Need advice for evidences for exceptional talent (UX/UI product designer)

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Hi everyone. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience. It helps me a lot!
I’m going to apply for GTV as an exceptional talent with 9 years of experience, and am trying to prove MC, OC3 and OC2. I would love to hear your advice.

My permanent role within the last 5 years was at companies A and B. I also worked as a contractor with numerous start-ups which are not at the stage to hire a permanent designer.

1: Which 2 evidence should I use/not use for OC3 among options 1 to 3? I would go for 1 (Japanese scale-up) and 2 (EV charge), but any advice? I’m thinking of using evidence 5 and 6, and am wondering which additional 2 of option 1 to 3 I should pick.
2: Can I add some other content to strengthen each evidence?
3: If you have any other advice, I’d like to hear it!

(Just skipped detailed information to keep things private)

This is the structure I’m thinking of:

LOR 1
CEO of company A (London-based fintech), current employer

LOR 2
Professor at a Japanese University, where I taught for 2 years

LOR 3
Chief Creative Officer at company B (Japanese scale-up), former employer I worked for 5 years

MC evidence 1
Awards and professional recognition, which include:

  1. Certified Human Centred Design Professional by HCD Net (Japan’s most recognised HCD accreditation) certificate
  2. Good Design Award (Japan’s most recognised design award) for the product I led the design of. Certificate and screenshot of the website showing the award includes my name as a team member
  3. Finder Provider of the Year Awards. The app I’m leading the design of in company A is awarded. Screenshot of the website showing the App logo
  4. CSS Design Award, special kudos (twice). Screenshot includes my name
  5. CSS Winner, star (twice). Screenshot includes my name

MC evidence 2
Impact at fintech company A (I’m currently working as the most senior product designer, practically functioning as lead designer). LOR 1 from the CEO describe that I’m leading design while deciding product strategy with the CEO and filling the product manager gap.

  1. The app is listed in the top X in the App Store
  2. The app was recommended on the BBC News
  3. The company is listed in the fastest-growing startups 100 in the UK & Ireland, and is listed in the 250 highest percentage revenue growth in Europe, both by the media Sifted

MC evidence 3
A 3 pages letter from the CTO (who had worked at one of the GAFAM in Silicon Valley in the past) at company A describes my talent, saying I’m a world-class product leader

MC evidence 4
Proof of employment and salary from Company A and 3 months of salary history.
My concern: I recently completed my first year of employment. My significant contributions were acknowledged in my annual review, resulting in an extraordinary salary increase. Consequently, the payslips prior to the most recent one will show a lower amount, which doesn’t look like a high enough salary to me.

OC 3 evidence 5
I led the global expansion of the app (which was mainly provided within the UK) in Company A. I was the sole designer in the project. This resulted in more than 250% MAU increase and 330K downloads in North America. The app was selected as App of the Day in the US App Store. I put a screenshot of Apple’s “Apps we love” article describing the app’s features I designed, and added screen designs of the features next to the article.

OC 3 evidence 6
Worked as the sole contract designer for a Japanese Software as a Medical Service (SaMD) start-up collaborating with a university. I designed the UX flow and web app used in the SaMD.

  1. Obtained multiple patents (provided patent number and link to Google Patents)
  2. My design contributed to securing government-backed funds
  3. The company obtained Class II medical device manufacturing and sales certification by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, to use this system for medical treatment
  4. The system was used in clinical research (provided trial ID and screenshot) and has now moved into preparation for formal clinical trials.
  5. Letter from the Chief Product Officer stating that my design was a key factor in these achievements.

OC 3 evidence 7 or 8 (option 1 Japanese scale up)
Showing my contribution to company B. 4 years of work describing product strategy, user research and a screenshot of Figma design. Increased user engagement by 150% for the existing product. I led new product design apart from the existing product and successfully launched it.
My contribution and impact are described in LOR 3

OC 3 evidence 7 or 8 (option 2 EV charge)
Worked for an EV charging product from the beginning as a contractor (B2B admin dashboard and mobile app). Initially joined as the sole designer, and became lead designer upon joining 2 more designers. Fully responsible for the B2B admin dashboard, and made wireframes and core screen designs for the mobile app and led other designers in designing the app. A meaningful design that will change social infrastructure in Japan, where the adoption rate of EVs is still low.
More than 5,000 charger orders have been received from companies want to build charging spots.

