Hire the Best UX Designers
in South Africa

I'm a young UX/UI designer with certifications from the University of Michigan, Meta, and Google. I began my career as a freelancer for a SaaS startup. Since then, I have been working as a freelancer professionally, both on my own and on several websites like Freelancer, Braintrust, and now Upwork. I love working for companies all around the world and would love to join your team! • I follow the "empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test, repeat" process • I believe in making good UX and UI affordable • I specialize in all things UX and UI - from start to finish. • Regular communication is the key to success • I bring what YOU want to life

Hello! I’m Mikayla, a Senior UX/UI Designer based in South Africa; focused on building clear, functional, and conversion-driven digital products. I work closely with founders, product teams, and engineers to turn complex ideas into simple, scalable user experiences. I don’t just design screens, I design systems that help products make sense, feel intuitive, and perform better. ✅ Senior UX/UI Designer (Product) ✅ End-to-end SaaS & Digital Product Specialist ✅ UX Strategy ᐧ UI Design ᐧ Design Systems 🎯 Current Focus: SaaS Platforms • Vibe-coding • Conversion-driven Web Experiences - WHAT I BRING TO YOUR PRODUCT AS A UX/UI DESIGNER (PRODUCT): 👩‍💻 UX Strategy & Product thinking: I design with structure first: user flows, journey mapping, information architecture, and experience strategy. My focus is always on reducing friction and improving clarity across the product. I LOVE research. 👩‍💻 UI design for REAL products: Clean, scalable interfaces for SaaS dashboards, mobile apps, and responsive web platforms. Built to be consistent, usable, and easy to extend as products grow. 👩‍💻 Figma Expertise & Design Systems: Advanced Figma workflows including components, auto-layout, variables, and scalable design systems. As a former developer, I create structured files that make developer handoff smooth and reduce back-and-forth. 👩‍💻 Dev-handoff ready design I collaborate closely with developers and provide clear specs, interaction states, and structured Figma files that translate cleanly into code. 📌 SELECTED EXPERIENCE • SaaS Redesigns: Improved usability of complex workflows by simplifying navigation and restructuring core user journeys. • Mobile App UX Overhaul: Streamlined onboarding and key flows to reduce friction and improve task completion. • Web Conversion Improvements: Redesigned landing pages and product flows to improve clarity and user decision-making. • Web & Landing Pages: Website & landing page design Prototypes with Loveable Design with Figma 🧠 HOW I WORK Discovery & Research → understand goals, users, constraints & pain-points. UX Mapping → flows, journeys, structure Wireframes → rapid layout exploration UI Design & Branding → clean, scalable visual system, graphics, custom icons • If possible, this is where I would collaborate with the dev team to ensure the UI is feasible & viable. Prototype → test and refine interactions, use external vibe coding tools if desired Handoff → developer-ready Figma + documentation through HTML or React code documentation. 💡 WHY CLIENTS WORK WITH ME I balance product thinking with strong visual design. My focus is not just making things look good, but making them work better; for users and for the business. If you need a designer who can think, structure, and execute across the full product lifecycle, I can help. Multi-disciplinary designer: I have worn many hats and I'm here to use them to ensure the best possible experience for my clients. "But now Mikayla, why are your rates so low?" - Simple, I live in a third world country when my currency is weaker than anywhere else in the world. Now lets get talking :) [Keywords: Figma Designer, Figma Expert, Figma to Loveable, Figma To Wordpress, Web to Figma, Web Design Expert, SaaS Design, Responsive Web Design, Figma, Figma Prototyping, AI Development, AI Vibe Coding, Design Systems, Web to Figma, App to Figma, Mobile Design, Insurance, Banking, B2B, Product Designer, B2B2C Product Designer, UX Research, UX Design, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite, Canva, Loveable, Claude, Framer, UX Designer, UI Designer, UX/UI Designer, Interaction design, Landing Page Designer, Mockups, Digital Design]

