02 // About
Vova Botsman
I trained as an economist, ended up designing software, and never stopped thinking in systems.
I came to design through systems
My background is economics, not design. I studied system dynamics: how feedback loops, delays, and incentives make complex systems behave the way they do. Around 2010 I left a career in finance for the web and brought that way of thinking with me. A product isn't a stack of screens. It's a system where one decision quietly shapes a hundred others.
Learning the craft, then learning to lead
I started out in web and e-commerce agency work, somewhere between analytics and interface design. I read behavior data, sketched wireframes, and ran usability audits and A/B tests. It was a fast, honest school, because every change showed up in the numbers. Then I led a design team for the first time. Later I led design for a consumer product, which meant presenting decisions to business stakeholders and building patterns other people could reuse. Leading taught me that most design problems are really alignment problems, and that a shared pattern library is often the quickest way to get people aligned.
Going deep on enterprise software
For most of the last decade I've worked on complex enterprise software in healthcare, biotech, oil and gas, and finance: tools for clinicians, operators, and specialists whose work leaves little room for confusing interfaces. I've built and evolved design systems, and made accessibility part of how products get built instead of a last-minute audit. Most recently I built a design system from the ground up and connected it to AI-assisted design workflows.
What I believe now
Components and AI have made changing an interface cheap. They haven't made being wrong cheap. A misread workflow or a brittle information architecture still costs a lot to fix, and now it gets built much faster. So I spend my energy where mistakes are expensive: understanding the work, getting the structure right, and treating accessibility as a requirement from day one. To me, a design system is less a library for designers and more a contract that keeps every team, and every AI tool, producing consistent, accessible UI.
How I work
I like working closely with product and engineering from the start. I'd rather put a rough, working version in front of people than polish wireframes for weeks. I write things down, explain the trade-offs behind my decisions, and try to leave systems that others can extend without needing me in the room. I work remotely from Ukraine.
Away from the screen
Away from work, I ride a motorcycle, read books, and play computer games. Most of all, I love coming home to my wife, our two dogs, and a cat. And now and then I write here about design systems, accessibility, and AI.
Core Expertises
Say hello
If you have a question or an idea, or just want to talk about design systems, I'm happy to hear from you.
