Michel Bozgounov

~ CV quick nav ~

  1. Personal information
  2. Work experience
  3. Education
  4. Language skills
  5. Skills and competences
  6. LinkedIn recommendations
  7. Appendix

1. Personal information

2. Work experience

  • position:  Editor
  • when:  2011 – present day
  • employer:  Smashing Media AG
  • activities/responsibilities:  As an editor, I am editing and preparing articles for publishing in Smashing Magazine. I collaborate with authors, the editor-in-chief, co-editors, experts, and proofreaders. My primary focus is on articles about design and UI design tools. Currently I am contributing mainly to the Graphics and Design sections in the magazine; in the past I was the leading editor of the Adobe Fireworks section.
  • position:  Technical Editor
  • when:  May 2017 – present day
  • employer:  Milestone Systems
  • activities/responsibilities:  As a technical editor, I am editing, writing and preparing articles for publishing in the Milestone Knowledge Base. I keep close communication with Support engineers, technical reviewers, QA, and developers.
  • position:  Technical Writer, Editor, Manual QA, Support
  • when:  March 2015 – July 2016
  • employer:  Gravit GmbH (now part of Corel Corp.)
  • activities/responsibilities:  As a technical writer, I was creating tutorials and help pages for the Gravit Documentation section. As an editor, I was editing the team’s newsletters, blog posts, and announcements. As a member of the QA team I was manually testing beta versions of the Gravit Designer app, exploring its stability, performance and features, and then logging any issues found. As a member of the support team, I was communicating closely with the people using the app and the development team, verifying and logging bugs, and suggesting new features.
  • position:  Web Designer
  • when:  January 2011 – July 2011
  • employer:  Webres GmbH
  • activities/responsibilities:  I was designing and providing support for the Joomla and WordPress websites that the company was making for their clients. I was installing plugins and writing HTML/CSS code. I was reviewing websites of clients and making suggestions for improvements, in regard to their usability and accessibility. I also did some logo design and UI design.
  • position:  Volunteer Beta Tester (Manual QA)
  • when:  January 2006 – 2013
  • employer:  Adobe Inc.
  • activities/responsibilities:  I was testing beta builds of Adobe Fireworks (CS3, CS4, CS5, CS5.1, CS6), Dreamweaver (CS4, CS5, CS5.5, CS6) and Illustrator (CS5, CS5.1, CS6). I was suggesting new features and logging bugs. I worked closely with the Adobe development teams, Adobe product managers, and with other Prerelease members.
  • position:  Web Designer
  • when:  2005 – 2010
  • employer:  self-employed (freelance)
  • activities/responsibilities:  As a freelancer web designer, I was creating websites and writing XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.1 code. I also did some logo design, UI design and print design. I worked with WordPress (setting up themes and plugins) and I was making websites from scratch (HTML/CSS layouts).
  • position:  Web Designer
  • when:  2004 – 2008
  • employer:  BlueLink Information Network NGO
  • activities/responsibilities:  I was creating websites and providing support for existing ones. I was working with CMS systems (APC’s ActionApps, and WordPress). I did some UI design and print design and I was writing XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.1 code. I was also providing technical support for our computers and for the local network.

3. Education

  • qualification awarded:  bachelor’s degree in music arts
  • when:  1994 – 1998
  • educational organization:  Music Academy Pancho Vladigerov (Sofia)
  • principal subjects/skills covered:  violin, chamber music, music arts
  • qualification awarded:  high school of music diploma
  • when:  1990 – 1994
  • educational organization:  Music School Lyubomir Pipkov (Sofia)
  • principal subjects/skills covered:  violin, chamber music, music arts

4. Language skills

I am fluent in English and Bulgarian, and I have some reading, writing, and conversational skills in Russian and French. The table below shares all the details.

 (*)  understanding speaking writing
  listening reading spoken interaction spoken production  
Bulgarian C2 (proficient) C2 (proficient) C2 (proficient) C2 (proficient) C2 (proficient)
English C1 (advanced) C2 (proficient) C1 (advanced) C2 (proficient) C2 (proficient)
Russian C2 (proficient) C2 (proficient) C2 (proficient) C2 (proficient) C1 (advanced)
French B2 (intermediate) C1 (advanced) B1 (intermediate) B1 (intermediate) B1 (intermediate)

(*) Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

5. Skills and competences

  • Many years of experience as technical editor (English).
  • Many years of experience as manual QA (beta tester) of graphic design applications.
  • Web design experience, understanding of HTML/CSS, browser (Firefox and Chrome) dev tools.
  • Experience setting up, using, and customizing WordPress blogs (themes, plugins), some FTP and SSH skills.
  • Experience using Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Fireworks, Gravit Designer and Affinity Designer vector design tools. Currently also putting Figma Design to my to-do list.
  • Microsoft Windows power user (Windows 10, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows 98 SE).
  • Some illustration and photography skills.
  • Many years of experience working in remote multi-cultural teams (Smashing Magazine, Gravit, Adobe).
  • Experience using Trello and Notion; some experience with bug tracking systems (JIRA/Atlassian, Caravela, Adobe Prerelease, Microsoft TFS).

