Bull TV
Learn more
Check out all 20+ Red Bull TV apps →
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Reimagined Red Bull TV which later won a Google Play Award for Best TV Experience. Prototyped complex remote-operated TV UI, autoplay, a minimized player, and more. Built a design system spanning Web, native apps, TV.
Shipping Bertha, an app for finding and paying at gas stations
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App Store →Play Store →
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Shipped Bertha, an app for finding and paying at gas stations. Focused on map navigation and finding gas on the road. Designed a color coding system for pricing. Introduced in-depth interviews and user testing to the company.
Designing the first native apps for the unicorn Berlin startup
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App Store →Play Store →
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Designed, user tested, and launched the first native apps for the SoftBank-backed unicorn travel startup. Drove customer retention by designing an in-app ticket feature. Collaborated on a cross-platform design style guide.
GetYourGuide lets you book tours and activities. I was hired to design native apps to accompany their website.
I assisted the launch of both apps, and later worked on adding new features and refining existing ones.
User testing in particular was a huge part of all our efforts. I learned a lot working with the experienced team at GetYourGuide.

“Andy is a designer who knows what it means to design for impact.
He deeply understands when to be pragmatic and yet always keep the customer at the heart of his work. He does this through a proven process that’s focussed on validation.
That process transforms complex problems into easy to understand concepts that result in delightful experiences with real, measurable impact.”
Temi Adeniyi
Design Manager
Instagram
“Great designer, quick prototyper, and master of the customer-centric approach.
On top of his exceptional experience with mobile and web UX, Andy is a great team player loved by developers, and has a fantastic personality. If you’re lucky enough to get to work with him, your chances of success will grow exponentially.”
Davide Mazzanti
CEO & Co-Founder
Sykell
“I am a Senior iOS developer and have worked closely with Andy to improve the user experience of Bertha, an app we developed at Mercedes-Benz.io.
I've experienced Andy as a passionate UX designer with a strong user focus.
In his work he loves direct interaction with developers and has excellent observation and interviewing skills running user testing sessions.”
Sabine Geithner
Mobile Lead
IBM iX
“Probably the best team mate I've ever had as a product designer. He documents everything. It’s easy for anyone to pick up where he left off — a great asset for a freelancer.
He’ll plan his day upfront, tune out every distraction, and won’t waste time doing trivial tasks. He doesn’t waste your money.
He' very diplomatic, approachable, respectful, authentic, and has a good sense of humour. I sensed most of these qualities the first day we met and he hasn't changed since. We ended up becoming friends.
And just to wrap up... he’s very open minded, eager to learn, and open for feedback. All important traits to have as a colleague.”
Marco Silva
Head of Product Design
lastminute.com
“Andy is the best designer I have worked with.
He doesn’t only deliver excellent works but also cares about the development of his fellow colleagues.
When I started working with Andy, I was just starting my career as a product designer. He mentored me by sharing his knowledge in design tools, user research methodology, design system, and more. He even gave me some coding lessons!
What I've learned from him helped me to become a designer I am today and I am so glad I met Andy at one of my very first design jobs!”
Karin Kotani
Senior Product Designer
Rasa

Black and white photo of Andy Jakubowski

Hey

How’s your day going so far? I hope everything’s great. If it’s not, I hope it does get better soon.

Did you eat breakfast today? It’s supposed to be an important meal. I probably had a piece of toast with vegan spread on it, and a fried egg. I almost always have that. It’s nothing special and I usually get pretty hungry before noon. Then I have to pester people around me to come eat lunch early. They think I’m crazy.