Hi! I'm Bilge.

I'm a principal product designer at Udemy, designing educational tools
to improve lives through learning.

I love solving complex problems with user insights and input from multidisciplinary teams through iterations. I care about delivering high-impact outcomes
and having human-centered processes to get us there.

During my 10+ years of experience as a designer, I have worked in product development teams, design strategy consultancies, and in-house design teams. My primary skills range from Product design and UX research to workshop creation & facilitation. I delivered high-impact, user-centric, and business-driven outcomes for web & mobile platforms in EdTech, Telco, Retail, Insurance, Finance, and HR industries.

A pattern through all my experiences is that I was either the first UX designer or part of the first design team in a location. I used that opportunity to demonstrate the benefit of working with designers and the business impact of design tools. More, I helped grow design teams and created learning & sharing cultures in them.

Experience

Udemy

Principal product designer
2020 - Current

Udemy is an online learning platform that aims to improve lives through learning by providing flexible, effective skill development to empower organizations and individuals.

Focus
Learning tools used by over 70K Udemy instructors teach over 200K courses in over 75 languages.

Collaborating with
The core team consists of PM, engineers, UX researcher, and a larger group includes learning designers, product marketing managers, instructor partner managers, and content strategists. 

Highlighted projects 

  • Coding exercise learner experience

  • Coding exercise creation experience

  • Course versioning

  • "D for Design" onboarding course for non-designers

Product design - Workshop design & facilitation - Design sprints - UX research - Product strategy - Design training creation - Team building

IBM iX

Lead UX designer
2017 - 2020

IBM iX is a global business design consultancy. It works at the intersection of strategy, creativity, and technology to help its clients digitally reinvent their businesses.

Focus

  • As a UX designer & researcher, I used design tools to deliver user-centric, high-quality outcomes. 

  • As a design lead, I created design project plans, managed the design processes of the project design team, and facilitated communication with project managers and clients. 

  • As a design SME participating in sales, I helped opportunity managers understand potential clients' needs, facilitated IBM design thinking workshops, and prepared offerings and presentations. 

  • Creating a Research Guild (Octoscope) in İstanbul Studio to up-skill designers and consultants on research and increase the quality of research outcomes of studio projects.

Collaborating with
Client teams, UX and UI designers, Project Managers, Strategy consultants, Opportunity Managers

Highlighted projects 

  • Avivasa mobile app, Paycell mobile app, QNB Finansbank mobile app

  • Avivasa sales tablet app, Turkcell core sales iPad app

  • Avivasa call center platform

  • Turk Telekom mobile app and web platforms

  • Halkbank core banking system

  • Research guild initiatives:

    • IBM Global Research Speaker series

    • Research reading club and trivia game sessions

    • Creating research templates

UX design - UX research - Design lead - Workshop design & facilitation - Public speaking - Stakeholder management

Garanti BBVA

Sr. UX designer
2015 - 2017

Being the developer of many technological firsts in the Turkish finance sector, Garanti BBVA Technology provides organizations of the Garanti BBVA brands with technology infrastructure, software development, and more.

Focus
As a part of the in-house design team, I worked with various project teams to provide UX research and design outcomes.

Collaborating with
UI designers, engineers, business analysts, project managers, and customer success managers

Highlighted projects 

  • Empathy in human-centered design training - creation and facilitation of 3 days of lectures & workshops on design history, research & design tools to non-designers

  • Design team processes

  • Investment management and subscription management modules of core banking iPad app

UX design - UX research - Design workshops - Stakeholder management - Design training - Public speaking

Kariyer.net

UX designer
2014 - 2015

Kariyer.net, Turkey's first and largest digital recruitment platform, has been matching 28 million candidates with their dream jobs.

Focus
As a part of the product team, I was mainly responsible for the UX design of job seeker platforms.

Collaborating with
PM, UI designer, engineers, and marketing

Highlighted projects 

  • Job search and application flow redesign

  • Web homepage redesign

  • Standardization of design patterns in all mobile platforms

UX design - UX research

4play mobile

UX designer
2012 - 2014

4play is a mobile solution company specializing in innovative products that leverage communication technologies.

Focus
As a part of the product team, I was mainly responsible for new product development and the design of native mobile platforms.

Collaborating with
PM, UI designer, engineers, and marketing

UX design - Stakeholder management