Pavol Donko

About me

I'm a Senior Product Designer based in Brno, Czech Republic. 15+ years of experience, most of it spent designing headless CMS products, building design systems, and advocating for accessible interfaces.

What I do

I design digital products that are clear, fast, and useful. My work goes beyond Figma prototypes — I facilitate design workshops, run usability research, align with product managers and developers, and stay involved through to shipped.

Currently at Kontent.ai, where I:

  • Own end-to-end product design across complex enterprise workflows
  • Oversee the design system — components, guidelines, and coaching designers on proper use
  • Lead accessibility advocacy — WCAG AA compliance, contrast, keyboard navigation, clickable area sizes

Experience

  • Senior Product Designer — Kontent.ai, Brno (2023–present)
    Improving the product from start to finish. Overseeing the design system. Accessibility advocate.
  • Lead UX Designer — Kentico, Brno (2015–2023)
    Led a comprehensive product redesign of Kentico Kontent (now Kontent.ai). Responsible for product consistency and overall UX.
  • UX Designer — Mavenir, Brno (2013–2015)
    Solo UX team responsible for the entire design process across various telecom dashboards.
  • UX & UI Designer, Co-founder — Celebrio, Brno (2011–2013)
    OS for elderly people. Led a team of 5 designers. Full process: research, prototyping, usability testing.

Teaching & mentoring

  • Tutor and Mentor, Comprehensive UX Course — Czechitas, Brno (2018)
  • Tutor, Practical UX Course — Masaryk University, Brno (2014)
  • Seminar Tutor, HCI Laboratory — Masaryk University, Brno (2010–2017)

Approach

I start with a lot of questions. I'm comfortable saying "we should reconsider the problem" when the brief turns out to be solving the wrong thing. Research-informed decisions, deep understanding of user needs, and close collaboration with engineering and product are how I work — not just UX as a handoff step.

Outside work

Biohacking and healthspan optimisation, sauna, snowboarding, backpacking. Also: photography, everything Italian, and Zettelkasten for knowledge management.

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