Akiva Elkin: Looking for a product design internship, summer 2027
University of Miami: Public relations, photography minor
Email: elkinakiva@gmail.com
Photography: olympusmedia.org

Human-centered design

I sit with people, walk through how they work and find what frustrates them most. Then I design a fix that feels simple, intuitive and satisfying.

Try the live demos

Projects

Nexus

Goal and mission planner

Turns vague goals into a ranked list of small missions, then plans them into your week.

Try the full demo Every screen of Nexus

      
        Your goals, in your wordsRamble during setup and Nexi hands back clear goals.
        
        A day that plans itselfMissions placed around classes, colour-coded by what's left.
        
        Add a mission in secondsWhen it's due and when you'll do it, from one picker.
        
        Everything, rankedDeadlines at a glance, the next thing always on top.

Cheffi

Kitchen assistant

Knows what is in your fridge, freezer and pantry, and builds recipes from what is about to go off.

Try the full demo Every screen of Cheffi

      
        What to use firstYour kitchen at a glance, with what's about to go off.
        
        Ideas from what you haveRecipes built around your fridge, not the other way round.
        
        Only buy what's missingEvery ingredient you own is ticked off already.
        
        Cook without squintingOne step at a time, big enough to read from the stove.

Tally

Money in one place

Every bank and card in one place: spending sorted by swiping, budgets that follow your pace, bills it watches for you.

Try the full demo Every screen of Tally

      
        Your money in one numberEvery bank and card, down to where you actually stand.
        
        Sort by swipingEach new charge is a card. Flick it into its category.
        
        A budget that reads your paceGreen to red by how fast you're spending, not a percentage.

Slate

Client room for video teams

Where a short-form video team plans its sessions: client profiles, topic and hook ideas, and a memory that learns the team’s taste.

Try the full demo Every screen of Slate

      
        Every client, at a glanceCards lit in each client's colour, this week's shoots on top.
        
        One room per clientContact, strategy, rules and every past session.
        
        What each shoot producedEvery clip and its numbers, back on the session that made it.

By the numbers

384 changes shipped across these projects since August
265 changes to Nexus in 10 weeks
148 saved versions of Nexus, each one dated
538 plain-language notes on what changed and why
21 design options over six review rounds for one Nexus picker
11 accounts on Nexus by mid-September

How I work

I listen first. I ask questions and walk through someone's workflow with them until I find the most annoying part of their day. Around fifteen jobs before this taught me how different work looks from the inside, and how to talk to anyone about it.

Then options, never one answer. For each change I ask for several directions drawn side by side and answer each one yes, no, or what to change. Every round gets its own page, so I can see how a decision moved.

Simple is the hard part. Years as a photographer gave me an eye for what to leave out. Due by in Nexus went from six chips to a dial to two wheels in one week, each one simpler to use than the last.

Technical enough to know what's possible. Claude Code is my engineer. I set the problem, judge every option, decide what ships and test it, so I know what can be built, what it costs and where it breaks.

Social enough to explain it. Every change gets written up in the words its user would want to hear. These are the newest entries, read straight from the projects.

Nexus · 21 Oct 2026

Missions side by side keep whole words

When two things share an hour on the Schedule, each name now wraps at spaces, stops after two lines with “…”, and the XP tag sits under it. Before, a narrow block broke its name a few letters to a line (“De / nti / st”). From the portfolio review, board 1.

Cheffi · 24 Oct 2026

Kitchen folds away

Profile shows Kitchen as three rows (Gear, Spices & basics, Stores) that open one at a time. Gear opens to one checklist, the likeliest things first: scroll, tick what you have, add your own at the end. Pans and pots you tick show their sizes under them.…

Tally · 21 Oct 2026

Found payments open with Tally's guess

The first-look sheet shows each payment with one tag, like "Bill · Rent". Tap a tag to change just that one; Looks right keeps them all. "Go through them one by one" opens every row's choices, the old way.

Slate · 24 Oct 2026

History

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Studying: Public relations, University of Miami
Minor: Entrepreneurship
Before this: Around fifteen jobs, and six years of photography

About me

Before design I worked around fifteen different jobs, and I've been a photographer for six years. The jobs taught me to talk to anyone and to see a workflow from the inside; the camera taught me to care how things look and feel. That is how I work now: I listen, ask questions, find the most frustrating part of someone's day, and design a fix that feels simple and satisfying. I'm technical enough to know what can be built, and social enough to explain it to the people who will use it.

Shipped