Senior product designer based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
I’m a senior product designer based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with more than 10 years of experience in digital product development, focused on user-centred design principles, UX/UI design.
A major target in my work is to create intuitive products centered on the user. Having that in mind, it is necessary to co-create with clients, partners, and IT teams, so to achieve the best digital products and meet end-users’ expectations.
In 2008 I decided to change my career, moving from an office job to the acquisition of new knowledge and skills, learning about a new professional activity: that of computer programming and IT. That’s right: I had a long journey ahead, a challenge I would have to face with a lot of effort, giving proper attention and time every step of the way.
But why would anyone change so radically?
From childhood, I had the influence of my father, an IT analyst for over 30 years, who also had the building of amateur radios as a hobby. So technology has always played an important part in my life, becoming my passion and finally leading me to a new career choice.
After two years working as a front-end programmer in a small design studio, and having taken part in a number of projects with great designers, I got fascinated by digital design. That’s what drove me to an undergraduate course in the field and motivated me to go on specializing myself. Right now, I’ve just started an MBA in UX Design, which I believe will contribute to my experience of over 10 years in the IT and digital design market.
As a digital designer, I have to face challenges brought forth by ever-changing technology in every product I develop. So I found in Design Thinking a valuable hands-on, user-centered methodology to approach any project, and no matter what techniques or tools available.
Digital product developers are interested in finding the best possible ways to approach users, offering them products that they really want use.
The first necessary step to my work, therefore, is to carefully observe users, developing a deep understanding of what they do, think, feel and say. By empathizing with people, it is possible to assume their perspectives and predict either good or bad experiences.
With enough observation and data gathered by means of research, it is time for me to find the problems or pains that users have displayed in common. What needs have not been - yet - properly addressed?
The necessary solution for a digital product can only be achieved by first defining what shared experiences potentially call for innovation, and this is where I put my hands on.
Having identified my goals - or what users’ needs I set forth to address -, I start writing down and sketching a bunch of ideas that come to my mind to start the project.
At first, I don’t worry if those ideas seem crazy or stupid or even impossible: the most important, in the phase of ideation, is to let our imagination run free. From that stream of creativity, valuable insights and good solutions come out.
Once a plan has been traced, I proceed to putting ideas into practice, applying them in a real-life representation of the product. By prototyping, I can share with other people the solutions I intend to put forward, before actually implementing them.
Feedback is crucial: this way, I can understand what in my project really works for users and identify eventual flaws, making adjustments to refine.
After prototyping and making the necessary adjustments, it is time to test among a larger array of users the product I have developed, so to understand how they feel when using the product for the first time and see their reactions.
It is important to check whether the initially observed problems of real customers have been eliminated or alleviated by the innovation presented. If the outcome is yet to be improved, I step back and take time to rethink the project, always testing for feedback and improvements.
The last and probably most delicate moment is that of implementation: when ideas are finally “released” to conquer the world, out in the wild environment of the web. :-)
It is the final phase of every job, but I do not take implementation as the end of my work. After all, designing is an ongoing exercise, and we should continuously observe the outcomes of our projects: have they proved to be positive and valuable over time?
