Hello, I'm so glad you came across my portfolio, welcome!

My name is Niya and I am a recent graduate from the MA Web Design and Content Planning programme at the University of Greenwich. I am making a career change from events to web design and am excited to get into this new chapter of my life.

Have a look at my work and get in touch, I'd love to talk to you!

Recent projects

Bulgarian thread

For my final project at university I chose to develop a website for teaching people how to do Bulgarian embroidery and the meaning behind Bulgarian clothing, different designs and compositions. Phase one of this project is complete and the website is now live.

Project overview

For this project my assignment was to create a dynamic website using a Content Management System (CMS) of my choice. I had freedom to choose the topic of the website and I chose Bulgarian embroidery because it is a personal interest of mine and something I grew up with. And because most of the information is only available in Bulgarian, I wanted to make it accessible and share it with a wider audience outside of Bulgarian-speaking people.
~ See the live website

Project description

In preparation for this project I also developed a static prototype using HTML, CSS and JavaScript only, which was quite helpful when I started developing the theme for my CMS. I chose to use WordPress because it is the most widely used but also has the most resources to support me while I learn how to work with it. I planned to develop 'Bulgarian thread' in two phases. Phase one focused more on the technical side of building the website and publishing some content, and is now complete. Phase two will be my ongoing work to continue researching and publishing content on the website and making it rich with information.

Completed work

• UX Research & Competitor analysis
• Developed user personas & empathy mapping
• Prototyping
• WordPress theme development with PHP
• Content sourcing, translation and preparation
• Content optimisation
• Illustrations created with Adobe Illustrator
• Accessibility conformance and testing

Work snippets

Speaker at SotB 2025

Talk description

I had the honour of delivering my first ever talk at State of the browser 2025, talking about the importance of enabling both light and dark modes on our websites, user accessibility issues and difficulties, and environmental impacts. I specifically focused on how we can enable light and dark modes using the new light-dark() CSS function.
~ Watch the talk

Web content editor for End of Year Show 2025

Project overview

The End of Year Show is an annual exhibition highlighting the exceptional work of our students across the varied portfolio of the School of Design and Creative Industries at the University of Greenwich. This year the university decided to create an online portfolio of the students' work to further promote and showcase their skills.
~ See the live website

Completed work

• Efficiently organised content in WordPress CMS.
• Optimised projects visuals provided by the students and lecturers.
• Ensured accessibility of the website by providing content alternatives - ALT text, video transcript.
• Organised and transferred textual content to pages and posts.

Recursive Records revisited

Project overview

I had previously developed a promotion website for a fictitious small business called Recursive Records, part of my university degree. After receiving feedback, my next assignment was to revisit and improve the website based on the feedback and re-develop it into a more dynamic website using PHP.
~ See the live website

Technical requirements

Completed work

Work snippets

Fictitious project for Recursive Records

Project overview

University project about a non e-commerce website for a fictitious small and independent retail shop based in a town somewhere in England - Recursive Records. The website had to contain all necessary and relevant information a customer would need to understand what the business offers, how to visit it in person and act as a promotion tool for attracting more people.
~ See the live website

Technical requirements

• Hand-coded HTML and CSS only
• No use of templating systems
• Lean and semantic markup - W3C validated
• Well-organised files and file structure
• Appropriate design choices - typography, colours, layout, images, visuals, responsive pages

Completed work

• Sourced, produced and optimised appropriate visuals.
• Wrote content from scratch.
• Prototyped and sketched layout.
• Designed colour scheme and typography for a cosy, vintage and friendly look.
• Designed pages for progressive enhancement.
• Followed 'Mobile First' and 'Content Out' approaches.

Work snippets

Training

UX Research and Design workshop

Description

A Design Thinking (DT) workshop at university, focused on improving UX research and design techniques with a user-centered design approach. The client was a fictitious eco-conscious startup focused on minimising single-use plastic bottles, with a greater goal of generating as little waste as possible. Avoiding blockchain and no use of carbon-intensive technologies like ChatGPT.

Task

In groups, conduct user research interviews, analyse the findings and design a solution to reducing single-use plastic bottles for the company. Prepare a 5 minute pitch to present the idea.

Completed work

• Crafted interview questions.
• Conducted user interviews - other groups in the class.
• Analysed research findings.
• Completed empathy mapping.
• Prototyped a number of solution ideas.
• Created wireframes to visualise the final idea.
• Prepared and delivered pitch presentation of the final solution.

Work snippets

• Previously

  Events experience

  I have worked in the events industry since 2022 on various types of events such as festivals, conferences, sport events, horse races, exhibitions, award ceremonies, fundraisers and marathons. My roles varied over the years from Event Assistant to Event Manager, and the fast-paced and changing nature of events is one of the things that helped be become more adaptable and a quicker problem-solver.

  

  My work included

  • Speaker and stakeholder liaising.
  • Team coordination and management
  • Venue set-up and break-down.
  • Attendee registration and check-in.
  • Event marketing.
  • Event design.
  • Customer service.
  • Budgeting and financing.

  Photography experience

  Before moving to the UK I worked as a photographer for 4 years and occasionally as a videographer. My projects varied vastly from product photography through weddings to major city events and projects.

  Graduation film

  I assisted in the filming of a graduation film for the class of 2020 in my high school since the pandemic did not allow for them to have the usual 'Graduation Send-off' ceremony. This was a really cool project, as the content had to be humoristic and satirical. We got very creative trying to come up with different ideas to make it engaging and fun.

  

  You can watch the whole film on YouTube but please bear in mind that it is in Bulgarian and unfortunately there is no translation provided.

  Short comedy films

  Another interesting project I worked on was a series of short comedy films for my home city, as it is known for being the humoristic capital of Bulgaria with many fun stories and myths about it. Our team was tasked with overseeing the project from start to finish, and it was very fun researching anecdotes and jokes that fit the concept.

  You can read about the project or watch the videos but again all videos are in Bulgarian and there is no translation provided.

  My work included

  • Composition
  • Camera operation
  • Photo editing
  • Video editing
  • Concept development
  • Actor coordination
  • Props sourcing

A little background

What was I up to before coming to the UK?

Before moving to the UK, I worked as a photographer and videographer. I was mostly an events photographer for city events, weddings and proms. My favourite part of the job was the fun and friendly approach we took with our clients, which has left me with lots of great memories!

What happened when I moved to the UK?

Because I love working with people, and because of my experience as an events photographer, I continued my undergraduate education in Events Management. I moved to London to study and work in the events industry. Over the past 4 years, I have worked at different events like festivals, conferences and exhibitions. The experience has been super fun and rewarding but also interesting to see how people behave differently depending on the type of event.

So, why the change in careers?

Even though I still love and enjoy working on events, through my experience I realised that a full-time career in the events industry may not be the best option for me. I have always been interested in designing products and services for people, how people interact with them and the impact it has on them. This is one of the things I loved most about events. Seeing how technology can be used to improve the event experience for people is why I decided to learn more about web design and development and pursue a career in that direction.