  1. Screenshot of initial UX flow structure on FigJam
  2. An article shows that this service introduces a certain charger standard, the first in Japan. I took full responsibility for designing the admin dashboard to manage charger types
    ( I can include a letter from the Project Manager stating my contribution if I want but document is already 3 pages)

OC 3 evidence 7 or 8 (option 3 London-based startup)
Worked for a London-based startup in climate tech and web3 space. I designed a dashboard and organised a design system as a sole designer.

  1. Screenshot of the Figma design and token design
  2. The photo showing the dashboard I designed was exhibited at the Web Summit in Lisbon
  3. Letter from CEO describes my contribution as the sole designer and states that my design supported successful participation in the Startupbootcamp, and the design was instrumental in securing seed funding.

OC 2 evidence 9
Developed a course from scratch and taught weekly for 2 years at the design department of a Japanese Public Arts University. The course covered how to convert an idea into a business model and service, along with UX thinking and prototype skills.

  1. Screenshot of me teaching online (the majority of classes were online due to covid)
  2. Picture of me teaching offline
  3. Curriculum showing my name and attendance
  4. Screenshot of feedback from student

OC 2 evidence 10
Activity as a Certified Human Centred Design Professional contributing to HCD-Net (Japanese non-profit organisation that has been designated as a cooperative academic research organisation by the Science Council of Japan. They formally appointed me as an assessor for the HCD qualification, which contributes to setting the industry standard.

  1. Screenshot of an email of Accreditation Examination Review Request

I am specifically concerned that OC2 may not be enough. I co-founded a design knowledge sharing community, which now has 15K members, with company B members, but it was sponsored by company B, so I can’t submit it as evidence. In my personal statement, I talk about this community and my passion for contributing to the industry.

Nevertheless, I would like to try for this visa, so I would like to ensure the submission is as strong as possible before sending.

Thank you very much for your help in advance!

2

Hi, @Francisca_Chiedu @pahuja

If I could hear your opinion on my case, it would help me a lot!
Could I kindly ask you to review the above?

Thank you very much!

3

@alexnk @Raphael
Hi, could I kindly ask you to review it?
Thanks so much!

4

Hello @Akash_Joshi @OceanicT
Could you kindly help me review this?
I would really appreciate it.
Thank you very much!

5

Overall, I think there are still room for your improvement in your evidence. You need to have 2 strong evidence out of each criterion.

MC:
-evidence 6: you need to describe how your work impacted these company’s success.
-evidence 4: your new salary increase. Can you get any letter talking about your annual review and new salary incremental details?

OC3:

  • Focus on the business impact of your work. The nature of your work may be a bit intangible, but you should know, quantify and be able to present it with numbers. Consider finding the syncronization of your business impact to other team which has lots of reports, and requesting the LOR to mentioning the numbers into one big story.
  • Ignore those screenshot of your work (ie: figma). These just show your list of activity, not business impact.
  • You can use all of the OC3 opion1,2,3 to make it strong.

OC2: this looks weak

  • The course that you contributed needs be qualified (ie: non-paid, structured)
  • consider getting LOR to mention this to certified it too
  • evidence 10 seems not qualified to me. double check this with Tech Nation guideline again.

I hope this helps @mochi

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Hi @alexnk ,
Thank you very much for your review and advice! It really helps.
I have some questions regarding the feedback.

MC:
-evidence 6: you need to describe how your work impacted these company’s success.
-evidence 4: your new salary increase. Can you get any letter talking about your annual review and new salary incremental details?

  • Do you suggest using evidence 6 for MC rather than OC3?
  • I have a letter proving my current salary and benefits, also LOR 1 mentions my extraordinary salary raise with reasons. But your suggestion is getting a letter, especially with details of the annual review?
  • You can use all of the OC3 opion1,2,3 to make it strong.
  • Currently, I have 11 evidence listed above. So I was thinking of cutting one of them. Do you suggest somehow combining those options and making it in 1 or 2 evidence, or do you suggest removing another evidence and using all of them?
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@alexnk For other points, I understood your point and will try to improve! Thanks again

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I’ve mentored several designer applications and your MC evidence around awards looks solid - the Good Design Award and HCD certification show clear recognition in your field. For your salary concern about the recent increase, I’d suggest getting a letter from your CEO or CTO that specifically mentions your annual review and the extraordinary raise with reasons. This makes it clear you’re currently commanding a high salary, which is what matters.

