Vitaly Friedman

Vitaly Friedman

14.5K Subscribers

20 years in UX • Senior UX Lead & Advisor @ EU Parliament • Smashing

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Vitaly Friedman will make your UX work more impactful

For the last 20 years, Vitaly Friedman has been working with companies and orgs like European Parliament, Zalando, OTTO, Marc O'Polo, Axel Springer SE, REWE, Alliander and many others to improve the UX of complex systems and intricate design challenges — but also set up UX strategy, improve internal workflows, measure UX impact and more recently design AI experiences that people actually use.

Vitaly is the founder and editor-in-chief of Smashing Magazine since 2006, an online magazine for designers and engineers, where he helps curate friendly, inclusive UX conferences (SmashingConfs).

Through his articles, books, talks, trainings and courses he taught 47,000 designers practical insights on how to design digital products that people actually use, value and perhaps even fall in love with.

Worked / Taught at
European Parliament
REWE
Alliander
Zalando
Otto Group

Alumni reviews

Daria

Live cohort
Lead UX designer · Deutsche Bank

How To Modernize Legacy UX (Without Breaking Everything)

The workshop fully met my expectations and was extremely valuable from a practical perspective. As a Product Designer working with complex legacy systems in the banking industry, I was particularly interested in discovering new approaches, tools, and metrics that could help me better evaluate existing products, identify modernization opportunities, and build stronger, evidence-based arguments for UX improvements. This is exactly what I gained from the workshop. I found the approaches to measuring and demonstrating the value of UX modernization especially useful. Some aspects, particularly around business metrics, will require further exploration on my side, but I see this as a positive outcome — I left with a substantial amount of valuable material, new ideas, and actionable notes that I am looking forward to exploring in more depth. The timing was also particularly relevant. Attending this workshop in October gives me an excellent opportunity to incorporate these insights into my planning for next year and take a more structured, data-driven approach to modernizing our existing legacy systems. Overall, the workshop delivered exactly what I was hoping for: practical knowledge, fresh perspectives, and concrete ideas that I can bring into my work. Thank you for a highly relevant and insightful session!

Chiara

Live cohort
Senior Product Designer · EGYM Wellpass

How To Modernize Legacy UX (Without Breaking Everything)

This session was really helpful for me to navigate complex projects with legacy UX. Vitaly provided me with a clear framework to approach such projects and explained tools and methods to approach modernization beyond just UI. I would definitely recommend!

Kuba

Live cohort
UX Designer · Computershare

How To Modernize Legacy UX (Without Breaking Everything)

Vitaly is a great presenter and communicator, clear and easy to follow and makes sure to bring everyone along in terms of understanding the content. Picked up a few models and frameworks that will be help me with the work I'm doing

Livinda

Live cohort
Product Designer · Right-Hand Cybersecurity

How To Modernize Legacy UX (Without Breaking Everything)

This is my first time attending one of Vitaly’s workshop sessions. Previously, I watched one of his short courses on Maven. I’ve actually been following his work through Smashing Magazine since 2013, and I’ve always really appreciated the quality of his articles and the valuable insights he shares. The workshop exceeded my expectations! Vitaly not only explained the hard truths about legacy systems but also provided clear and logical reasoning behind them. The session broadened my understanding of how to approach legacy UX modernization and gave me practical insights that I haven’t found elsewhere. In my opinion, this was a great investment because I came away with a wealth of valuable new knowledge and perspectives that I can apply to my work.

Benji

Live cohort
UX Designer · Sizeup Digital AB

How To Modernize Legacy UX (Without Breaking Everything)

Found this evening very insightful!