Timeline

Wrote an article: Git for designers who code.

Wrote a new letter to my kids: Give it time (in Ukrainian).

Our New Road Signs Ahead initiative marked its first anniversary! I wrote a blog post (in Ukrainian) with some reflections, comparisons, and details about how we work.

Re-read The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga, three years after my first reading.

My key takeaway this time was the metaphor of a spotlight in a theater, which can shine so brightly on the here and now that the past and future fade from view. It’s such a great metaphor.

Went out with my son Peter for his first time on a real bike.

Finished reading Feeling Great by David D. Burns. I found it very valuable — it can serve as a helpful handbook for years, and I think anyone can benefit from it.

I read it after Feeling Good by the same author and recommend following the same order for the best experience.

Really enjoying Tropic Morning News by The National. It’s the song that inspired me to create this timeline.

Half of new road signs (184 out of 368) are unlocked in our Collection. Quite a milestone!

Watched one of my favorite movies, Amélie (2001), in the cinema.

Re-read Your Music and People by Derek Sivers. There were some gems I didn’t need earlier but really needed this time.

Some of my highlights:

• Ignore advice that drains you
• Flip it in your favor
• Persistence is polite
• Pedestals prevent friendships

This event is hidden.

This event is hidden.

Jason Fried (CEO at 37signals) shared a screenshot from my CV website.

Read It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson. Notes and highlights are here.

Read The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt. My notes are here.

Read Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne together with my daughter. We both enjoyed it!

Published my 2024 year in review on my personal blog (in Ukrainian).

Wrote an article: Two push notifications. It’s about care.

Released cv.zaytsev.io.

Read The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin.

It’s an excellent book. Very kind and inspiring. I recommend getting the hardcover — it took quite an effort to make it great, and you can feel that when you hold it in your hands.

Wrote a blog post about trigonometry and SVG (in Ukrainian).

Learned NATO/ICAO phonetic alphabet (Alfa, Bravo, Charlie…), just for fun.

Completed a 100 km day trip by bike with my friend Anton — my longest cycling ride yet.

Launched the New Road Signs Ahead initiative together with Oleksandr Kolodko. We’re aiming to redesign all Ukrainian road signs to make them clearer and safer, and to move beyond the Soviet legacy.

Read 1984 by George Orwell.

Read Feeling Good by David D. Burns. Great book! My top recommendation for anyone struggling with depression and/or anxiety. My notes are here.

Wrote a new letter to my kids: Gratitude (in Ukrainian).

Read How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams. I liked it — it’s a good book full of practical advice. My highlights are here.

Wrote a letter to my kids and made it public. It explores the idea that people can be seen as treasure troves. (Written in Ukrainian.)

Read Make Something Wonderful, a book about Steve Jobs. It’s very inspiring, and it’s available for free at book.stevejobsarchive.com.

A brand-new Transloadit onboarding experience I designed was launched. The redesign doubled the conversion rate.

Started collecting false friends in Polish — words that look similar to Ukrainian and Russian words but have different meanings.

Published a list of favorite albums on my personal website.

Wrote a blog post explaining why liquid won’t pour out of the AeroPress (in Ukrainian).

Read What’s Our Problem? by Tim Urban. I’m a fan of Wait But Why, and I’d been really looking forward to this book. It taught me a lot and gave me some great insights into our society.

My notes and highlights are available here.

Wrote a blog post about how I configure macOS from scratch (in Ukrainian).

Wrote a blog post about bathroom locks (in Ukrainian). These locks often have an external emergency-release slot that can indicate whether the door is locked.

After the post was published, my favorite coffee place adjusted the slot’s position based on my suggestions. This really made my day!

Rode a bike on the Tempelhof Airport runway. A dream come true.

Our son Peter was born.

Brewed coffee in a V60 for the first time. I really needed an activity that requires concentration to distract me from doomscrolling and the stress related to the war.

I’m very thankful to Bohdan Pershyn for sending me excellent beans and sharing his recipe.

Visited Sumy, Ukraine — fulfilling my wish to visit every administrative center of Ukraine’s 24 oblasts. Sumy completed the list.

Arrived in Zurich on a night train from Budapest. It was a dream come true — I once saw that train at Keleti Pályaudvar and really wanted to take it someday.

In Kyiv, installation has started for the paid parking signs that I designed together with Oleksandr Kolodko.

I’m proud of this project. These signs can be found almost everywhere in the city center.

Learned Katakana. It was really enjoyable to memorize the characters and practice writing them!

I shared my experience on my blog (in Russian).

Bought a used Olympus Mju-II, a compact film camera introduced in 1997. It reminded me how great it is to rediscover what you shot after a while, and then hold real, printed photos in your hands.

I shared some scans on my blog: 1, 2, 3.

Played a few songs on my guitar in a park in the city center. It was super scary to go for it, but it turned out to be an amazing experience.

Did my first multi-day hike, shared with my wife and friends. We walked long distances, camped in tents, ate wild blueberries, drank crystal-clear water, and truly enjoyed the scenery.

A major redesign of the Transloadit Console was implemented. It was one of the most complex and interesting projects I had worked on. I took care of the design and most of the HTML and CSS.

Bought our first car — Renault Laguna III. I fell in love with this model when I was just a passenger in a random taxi. Buying this car was a dream come true.

Launched a public beta of Sintra, a budgeting service I designed and co-founded.

Shared my thoughts on being a father on my personal blog (in Russian).

Visited Portugal with my friend Artem. It was one of the most inspiring trips ever. The food, architecture and azulejos were amazing — and I saw the ocean for the first time.

I shared some photos from the trip in a blog post (in Russian).

Read Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! — great book, remarkable human being. A must-read.

Started working with Transloadit.

The new NIC.UA website was launched. I led the design process and developed the HTML and CSS.

NIC.UA is one of the most popular domain registrars and hosting providers in Ukraine. This was one of the largest projects I’ve worked on, and I’m proud of the result.

The Children’s Railway in my hometown Dnipro received design updates for its 80th anniversary: new tickets, ticket punchers, a timetable, and other useful improvements.

It was a pleasure to work on these updates. There are more details in this thread.

Read Xenophon’s Memorabilia about Socrates.

It’s an underrated book. Remarkably relevant despite being written around 2,400 years ago.

Socrates’ way of asking questions and the parable of Hercules at the crossroads deeply impressed and inspired me.

Wrote a blog post about the Julian and Gregorian calendars and a non-obvious difference between them (in Russian).

Read the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Incredibly inspiring, motivating and impactful — one of the best books I’ve ever read.

Wrote a blog post about the Hungarian language (in Russian) and my learning experience.

Our daughter Aurora was born.

Got my driver’s license.

A tram map that I designed for my hometown Dnipro became official.

Married Marina.

Graduated from the National Mining University of Ukraine as a Bachelor of Marketing.

Wrote a blog post about Pale Blue Dot (in Russian).

I was curious about the narration in the track Suspended in a Sunbeam by The Flashbulb, and it turned out to be a profound and touching excerpt from Carl Sagan.

Did a parachute jump.

Read Tao Te Ching. This book is very dear to me.

I was deeply inspired by it and wanted to share it with others, so I created a web version.

Moved out of my parents’ house and started living independently.

Took my first plane flight.

Got an iPod nano (2nd Gen) — my first piece of Apple tech. It was fantastic and set a high standard of design that inspired and impacted me a lot.

Got my first job at the age of 16.

Created a website for a company that sold corrosion protection products. It was the first time I earned money from web design.

My parents, with significant help from my grandmother, bought me my first computer. It was an AMD Athlon 550 MHz with 64 MB of RAM and an 8 MB graphics card.

I was born.