For OC3, I’d recommend using all three options (Japanese scale-up, EV charge, and London startup) rather than choosing just two. Each demonstrates different aspects of your impact - the scale-up shows sustained contribution, the EV project shows infrastructure-level innovation with 5,000+ charger orders, and the London startup with Web Summit exhibition shows international recognition. Focus each evidence on business impact with numbers rather than design screenshots - the committee wants to see how your work drove measurable results, not just your process.

Your OC2 is the area that needs strengthening. The university teaching looks good since it was a structured 2-year program with curriculum and student feedback. However, the HCD assessor role might not qualify as it’s more administrative than advancing the field. I’ve seen successful applications where designers combined teaching with published articles or community building. Since you co-founded that 15K member community, even if sponsored by company B, you could mention it in your personal statement and focus your OC2 evidence on the teaching plus any articles or speaking you’ve done to share design knowledge.

Your application structure is thoughtful and with these adjustments focusing on business impact and strengthening OC2, you’ll have a compelling case. The variety of work you’ve shown across fintech, healthcare, and infrastructure demonstrates the breadth of contribution the UK is looking for.

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@Akash_Joshi Thanks so much for your feedback!

I’d recommend using all three options

If you have any advice how I can make all evidence into 10 evidence, I would love to hear. Since I currently have 11 evidence listed above, I thought I should cut one of them.
One idea is to combine two of them into 1.
Or, do you think I can remove another evidence? (e.g. contain the contents in evidence 5 in evidence 2 and remove evidence 5?)

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@Akash_Joshi
I have another question.

I understand your point regarding the OC2.

even if sponsored by company B, you could mention it in your personal statement and focus your OC2 evidence on the teaching plus any articles or speaking you’ve done to share design knowledge.

Did you mean to include the evidence of me speaking in the community?
I have some articles sharing my design practice on self publish media, I’m not sure if those are sufficient, but I can try include them showing my knowledge sharing if it helps.
I’ll look back at my past experiences to see if there’s anything else I can add.

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Thanks so much for your help!

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@alexnk and @Akash_Joshi have already added very comprehensive feedback. Have nothing new to add here.

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@pahuja Thank you for checking! :slight_smile:

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@mochi

Good Design Award, Finder Provider of the Year Awards, The app is listed in the top X in the App Store,The app was recommended on the BBC News and The company is listed in the fastest-growing startups 100 in the UK & Ireland

Are strong recognition elements for MC, however make sure you clearly show what you did and ownership. Salary evidence can complement and the 3 pages letter from the CTO can seal this. But all of these should be presented strategically and convincinly.

Obtained multiple patents, patents are not suitable for OC3, for OC1? Yes! Patents are legal protections granted to inventors for their inventions, so its used to show ownership for an invention but won’t demonstrate that you have made a significant technical, commercial or entrepreneurial contributions to a product led company.

OC2 Developing a course and teaching at Japanese Public Arts University would have be strong but does not appear to focus on advancement of the digital technology sector, as it looks like something related to Public Arts. With the UX thinking, maybe but then again the focus and target could be an issue.

You formally appointed as an assessor for the HCD qualification shows recognition but this does not appear to demostrate how you have contributed to the advancement of the digital technology sector.

OC2 is weak.

Overall you have a promising evidence set and you are on the right path, but your arrangements and narrative can be better. Then you may want to get more convincincing evidence for OC2.

All the best

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Hi @Raphael,
Thank you so much for the review!
All make sense, I’ll improve them to make them convincing, and try to strengthen OC2.

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I think you have gotten food feedback. In framing you application, think about how your evidence suggests you are a top global tech leader. You current needs some work in demonstrating you are a leader. Studying for a course us not considered an award for the mandatory criterion. If you have multiple patients, I would recommend you choose OC1 and prove innovation.

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Hi @Francisca_Chiedu ,
Thank you very much for your advice!:slight_smile: I’ll work on improve them.

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Try not to cut them. Try to combine them to make each of them stronger. Aim at least 2 strong evience from each criterion.

Utilize maximum number of pages and words for this shot.

And dont forget to put the accessor’s hat on and read it from the person’s perspective how does not know you, your product, or your company. They have very clear guideline to check if you are eligible.

Good luck for your application @mochi

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@mochi have you been able to apply?

Any feedback on your application?