Varol Ozkaner

So nice to meet you! First off, what’s your name? Tell our readers a bit about yourself—where you’re from originally and where you live now.

My name is Varol Ozkaner. I’m a visual artist, fashion photographer, and UI/UX designer who was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, and is now based in Southern California. My career has moved across different forms of visual expression, from photography and video to digital products and interactive experiences. Today, I also run Uxcellent Labs, the design studio I founded to bring much of that experience under one roof. I’ve never felt the need to define myself by a single medium. In fact, I take advantage of being able to blend different forms of art and skill sets, drawing from photography, videography, visual design, and digital experiences to create work that might not emerge from any one discipline alone. I’m much more interested in how an idea can be expressed visually and what form serves it best.

Tell us one thing you love about where you live now?

I love being close to the coast. There’s something about Southern California’s light, open spaces, proximity to the ocean, and vibrant social texture that gives the area a character of its own. As a visual artist, I notice the changing quality of the light throughout the day, while the mix of people, cultures, and lifestyles provides a constant source of visual and creative stimulation. Even when I’m not carrying a camera, the environment has a way of pulling me away from a screen, resetting me mentally, and shifting my perspective.

Tell us a little bit more about what your company does and how it started? How does it help your customers?

Uxcellent Labs grew out of my years working in product and visual design and my desire to build something with a broader creative range. We primarily help companies turn complicated ideas, workflows, and business requirements into digital products that feel clear and intuitive to use. That can involve UI/UX, product strategy, mobile experiences, internal tools, dashboards, design systems, or emerging AI-driven products. A big part of that work happens before the interface itself. We look at how a product should be positioned, which problems deserve priority, how users move from discovery to adoption, and where the experience can support customer acquisition and retention. I’m especially interested in finding the right balance between user needs and business goals, because strong products have to do both: make sense to the people using them while also supporting growth, efficiency, and long-term value for the company. The studio also reflects the visual side of my background, including photography and other creative work. I wanted Uxcellent Labs to have enough flexibility to solve product problems strategically without losing the visual sensibility that has always been part of how I work.

If someone wants to start a business, what advice would you give them?

I’d encourage people not to wait until everything feels perfectly figured out, because it probably never will. Start with something you genuinely know how to do well and identify where that ability creates value for somebody else. The business will reveal itself more clearly through actual conversations, projects, mistakes, and adjustments than it ever will through planning alone. I’d also say it’s important to learn the parts that aren’t naturally exciting to you. Running a business means dealing with contracts, finances, client relationships, pricing, scheduling, and decisions that have very little to do with the craft itself. Those things are part of the creative independence you’re trying to build.

What was one feedback from a happy customer/client that you won't forget about?

What stays with me most isn’t a particular compliment about how something looked. It’s when a client tells me I understood what they were trying to accomplish, sometimes before they had fully articulated it themselves. I’ve had clients react to a solution by essentially saying, “Yes, this is what I was trying to explain.” That means a lot to me because it tells me I didn’t simply execute a request; I listened closely enough to uncover the actual problem behind it.

Where do you see your company in the future?

I’d like Uxcellent Labs to grow without becoming creatively anonymous. I’m interested in building a studio recognized for taking on sophisticated digital products and emerging technologies while retaining a strong visual identity. AI is obviously changing the landscape quickly, and I see considerable potential there, not simply as a tool for generating things faster, but as a new design territory in itself. At the same time, I want visual art to remain part of the studio’s DNA. The future I find most interesting is one where technology and visual culture become increasingly intertwined rather than treated as separate worlds.

What is the biggest misconception about your industry?

One of the biggest misconceptions about design is that the designer arrives after the important decisions have already been made to make everything look good. By that point, many of the decisions that determine the quality of the experience may already be locked in. UI/UX is as much about understanding behavior, priorities, information, and business logic as it is about visual execution. Interestingly, I see a parallel in fashion photography. People see the final image, but not necessarily the decisions involving direction, composition, styling, location, light, expression, and editing that made that single frame possible. In both fields, the visible result is only the surface of a much larger process.

What has been one of your biggest struggle building your business and how did you deal with it?

One challenge has been adjusting from being responsible primarily for the quality of my own work to being responsible for everything surrounding that work. When it’s your company, creative decisions sit alongside budgets, contracts, timelines, client acquisition, partnerships, and the simple question of where your time is most valuable. I dealt with that by becoming much more deliberate about what actually requires my attention. I’m still learning that distinction. Building a company has made me more selective, more pragmatic, and probably more comfortable making decisions without having every variable resolved first.

Who was your favorite music artist and athlete growing up?

Music-wise, I connected strongly with the rawness of the ’90s grunge scene, particularly Soundgarden, Mother Love Bone, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam, with Silverchair becoming one of my favorites from the post-grunge period. Additionally, I’m a fan of avant-garde musicians like Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, and Nick Cave, as well as guitar heroes like Jimi Hendrix, Slash, and Randy Rhoads, especially since I also play electric guitar. I’m still loyal to the music made by those artists, not simply out of nostalgia, but because its intensity, individuality, and emotional weight continue to resonate with me today.

As for athletes, Jacques Mayol always stood out to me, hands down. Beyond the records he set in free-diving, what fascinated me was the way he combined physical conditioning with extraordinary mental discipline, constantly challenging assumptions about what the human body could endure underwater. The main reason I appreciate this so deeply is that free-diving is as much psychological as it is physical, and he embodied that balance in a remarkable way, proving what we are capable of when talent, discipline, and hard work come together.

Any shoutouts you want to make?

I’d give a shoutout to the clients, collaborators, developers, and other creative people I’ve had the chance to work alongside over the years. Even when a project carries one person’s name, the final result is often influenced by many conversations, different perspectives, and people bringing their own expertise to the table. I’ve learned a great deal from those collaborations, which continue to inspire how I approach my own work today.

Where can our readers learn more about you and your company?

Readers can explore my work across individually designated websites. My visual art and photography are featured at varolozkaner.com, while my UI/UX and product design work can be found at uxcellentlabs.com and varolozkanerdesigns.com/portfolio. Additionally, I share a wider range of my creative work on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/varolonline/