Hi, I'm Mariana, a UX Designer and UX Writer with over 8 years of experience. I transform complex ideas and real user needs into simple, accessible, and meaningful solutions through design, writing, and a deep commitment to empathy.

Beyond design, I’ve worked for 2 years as a Product Owner and another year supporting a Product Manager. These experiences allowed me to shape user stories, define acceptance criteria, and contribute to backlog management and prioritization. This blend of UX and Agile allows me to bridge the gap between users, teams, and business goals — always with people at the heart of it all. I believe the best products are born from great communication, collaboration, empathy, and a genuine understanding of the people we design for.



Skills



Work Experience



Senior UX Designer

Instituto de Informática, I.P. (Segurança Social)

Oct 2024 - Present (Remote) Consultant via Babel group (since Jan 2025)

SaaS - Portuguese Social Security platform

• Portuguese “Segurança Social” project
• UX and Technical Writing
• Design System Documentation
• Benchmarking (Design System)
• A/B Testing



Senior UX Designer

Visualsoft Ltd (UK)

OCT 2023 - Jul 2024 (Remote)

B2B - eCommerce admin platform

• UX Writing
• Design System
• Prototyping Low and High Fid
• User Stories (Support PM)
• Acceptance Criteria (Support PM)
• User research



UX UI Designer

Dreamshaper - EdTech

FEB'2020 - OCT’2023 (Remote)

SaaS - edTech tool

UX Design (team of one) + second role as Product Owner (I worked in parallel with front‑end developers and stakeholders, handling and prioritizing tasks)

• Dreamshaper Tool (from scratch)
• Dreamshaper Admin (from scratch)
• UX Writing (PT/EN, Voice, Tone)
• Design System (from scratch)
• Product Management
• User research (Interviews, A/B Testing,…)
• Benchmarking (Design System)
• Low and High Fidelity Prototype
• Acceptance criteria
• User flows
• User stories
• Agile processes.



UX / Product Designer

Ludus Cristaltec - iGaming/Casino

JUL 2017 - JAN 2020 - Porto, Portugal

SaaP - iGaming/Casino projects

• UX UI / Product Design
• Marketing Design
• Project and team management
• Branding | Illustration | Animation
• User research
• UX Writing
• Testing
• Prototyping



Freelance projects:

- Webverse – UX/UI Designer _ AUG 2024 - DEC 2024 - Iterari – UX UI Designer/ Collaborator _ FEB'2022 - FEB’2O23 - Birdie! Video Experiences – UX UI Designer _ APR'2020 - Birdie App (Android) - Turism - Nerd Monkeys – 2D Animator/Game dev _ FEB’-APR'2017 - unpublished game - Noblerot TV, California - USA _ 2D Animator (APR’ - AUG'2016 - Potter the Otter - Webseries) - THE INDIGENT STUDIO – Digital Designer _ OCT'2016-AUG'2018 - Brainstorm TV Show, Canal Panda, … - Other freelance Projects (since 2010)

More samples of my work: Marmalade application exercise



Other work experiences/projects



2D Digital Animator

RainDance LX (MAR’2015 - MAR'2016- Lisbon, Portugal)

Indie Game Development - “Between Me and the Night” videogame (available on Steam)



2D Digital Animator

Bang Bang! Animation Studios (AUG’2011 - NOV'2013, Lisbon, Portugal)

International TV Series - “Nutriventures”



Communication/Graphic Designer

Sardinha em Lata, Animation Producer (JAN’2011 - AUG'2011 , Lisbon, Portugal)





Education



OCT 2023 - CSPO : Certified Scrum Product Owner – Scrum Alliance & Scopphu

JUN 2023 - Fundamentals of Agile Project Management - Project Management Institute

MAY 2022 - UX Foundations Course – EDIT. - Disruptive Digital Education

DEC 2021 - UX Writing Course – EDIT. - Disruptive Digital Education

SEP 2019 - Agile - Project Management with Scrum – EDIT. Disruptive Digital Education

MAR 2019 - Introduction to HTML5+CSS+Javascript – SheCodes

2006 - 2009 - Design - Bachelor’s degree - University of Aveiro, Portugal