Hi, I'm Sima!

👋🏼

I’m a UX/UI designer with experience creating real customer-facing products. I combine strategy, storytelling, and design thinking to create solutions that solve real business challenges and improve user experiences.
I work with product, dev, and marketing teams, and align UX design decisions with stakeholder priorities and real market needs.

Product Designer,
Problem Solver,
Storyteller.

With a background in creative arts and music education, I bring a unique perspective to my work. Teaching music taught me how to break down complex ideas, listen deeply, and approach with empathy - skills I now apply to building thoughtful, accessible digital experiences that feel intuitive and engaging. I care about (obsessed with) creating visually appealing designs that don’t just function well but feel welcoming, especially for those often left out. Over the years, I’ve developed a genuine interest in e-commerce and creative marketing - both as a user and a designer, being a chronically online shopper also helps! (Let’s just say I know what makes a great checkout experience... and what causes cart abandonment.)
Outside of work, you’ll find me painting, exploring social media, or spending time with friends.

  • 🤝
    Collaborative

Co-creating from day one. I communicate clearly with developers, marketers, and creatives - bringing ideas to life across disciplines while keeping the user at the center. I involve the team early and often to understand needs, ideate solutions, and gather feedback.

  • đź§ 
    Curious

Always asking why. I approach every project with curiosity to uncover hidden insights & make new discoveries to get to the bottom of the problem. I continue to examine & iterate my design asking what if...

  • 🗂️
    Documented & Organized

Documenting everything. I keep files, flows, and decisions clearly documented and consistently organized, so teammates and future designers can can navigate, understand, and build on the work with ease.

đź§© Accessibility UX Case Study: Designing for All

Redesigning Swissker.com for Web Accessibility Excellence

UI/UX Design
Product Development
E-commerce UX
Web Accessibility (WCAG 2.1)
Deliverables
Accessibility Audit, UX Audit, Accessibility-Compliant Design System, Wireframes, Prototypes, Developer Handoff
Timeline
8 Weeks - Q1 2025
Tools
Figma, Axe DevTools, Lighthouse, NVDA, VoiceOver, Google Workspace
Team
Product Designer: Sima Darvish
Project Manager: Adrian
VP of Marketing: Vito
Dev Manager: Rakesh Kumar
QA: Adrian, Sima Darvish

👇 Overview

‍My role: I led the accessibility redesign initiative across UX/UI design, accessibility audits, and handoff documentation—ensuring Swissker becomes not only usable but inclusive.

👇 Overview

Swissker.com is a personal care e-commerce brand targeting customers aged 55 to 75 - many of whom experience visual, motor, or cognitive limitations. Our challenge was to rebuild the online store experience from the ground up to meet WCAG 2.2 AA standards—without sacrificing conversion goals or visual identity.

‍My role: I led the accessibility redesign initiative across UX/UI design, accessibility audits, and handoff documentation—ensuring Swissker becomes not only usable but inclusive.

Previous landing page of swissklip.com

Money well spent...
A pleasure to collaborate with
An outstanding work ethic
Remarkable talent for design
She's got a keen eye for detail
Money well spent...

đźš© Problem

The Accessibility Gap

Swissker serves customers aged 30–65+, many of whom may experience age-related impairments. As we expanded our store on WordPress, the site failed to meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards, creating serious accessibility and compliance risks. Issues included:

❌ Low contrast text and CTAs
❌ Inaccessible modals and drop downs
❌ Missing alt text for all images and visuals
❌ No keyboard support or logical focus states
❌ No documentation for accessibility in design system
❌ No consideration for motion sensitivity or seizure triggers
❌ Poor Iconography and Missing Semantic Cues

Considering the brand’s aging audience and medical-oriented products (e.g. nail clippers for seniors, UV dental pods), these gaps weren't just inconvenient—they were exclusionary.
This posed a threat to both usability and legal risk, and directly impacted conversion for users, specially the ones with with visual or cognitive impairments.

🎯 Goals & Objectives

  • Design intuitive and accessible icons & elements
  • Meet WCAG 2.1 AA compliance across desktop and mobile
  • Improve usability for users navigating with keyboards or screen readers
  • Deliver measurable improvement in accessibility audit scores
  • Ensure seamless dev implementation and QA handoff

✏️ Key Takeaways

  • Accessibility isn’t a checklist — it’s a mindset embedded at every stage of design, development, and QA.
  • Accessibility needs to be baked into the process, not added on
  • Conversion and compliance can coexist
  • Early involvement of developers and QA in accessibility thinking is critical for success.
  • Real tools like VoiceOver, Axe, and Lighthouse reveal what CSS hides
  • It’s never too late to adopt the right tools — learning VoiceOver on Mac allowed me to catch issues others missed
© 2025 Sima Darvish. All Rights Reserved.