6. LinkedIn recommendations

  • “I have the opportunity and good fortune to work with Michel through several channels over the past 10+ years.
      We first met and collaborated through product development forums, beta testing, and product strategy panels for Adobe after the acquisition of Macromedia. He was a frequent contributor for Fireworks and was also able to contribute for Dreamweaver and Flash and the workflows across the tools. His prolific feedback and numerous ideas contributed to product features, training materials, and presentations.
      After significant changes to the Adobe Creative Suite tools (refocused into the Creative Cloud), Michel and I worked together when he edited design and software articles for Smashing Magazine and I was an expert reviewer. He was able to identify and engage talented authors from around the world to bring their expertise in design methods and tools to many. He established strong working relationships with authors and the publisher, and he always helped authors deliver high quality content.
      Finally, over the past several years he has been also involved in some of the Bulgaria Web Summit (BWS) series of conferences in Sofia. His work with the conference organizers has helped attract and host a few expert speakers from the web and mobile design communities from all around the world, and it is due to his efforts that I also have had the pleasure of attending and presenting at one of these conferences.
      Michel is deeply interested and engaged in nearly all facets of digital design, from UX, interaction, and visual design, to content strategy and writing, to professional training for designers and developers. His ability to foster connections, communicate clearly, and encourage others to be as passionate about design and technology has made him a valued friend and colleague to many.”
    — David M. Hogue, Ph.D. (Design Lead at Google), 04/Oct./2021
  • “It was my pleasure to work with Michel when we were working on building the next versions of Adobe Fireworks.
      One thing that stood out for me was his deep passion for what he believes in and stands by, with good understanding and logical reasoning. When you are working towards making something good, even better, such deep passion is much needed and appreciated.
      He was able to build his space, respect and knowledge within the Fireworks community for obvious reasons. His commitment towards the improvement of the app was evident by his dedication in writing articles, posting feedback, bugs, and feature requests.
      Having a conversation with Michel was enlightening also for me as an engineer as I was able to understand the other side of the design world and see how the app is used in real world scenarios.”
    — Sarthak Singhal (Engineer at Adobe), 27/Mar./2017
  • “Michel is a UI designer who volunteered to help make Adobe Fireworks better. I had the chance to work with him during many Adobe Prerelease cycles and his enthusiasm, attention to detail and seemingly endless energy were important to all of us.
      Michel was of great help when the development team needed to find and consistently reproduce bugs in the beta versions of the software. The bug reports he submitted were always very detailed, and he also helped us with some cool ideas for new features — some of which were later implemented in Fireworks. If chance presents, I’d be happy to work with Michel again!”
    — Alan Musselman (Entrepreneur; formerly Fireworks Product Manager at Adobe), 18/Dec./2014
  • “Michel is a very talented designer and editor with deep knowledge on a lot of topics. He is very passionate about design and efficient use of tools for communicating ideas. I have had the opportunity of working with him on a few Smashing Magazine articles and enjoyed the careful editing and attention to craft he brings. He is very reliable and a joy to collaborate with. Michel is very patient, persistent, kind and knows how to help polish an article while maintaining the authenticity of your voice. I look forward to working more with him in the future.”
    — Olawale Oladunni (Head of Digital Experience, Talent Solutions at LinkedIn), 10/Dec./2014
  • “Michel is a brilliant editor and copywriter. I had the pleasure to work with him on a few articles and tutorials for Smashing Magazine and I am looking forward to working with him again soon. His knowledge of some of the Adobe tools is impressive: not only on the design side, but also on the technical side.
      Michel makes you always feel comfortable and his interpersonal skills are just awesome. I have been in touch with him for almost two years now and I am always amazed by his optimism and practicality, great suggestions and deep knowledge of many topics. What I love the most though is his great passion for digital products and a natural positive attitude towards problem-solving. He stays positive no matter what and that’s incredible.
      We’ve done some great work together so far and I can’t wait to produce more articles and editorial materials together with him.”
    — Fabio Benedetti (Senior Product Designer at Apple), 26/Sep./2014
  • “Michel is a hard-working, patient and intelligent writer, editor and front-end developer who wears many hats. He is a person whom you can trust and a person you can rely on. He combines social skills, knowledge, persistence and kindness to get work done just the way it’s supposed to be done. It matters. And it shines through in every article he edits and published for us at Smashing Magazine.”
    — Vitaly Friedman (Smashing Magazine’s Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief), 21/Aug./2014
  • For details, check my public LinkedIn profile:
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/optimiced/

7. Appendix

See also what others are saying about me and my work:

“Michel, your solution is ingenious. Most importantly, your demo page works in Safari (no flash). Thanks for the hard work!”
— Jeffrey Zeldman, author of “Designing With Web Standards” (#, July 2009)

“Michel, you are tireless homme fantastique, thank you!”
— Jeffrey Zeldman, author of “Designing With Web Standards” (#, July 2009)

“We worked with Michel together on the new design for my personal website: his commitment to work was great, his HTML/CSS was as bulletproof as possible, and the final design was both elegant and lightweight.”
— Nikolay Dimitrov, illustrator & photographer (May 2010)

[ CV last updated: 04/Oct./2021 ]