Igor Šalagin

Quick view of my design projects from 2023-2024

@lostdoesart Amazing stuff man, congrats

A year ago I made a switch that changed my life 👇 I was a freelancer in a niche gaming market. Dominated it. But it wasn’t scalable, high-volume, low-ticket work. So I made a bold move: switched from gaming to startup design. No connections. No startup clients. Just a decade of design fundamentals and a goal to 10× my rates. Scary as hell. I asked a big client at the time: “Would you go on a $2k/month retainer?” They laughed. But I kept going. Proved my value. Landed my first startup clients trough X. Fast forward to today: - $12k/month client signed - Another $6k/month locked in for a year - 8 other clients on retainer - Artasaka is now a team of 7 - Highest revenue month ever All because I took a leap of faith. If you’re waiting for the “right time”: 👉 You don’t need permission. 👉 You just need to start.

@JayBorda I will man, thanks for the inspiration heheh

@igorexit Thanks man! Since we do not have more options available in India that’s the only one brand we have rn! But you can go with other brand like nuphy, mode keyboard. Do check these before buying 😀

Buys a mechanical keyboard… not to game, not to type—just to pop off the keys and clean it for fun.🤩

@JayBorda I’m gonna treat myself with same one too soon bro, nice purchase

@igorexit I love it to be honest! Typing experience are so satisfying on this compare to normal keyboard!

@robably__ Can I just continue to cook my pies?

With AI, everybody will make their own software just like how we all cook our own food

@krealdesign Facts bro, time is money and sanity for us too. B2B at the end of the day haha

I see a lot of misunderstanding in the comments. “Man you just lost 20K not willing to make calls, it’s silly”. If a person is in a place to say no because project does not fit their process, they do not lose anything. They gain energy to move forward and surround themselves with work that brings meaning instead of corporate policies. I doubt Fabian was against the discovery call. He even mentioned further that it was about “every other day calls” requirement that does not fit his workflow. You don’t have to go out of your ways and do whatever it takes to just get the 20K project. It’s mentality of acting from a place of neediness. 20K may sound like a lot to you specifically and that’s why you don’t get his point. If you get 20K+ inbounds there is a reason for it, and you have freedom to choose and work exactly the way you want to bring the result you consider valuable.

A subtle Jewelry Category hover Animation. Done for a real e-commerce Shopify project.

Updated thumbnail for my jewelry website design project for a shop founded in 1967 in Australia. At least five designers pitched for this project. One vision won. I'm glad it was us. In this thumbnail, I've reworked the details: - Added a more emotional photograph of the model - Make it super minimalistic - to allow the logo to breathe - Removed the dark frame around the photo - it was redundant Full case study of the project: behance.net/gallery/221035…

Updated thumbnails for my fashion website (60,000 weekly visitors) project for a beauty platform called Beautista. Reworked the details: - Added a hint of niche through the background photo - Emphasized the beauty aspect - Made the website preview less prominent to allow for more emotion This is a NYC business who wanted to redesign their website. Their owner, Jennifer, turned to me for that. I revamped their brand visual identity completely, in terms of imagery, fonts, colors, and adding more social proof to the website. Here's their rebranded and redesigned live website: beautista.com.

@learnframer @framer GENERATOR

here's how to skip the boring part of building @framer sites. comment "GENERATOR" and i'll send you this plugin for free :)

“How long until I’m good at the design business?” - my design students asks me often. “Longer than you want. Shorter than you think.” - I reply. After 7 years in the game, here’s what I know: it’s all on you. All in your hands. It’s the frequency of your design sessions, the number of sales calls you actually take, doing real projects - not just pretty conceptual ones. Sometimes it’s even burning out so badly you finally understand where your limits are. Without burnout, I didn’t know mine. Now I know the line. And I don’t cross it.

@oykun @dom_strykowski In curious to hear more of your Elden Ring experience man, why so

@dom_strykowski goooood one. enjoy. btw i platinum'ed both. Elden Ring was like a walk in the park compared to Bloodborne x.com/oykun/status/1…

@oykun Bloodborne is Goated man. Nothing ever came close. Lies of P is monthly game in PS Plus, need to grt it too

Out of 80+ projects, I’ve never started with “pixel cooking.” Don't get me wrong, I love baking and pastry. But... Jumping straight into Figma before you understand the business and the market you're designing for is a dead end. It’s like trying to frost a cake you haven’t baked yet. Here’s what I do start with: - The specifics of the business and its goals (the brand) - The niche and competitive landscape (the market) - The founder's own taste and preferences (these also affect the outcome) Once that’s nailed down, it's down to execution.

@krealdesign The cats saying that will be replaced by AI themselves in the first place

There are people who prefer fine dining and level of attention they get there. There are those who prefer a nastiest burger for the love of quick dopamine hit. No right or wrong, but there will always be a split. Think about it next time someone says AI will replace you.

@Danielgbright @contra Have you landed good projects with it Daniel?

Indy AI by @contra has been driving me CRAZYYY I tweaked my preferences to exactly the kind of work I want right now… and now it’s just non-stop, gig after gig after gig. I can’t even keep up. Might have to narrow it down before my brain explodes. Wild to think how much time I used to waste hunting for the right projects. Now they’re just there.

@Mike_Scully_ Free :)

On-Boarding new clients is EXTREMELY tedious and TIME consuming I created an automation that helped my client reduce their on-boarding process from 63 minutes to 60 SECONDS. Want this process for FREE? Like & Comment “Free” and I’ll DM you the guide (Must be following)

@Suupercharged Zucker would say it’s VR helmets. But let’s let him wear those. 🤣

@igorexit Definitely waves, what can compete with nature

Pixels in the morning Waves in the evening

GPT-5.0: Hot take. Expectations: Designers and creatives are cooked. Reality: Nothing has changed drastically since 4.0 I've used GPT-5 for 5 hours today, so here’s what I’m seeing: - Image generation: pretty much the same stuff and quality. - Text rewrites: no dramatic leap in nuance or style. - Research: still solid, and noticeably deeper. - Less hallucinations from the robots. Overall: zero “drop everything and rebuild your business” moments. I might change my mind after playing around more, but first impressions rarely lie.