Dive Club 🤿 – Episode Summary

Podcast: Dive Club
Host: Ridd
Guest: Roman Tesliuk (Head of Web Design, Eleven Labs)
Date: December 15, 2025
Episode: From side projects to leading web design at Eleven Labs

Episode Overview

This episode features a deep-dive conversation between host Ridd and Roman Tesliuk about Roman’s journey from creative side projects to leading web design at Eleven Labs. Roman shares his iterative design process, his approach to combining timeless principles with modern interactivity, and how curiosity and personal excitement drive his best work. The episode is packed with candid discussions, real project breakdowns, and advice for any designer struggling with personal or portfolio work—especially in the age of AI-driven tools.

Key Discussion Points

The Challenge of Designing for Yourself

• Identity and Self-Reflection in Portfolio Design
  Designing your own site is as tough as any client work—possibly tougher because it forces you to confront personal identity and perfectionism.

  • “To me, it feels just as difficult as designing your own personal portfolio because you're trying to make a cool design, and you're also struggling with your own identity while you're doing it.” — Roman (B), [00:19] / [04:16]
  • The internal struggle: balancing portfolio pieces that showcase work versus making the site itself a design showpiece.

• Going Broad and Wide with Concepts
  Roman describes his process as intentionally “going wide”, exploring a huge range of visual directions, often outside his usual style.

  • “I just wanted to go as far away from what it was as I could.” — Roman (B), [05:18]
  • “You have to figure out what feels timeless, what feels too trendy, and what still feels like you.” — [Throughout 05:00–09:00]

Exploration, Experimentation & Toolmaking

• Playing with Design Languages & Tools

  • Roman shares details of his Figma files, how he screenshots inspiration, tries out nostalgic pixel art, and explores grid systems and old-school typography.
    • “I even was pixelating the logo... it's like a throwback. You know, if you grew up in the 90s playing computer games, you're used to this kind of pixel art. There's a nostalgic piece of me that loves that.” — Roman, [05:55]

• The Role of Personal Toolmaking

  • Roman builds custom tools and plugins (including a mosaic bitmap icon tool). He walks through the evolution of this pixel icon maker—how a playful side idea became the seed of a central interactive element.

    • “I've always, even when I was hand coding websites before AI, would create little variables as like a control panel... Now, you can just be like: give me a slider that adjusts the hover distance.” — Roman, [17:52]
    • Time spent on fun ideas is not wasted: “You wouldn't believe how long it took me to make this Figma icon... a ridiculous amount of time spent on this one dumb icon that had no idea what I was even going to do with it.” — Roman, [09:09]

  • Not all explorations ship, but they often lead to even better outcomes.

    • “This never saw the light of day... there’s still a part of me that comes back to this one.” — Roman, [12:25]

AI as a Design Superpower

• How AI Changes the Process

  • AI accelerates iteration and unlocks superpowers, but requires a vision to avoid generic results.
    • “AI is giving me superpowers now... what if we tapped into the Unsplash API? ...it's like, for no other reason than I enjoy this.” — Roman, [24:18]
    • "These tools just produce slop? No, they produce whatever you want them to produce. Come up with some kind of an idea and you can bring it to life." — Ridd (C), [28:06]

• Prompt Engineering as a Skill

  • Roman describes how he uses prompts not just to "one-shot" outcomes but to iterate, explore, and direct the tools with increasing specificity.
    • “If you’re just trying to one-shot a website, that's a sloppy prompt... These are hammers, not magic wands. Your dream home comes from your vision.” — Roman, [28:30]

Balancing Timelessness with Playfulness

• Seeking 'Timeless' over 'Trendy'

  • The main creative tension: resisting fleeting trends to focus on what will feel right in years, not just months.
    • “I wanted something that felt more timeless... Ultimately, that’s why I went with a sharper, more geometric, Swiss-inspired layout.” — Roman, [08:29]

• Exploration Leading to the Final Direction

  • Roman walked through—step by step—how initial pixelated, highly interactive designs were ultimately distilled into cleaner, more foundational layouts (yet still retained playfulness via interactive details).

