Strategic Design for Brands on a Mission

I help small and medium businesses thrive with strategic branding that creates loyal customers and intuitive UX that makes buying easy.

A little more about me

For me, design has always been more than a job. It's my creative outlet—the place where I feel most capable, and the primary way I can make a meaningful contribution to the world.

That desire to contribute has always been focused on a single mission: helping the underserved. It's a thread that has run through my entire career, from creating accessible loan products and financial education in my early work, to the projects I tackle today.

This mission shapes my entire approach. My design philosophy is to make things easy—to create clear, accessible, and intuitive experiences that empower people. My personal art is where I allow myself to be expressive, telling the deeper stories of my journey, my culture, and my convictions.

Everything I do comes back to a core belief in equal chances and choices for everyone. It's a conviction born from my own journey. I see my work as a contribution to that fight, a tool for those who need it most. I am, and always will be, an underdog for the underdogs.When I'm not working, I enjoy hand lettering and crafting, which provide a break from screens and allow me to get my hands dirty. You can view my experiments here.

  • In my role as a product designer, I work with business units, product managers, and researchers to develop a comprehensive vision for the product and gain executive buy-in. I use my design skills to help the team understand complex user research and business insights, and identify opportunities by sharing how to use mental models for better problem-framing. I create user journeys, process flows, and visual aids that help everyone understand what is happening and enable them to use their expertise more effectively.

  • I believe that being able to work effectively with cross-functional teams is a critical skill for a product designer. I have experience working with different sizes and types of teams, and have had to take on a variety of roles. As a freelancer, I have worked with outsourced development and marketing teams. To ensure that everyone has access to the necessary information, I create comprehensive product wikis and design libraries.

  • I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Communication Design from RMIT in Melbourne and have experience working with a variety of mediums, including print and app design. I have a strong understanding of typography, color, layout, iconography, and aesthetic principles.

  • I have experience facilitating group workshops and alignment sessions. As a facilitator, my main responsibilities include keeping everyone on topic and managing time effectively. I have facilitated workshops with a range of participant numbers, from one-on-one strategic sessions to Miro ideation and voting sessions with over 100 participants. These experiences have helped me understand what it means to be a design leader and how to bring cross-functional teams together.

Testimonials

  • Kyle Becker - Managed me at Yoma Bank

    worked with Mike during our time at Yoma Bank while it underwent its digital transformation. Mike is one of the more curious and thoughtful designers I have had the opportunity to work with. With a background across a diverse set of design mediums, he really understands the way different touchpoints in a user journey come together to create a holistic experience. Whether it is in his previous areas of focus, such as print design or animation, new design skills such as digital UI/UX, or even completely new areas such as customer segmentation, we never were able to find a challenge that Mike didn’t jump into (or people he couldn’t collaborate with). This curiosity and openness makes working with Mike a pleasure, and I look forward to watching his skill set grow and hope for an opportunity to work with him again in the future.

  • Zun Lynn Htun - worked together on Re21 Project

    I worked together with Mike for designing Re21 mobile app. It was indeed inspiring to work together with someone like Mike who has a great passion for design and user experience. Mike is a well-rounded designer with impeccable coordination and timeliness. I was greatly impressed with his willingness to go above and beyond what was asked of him to deliver a great end-user experience. I'd very much like to collaborate with Mike in the future again.

  • Aye Pa Pa Myo - worked together on Re21

    I worked together with Bro Mike as an assistant for some of his projects. He consistently impressed me with his skills in UX & UI , branding , print design and facilitating workshops. He’s a very professional and skillful designer. In addition to that , he’s also a good senior leader and always ready to give me new opportunities to learn more new design things. He's really never failed to surprise me with his creativity and out-of-the-box thinking abilities. He can also do a high volume of work while consistently maintain high standards for quality. He’s very well organized and keeps track of the details necessary to coordinate the projects. I am really proud to work with him and I am looking forward to working with him again.

  • Lisa Battle - Founder of Battle Tech

    I knew I needed a logo for my new consulting business and I had a vague idea of what I wanted it to be. I reached out to Mike because I liked his portfolio but wasn't sure what to expect. Mike surprised me in a very good way. He worked with me asynchronously but was happy to meet if I wanted to. It only took a few minutes of my time to answer Mike's questions and then he was off to work. He generated several directions we could go in and what kind of brand each would project to my customers, all in sync with the vague idea I had shared with him. Mike was polite, responsive, and worked hard until we had a design that was perfect for me. I would recommend Mike without hesitation to any business owner looking to create or refresh their brand, you won't be disappointed.

  • Su Yee Yee Hnin - worked together at Yoma Bank

    I’m working together with Mike at Yoma Bank for Digital Division.

    Mike is a well-rounded, designer. As a UX designer, his solutions are always well thought out and superbly executed. As a UI Designer, his works are impeccably crafted with a systematic approach to design. His visuals are aesthetically beautiful & he's a speedy executor. I enjoy working with him and hope to work on more projects with him.

  • Zwe Thura Myo - Managing Director of Moe Yun Gyi

    Description goes hereVery nice to work with and very professional. The result is impressive. Moeyungyi brand is beyond the expectation. The brand strategy and brand guideline gave us clear vision for the future developments. The change of moeyungyi branding starts with good step and future development await.

  • Dr. Phyo Han Thein - OneApp Founder

    DescriptiWe work with Mra Design for customized OneApp. The result is outstanding and OneApp looks one of a kind, it can portrait the feel and look that ease user peace of mind on day to day usage. Overall design is simple yet powerful for user acquisition. We are very pleased with the outcome and we would work with Mra Design for the future projects.on goes here

  • Alex Sitt Aung - Managing Director Bitukar

    We are very satisfied with the outcome we received. The final branding turned out to be exactly as per what we wanted. Mike understood the intricate details of the brief, the brand direction and strategy given to him. Not only did he understand, he also patiently guided us through his own creative translation of our brand and of our strategic business intent, in terms of aligning his understanding of our brand, exploring concepts and brining those ideas to life to achieve an original and iconic branding. We appreciate the heart and soul put into the brand and it was a great work done. We would highly recommend him to anyone who is looking for high value branding services.

  • Christine Aung - Business Development @ Beyond Group

    We worked on our first-ever product revamp project with Mike. He captured the essence of our vision with our relaunched product and extension of other product lines very well and presented us with designs with a refreshing look that we were seeking for the Myanmar market. The success of our first project together led to subsequent branding projects that were both amidst the conceptualization stage at the time. Mike was able to turn our abstract ideas into impactful branding tools and logos that embodied our concepts and brand visions. We greatly appreciate his attention to detail in creating well-thought-out designs, and his flexibility and timeliness to collaborate have made working together easy as well. We can't wait to see what's in store for Mike and we look forward to future collaborations with him.