Some days I design interfaces. Other days I redesign my entire life to fit into a 32-liter backpack.
I’m a UI/UX designer with no fixed address — just a passport, a laptop, and a head full of sticky notes. My last three prototypes were built in:
- A rooftop café in Tbilisi
- An overnight bus between Zagreb and Budapest
- A laundromat in Mexico City (because yes, laundromats have Wi-Fi now)
Clients think I’m in “the office.” I am — it just happens to be a rotating collection of Airbnbs, cafés, coworking spaces, and quiet corners of the world.
This lifestyle didn’t start as a grand plan. It started with a burnout. I quit my agency job, booked a one-way flight, and promised myself I’d keep moving until I felt something. That “something” turned out to be perspective. And design inspiration. And an awkward tan line from working next to a swimming pool in Vietnam.
Being a nomadic designer teaches you two things fast:
- Constraints are your best friend. No second monitor? No problem. No printer? Adapt. You design better when you’re not reliant on the perfect setup. You think lean. You build smart.
- Empathy becomes instinct. You talk to people from wildly different backgrounds, see how they interact with technology, and realize just how much of UX is built on cultural assumptions.
In Tokyo, I watched users hesitate because a CTA button wasn’t polite enough. In Buenos Aires, people expected animations — microinteractions are practically part of the city’s rhythm. In Prague, minimalist design reigns; in Mumbai, functionality beats beauty every time.
Every city teaches me something new about how humans think, feel, and navigate. And I channel that into every design decision I make.
But being on the move also means you don’t have the luxury of “later.” You design, test, ship — now. You learn to say no to fluff. You document religiously. You’re part designer, part logistics manager, part social anthropologist.
I don’t know where I’ll be three months from now. But I know I’ll still be pushing pixels, tweaking onboarding flows, and obsessing over that damn shade of blue that still doesn’t feel right.
The background changes. The Wi-Fi changes. But the mission remains:
Build interfaces that make people’s lives just a little bit easier — wherever they are.
— The Designer With a Timezone Problem