Most of my work happens in the space between a client asking, “What’s happening?” and the delivery team trying to get the work out the door. I make that space calmer. At GEM Solutions, I was the main point of contact across up to 15 active client accounts. I handled client questions, onboarded new customers, managed escalations, coordinated with designers and developers, tracked deadlines, reviewed work before delivery, and made sure open issues were followed through rather than quietly forgotten. I also built much of the system behind that work. The agency was relying heavily on WhatsApp messages, verbal handovers, and scattered information, so I built its ClickUp workspace from scratch. That included project templates, custom statuses, task ownership, deadlines, intake forms, milestone tracking, reminders, and QA workflows. I wrote 14 practical SOPs covering onboarding, client communication, CRM workflows, QA, invoicing, and handover. I also introduced a clearer bug-reporting process using reproduction steps, screenshots, priorities, and assigned owners. This helped reduce average issue-resolution time from around five days to under two, while proactive client updates reduced chasing messages by roughly 60%. More recently, I supported a short workflow project with Tailwind.ai, translating onboarding and CRM requirements into an Asana build containing 21 main cards and 136 subtasks. The work involved mapping dependencies, surfacing missing decisions, and turning a broad process into something the team could actually follow. Before that, I ran my own media studio for six years. Every client relationship was my responsibility from the first conversation through delivery and ongoing support. I handled proposals, contracts, timelines, feedback, invoices, contractors, technical issues, and the occasional difficult conversation nobody particularly wanted to have. I can help with: Project coordination, timelines, risks, and follow-ups Client onboarding and ongoing communication Customer support, escalations, and issue ownership ClickUp and Asana workspace organisation CRM administration in Zoho One, HubSpot, and Salesforce QA testing, bug tracking, and delivery checks SOPs, process documentation, and internal knowledge bases Remote team, developer, designer, and freelancer coordination Inbox management, meeting notes, and action tracking Website, CMS, form, and browser troubleshooting My background in teaching also gave me something that translates surprisingly well into client work: patience. I know how to explain unfamiliar information clearly, adjust to different communication styles, and stay calm when someone is frustrated or confused. I work well with minimal supervision, shifting priorities, and businesses where the documentation is still being built. I do not need everything to be perfectly organised before I begin. Organising it is often the reason I am there. If you need someone who can keep clients confident, keep the team moving, and improve the system while doing the work, that is where I fit best.

I’m a graphic designer, UI/UX designer, and digital marketer with experience creating clean, eye-catching design that helps brands communicate clearly and stand out. I work across branding, print, digital design, and UI/UX, delivering thoughtful visuals that balance creativity with usability. My approach is detail-driven and practical, ensuring every design not only looks good but works effectively across platforms. I value clear communication, reliable delivery, and building long-term working relationships with clients.

I've worked with founders who hired a designer, got something beautiful, and realised six months later that their onboarding still drops 60% of users. The screens looked great. The product still didn't work. I don't do decoration. I design systems that guide development, reduce friction, and create measurable outcomes. My process starts with understanding your business problem, not opening Figma. I interview users, audit your current experience, map where people get stuck, and identify the highest-impact improvements before designing a single screen. Then I build wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity UI with the restraint that comes from knowing what's essential and what's noise. I work directly with founders and product leads, so no agency layer. You get designs that engineering teams can build from without forty Slack questions. I also build fast. I use AI tools, such as Claude, Figma AI, Lovable, Bolt, Cursor, to test ideas in days instead of weeks. I've shipped working prototypes in 7 days that would have taken a traditional agency two months. What I deliver: → UX Research & Strategy — Heuristic audits, user interviews, journey mapping → End-to-End Product Design — Wireframes, high-fidelity UI, interactive prototypes, design systems with developer-ready Figma handoff → AI-Accelerated Build — From validated concept to working prototype faster than traditional teams → Conversion & Workflow Design — SaaS dashboards, CRMs, internal tools, FinTech onboarding, KYC flows My process: Discover → Define → Design → Systemise → Validate Where I've delivered: • Banking onboarding flow — reduced drop-off, improved completion • Enterprise SaaS design system — adopted by 3 engineering teams • Salesforce customer portal — self-service for 10K+ users • AI SaaS MVP — research brief to working prototype in 7 days I take on 2–3 projects at a time. If you're building a SaaS platform, AI product, FinTech solution, or complex internal tool, send me your project overview. I'll respond within 24 hours with an honest read on whether we're a fit, what I'd fix first, and what a realistic timeline looks like.

Clean design. Consistent execution. Brand-focused content. I help businesses turn ideas and copy into polished, platform-ready social media assets using Canva and structured content systems. Most of my work involves: • Designing scroll-ready Instagram carousels and posts • Refining existing templates into cohesive brand visuals • Adapting assets across multiple formats • Maintaining layout consistency, spacing, and hierarchy • Delivering organised, ready-to-publish files I work comfortably within brand guidelines and creative direction, and I’m firm at enhancing pre-built content into something that feels intentional and elevated. I value clarity, speed, and clean execution. If you need a reliable designer who can handle volume without sacrificing quality, let’s connect.