Works / oxu.az (Global Haber)
oxu.az
Digital news portal · 2021 → 2026
Senior Designer · Product Designer 2021 — 2026 Baku

oxu.az is one of Azerbaijan's most-visited digital news portals — a long-form editorial product spanning web and mobile, owned by Global Haber alongside BakuTV. The flagship reading destination for a national audience.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play

Five-year dynamics (2021 → 2026)

Over five years the resource cemented its position as the country's most-visited news site, adapting to mobile consumption.

oxu.az desktop site on a laptop oxu.az mobile app
oxu.az design system — smart animation stop-frame for day-to-day operating mode

Day-to-day operating mode

  • Briefs landed top-down — editorial, production, marketing, management
  • Got context fast and prioritised
  • Proposed UX — sometimes from scratch, sometimes improving what existed
  • Prototype → review → handoff
  • After release, watched what worked / what didn't, and iterated
oxu.az mobile UX — smart animation stop-frame for product flows

UX/UI and product work

  • Translated vague or urgent asks into concrete user flows
  • Simplified news and video consumption journeys
  • Optimised navigation and screen structure
  • Often worked “needed it yesterday” — fast but considered
oxu.az desktop view showing the CinéMastercard Platinum Movie Suites partnership and an Empire movie promo
oxu.az wireframes — smart animation stop-frame for prototyping

Wireframes and prototypes

  • Built fast wireframes and interactive prototypes in Figma
  • Showed alternatives when a decision was contested
  • Used prototypes as the primary alignment tool
  • Factored engineering constraints in up front — no design detached from reality
oxu.az mobile — dark article with comment overlay oxu.az mobile — home feed with breaking news badge oxu.az mobile — categorized news list oxu.az mobile — live news feed
oxu.az — live reader poll widget
oxu.az — get the app
oxu.az design system — smart animation stop-frame: laptop + mobile with shared tokens

Design system

  • Gradually consolidated UI components into a system
  • Standardised buttons, cards, grids, typography
  • Reused solutions instead of redrawing the same thing
  • Held the balance: speed vs. consistency
oxu.az visual identity — smart animation stop-frame: brand card with social icons

Visual and motion

  • Designed visuals for news, social, banners
  • Maintained a unified visual identity
  • Adapted fast for breaking news and time-sensitive posts
oxu.az engineering handoff — smart animation stop-frame: UI component sheet

Engineering handoff

  • Handed off mocks and walked through screen logic
  • Made sure implementation didn't drift from design
  • Factored technical constraints in early
  • Worked in tight loop with frontend
oxu.az iteration — smart animation stop-frame: analytics dashboard

Iteration and refinement

  • Watched real user behaviour after each release
  • Fixed friction points — confusion, missed taps, drop-offs
  • Refined interfaces without full redesigns
  • Shipped improvements in small batches rather than big releases
oxu.az communication — smart animation stop-frame: team review around dashboard

Communication

  • Presented solutions to the team and leadership
  • Explained the reasoning behind decisions, not just the look
  • Defended decisions when needed; adapted fast when not
oxu.az outcomes — smart animation stop-frame: trophy with growth arrow

Outcomes

  • Turned requirements into working solutions, fast
  • Held product quality and consistency
  • Improved user experience and key metrics
  • Thrived in dynamic context and prioritised what mattered

External reference — visit the live portal on oxu.az.

Mid-tier
2021 (baseline)
High (Top-10)
2026 (current)
Segment leader
Growth