Valery Fironov. Designer and art director with a background in branding, digital products and design leadership. I design complex interfaces and own a product’s visual direction from MVP to scale.
I grew up in Kazakhstan and started out as a graphic designer. In my early twenties I co-founded Arts Laboratory, an advertising agency, and later launched my own studio, FIRON. The studio built a strong reputation in the industry and laid the foundation for everything that followed. From there, my career took me through category leaders in agencies, media, retail, automotive and fintech, as Art Director, Creative Director and Design Director. The industries and the scale kept changing. The difficulty of the work never did.
In Flow
Experience highlights
- Grew from designer to design director across media, e-commerce, automotive and fintech, with each step bringing bigger scale and harder problems.
- Built and led in-house design teams at product companies, turning scattered designers into real teams with shared processes and standards.
- Launched and relaunched products, websites and digital services for Russian and international markets, from first release to full redesign.
- Led major rebrands for large companies, from identity strategy to a full refresh of digital products and brand communications.
- Designed and rolled out design systems that brought order to complex products and helped teams ship faster and stay aligned as they scaled.
- Won industry awards in digital and branding. What I value more is work that keeps delivering years after the award.
Who I've worked with
From early-stage startups to global brands. Whatever the size of the company, my job was the same: set the visual direction and make the design calls that define it.
By the numbers
- 100+ products and services shipped
- 30+ brand identities
- 15+ design and digital awards
- 25+ years of design practice
- 10+ years leading design
- 15+ designers mentored and managed
Career
| Year | Company | Position | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 – 2025 | Chery Automobile | Design Lead | E-com, Auto |
| 2020 | Detskiy Mir | Design Director | E-com, Retail |
| 2017 – 2019 | Kalashnikov | Creative Director | Industry |
| 2012 – 2017 | Hearst Shkulev | Design Director | Digital Media |
| 2011 | Rеd Кеds | Senior Art Director | Digital, Advertising |
| 2007 – 2009 | BSTD | Creative Director | Digital |
| 2007 | МRМ Interactive | Art Director | Digital, Advertising |
| 2002 – 2006 | Actis Wunderman | Art Director | Digital |
| 2000 – 2001 | RBC | Senior Designer | Digital |
Awards
| Year | Contest | Place | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Runet rating | 1st | Portals |
| Runet rating | 2nd | Industry and equipment | |
| 2018 | Runet rating | 2nd | Consumer goods and trade |
| 2015 | Runet rating | 1st | Media, publishing houses |
| 2012 | Runet rating | 1st | PR/SMM agencies |
| Runet rating | 1st | CMS system | |
| Runet rating | 3rd | Webstudio/ digital agencies | |
| 2011 | Positive content | Winner | Best youth site with positive design |
| Runet rating | 1st | Portals and services | |
| 2008 | Golden Flea | 2nd | - |
| 2007 | MIAF: Red Apple | 2nd | Internet communications |
| 2006 | Identity: Best of the best | 1st | Trade and services |
| 2005 | KIAF | 1st | Non-commercial organizations |
| KIAF | 1st | Self-promotion | |
| 2004 | MIAF | 1st | Non-commercial organizations |
| MIAF | 2nd | Corporate website |