Iteration: Figma vs. Code

• Where Are Creative Decisions Made?

  • “I’d get it to like 85% in Figma, and then finish in code—especially for anything interactive, like hover states and animations.” — Roman, [39:29] / [52:53]
  • Sometimes, designs are only realized through code tinkering, not static design.

• Notable Moment: Diagonal Animation Component

  • “I had this added as like a hover state... and I'm like, that's too much. I probably spent three times as long on this project as I needed to!” — Roman, [55:04]

Battling Discouragement & Finding Vision

• Comparison and Design Envy

  • Roman cautions against browsing too many references mid-project.
    • “You might be 50% done and then see a cool new site and think, ‘Oh, what I’m doing is basic.’ So easy to get discouraged.” — Roman, [45:59]/[61:08]

• Advice for Designers Building Portfolios

  • “Get a vision for what you want it to be. Pick adjectives! Commit to a direction. Don’t look at too many references. And let your own excitement drive the project.” — Roman, [45:10]/[60:10]
  • “Having that conviction of what excites you and what you really like—regardless of how it’s received—that’s what makes it fun.” — Roman, [61:08]

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the Uncertainty of Identity in Self-Initiated Work:
  “You’re also struggling with your own identity while you’re doing it. Who am I?” — Roman (B), [00:19]
• On Building and Playing with Tools:
  “Their first thing my kids did when I showed them this was, ‘let’s max out every parameter and see what it looks like’... It’s a digital fidget spinner—I couldn’t stop playing with it.” — Roman, [25:45]
• On AI as a Creative Partner:
  “You’re not going to swing a hammer and accidentally build your dream home... designers are cooked? Well, you just plagiarized an entire website.” — Roman, [28:30]
• On Personal Fulfillment in Side Projects:
  “When you stumble onto something that just feels very fun for yourself, that will ultimately impact how your project comes together... If I was bored and everything was on a deadline, it’d feel sterile and rushed.” — Roman, [30:30]
• On Going Deep (and Wide):
  “Something I love about this behind the scenes is seeing how wide you go, but how deep you go.” — Ridd, [56:43]

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Topic/Segment | Timestamp | |-----------------------------------------------------------------|-------------| | Identity Crisis & 'Who Am I?' When Designing Your Portfolio | [00:19],[04:16] | | Gathering Inspiration & Early Experimentation | [04:48]–[09:00] | | Deep Dive: Pixel Icons & Mosaic Tool | [09:08]–[11:47] | | Toolmaking & Interactive Design Flows | [13:13]–[23:49] | | AI as a Workflow Supercharger | [17:52]–[24:18] | | Iteration, Exploring Dead Ends, and the Value of Play | [24:10]–[30:30] | | Timelessness vs. Trendiness, Visual Direction Choices | [35:33]–[38:53] | | Building in Figma vs. Tinkering in Code | [39:29]–[54:08] | | The Value of Process, Experimentation, and Confidence | [45:10]–[61:08] |

Takeaways & Advice (For Designers)

• Embrace Exploration: Go wide and deep. Try 10 directions and don’t be afraid to discard most as you focus on what feels “timeless.”
• Let Curiosity Lead: Your best (& most original) work will spring from genuine interest, not chasing trends or seeking approval.
• Use AI (and Tools) as Extensions—not Crutches: Develop a vision, articulate it, and use the new tools to sharpen and iterate, not just generate.
• Don’t Get Stuck in Comparison: Avoid the “design envy” trap. Trust in your own adjectives and ambitions.
• Finish in Code: Especially for interactive or animated sites, expect to do your last 10-20% of refinement hands-on, outside design tools.
• Iterate, Play, and Have Fun: Your joy in the process will come through in the final product.

Episode Vibe

Candid, insightful, a little neurotic, and deeply encouraging for any designer—whether you’re shipping a personal site, a product, or dreaming up your next tool. The conversation is technically detailed but always circles back to craft, energy, and the human side of design.

For all show notes, resources, and episode links: dive.club