Design that drives growth. Strategy that scales.
I partner with companies to design smarter products and systems - grounded in research, built for performance, and aligned with business goals.
With 8+ years of experience across tech and digital, I bring deep product thinking, data insights, and a clear, results-driven approach to help your business thrive in competitive markets.
Latest work
Cross-industry UI Kit with 40 components and 60+ variants, improving UX by 33% and accelerating app development.
Unified internal platform that cuts participant recruitment effort by 83% for UX research, overall gaining 7 hours.
A social platform for pet owners, built to scale community engagement, local discovery, and service integration.
A smart employee directory tool designed to streamline internal search, boost collaboration, and reduce silos.
Services
Web Design & Dev
✓ User Research and Strategy
✓ Hosting and domain setup
✓ No-Code Dev
✓ Custom design
✓ End-to-end service
E-commerces
Landing pages
Business websites
Subscription services
SaaS Design
✓ User Research and Strategy
✓ Product Research
✓ Competitor Analysis
✓ Custom design
✓ End-to-end service
Project management
CRMs
Productivity & Optimisation tools
App Design
✓ User Research and Strategy
✓ Product Research
✓ Competitor Analysis
✓ Custom design
✓ End-to-end service
Native look & feel
Product & service design
Desktop Apps
How I work
From day one, I ensure alignment across teams, use research to drive every decision, and deliver outcomes that make a measurable impact.
01 DISCOVERY
→ Problem Statement
→ Goals & Expectations
→ Requirements
→ Project Roadmap
→ Business Alignment
02 RESEARCH
→ User and Product Research
→ Product Strategy
→ Design & Experience Audit
→ Competitor Analysis
→ Strategy
03 DESIGN
→ User Journey Mapping
→ Content Design
→ Visual Identity
→ Wireframing
→ Prototyping
04 DEVELOP
→ Domain and Hosting Setup
→ CMS Configuration
→ Theme Customisation
→ SEO Setup
→ QA
05 DELIVER
→ Training and walkthroughs
→ Presentation and Handoff
→ Deploy
→ QA Support
+ OUTSYSTEMS + NAMECHEAP + THESTARTER + WORKFORCE INSTITUTE
+ OUTSYSTEMS + NAMECHEAP + THESTARTER + WORKFORCE INSTITUTE
What people are saying
I’ve collaborated with Maria on several occasions over time, primarily focusing on providing feedback for the library components she creates and shares.
I find her methodology to be excellent. By encouraging people to interact with the components, she collects user perspectives and simultaneously gathers feedback on specific items.
Through the visibility she provides for her work, Maria not only showcases her efforts but also offers insight into the process for other designers. This openness is fantastic! I believe sharing our work fearlessly is crucial; it’s the key to the growth of our design maturity, fostering confidence and teamwork.
— Caio Arias, Sr Product Designer @ PandaDoc
I’ve worked with Maria on multiple design system projects, and she consistently delivers excellent UI work that puts users first. She has great design taste and strong craft skills that show in every interface she creates. Maria’s really skilled with Figma and builds component libraries that hundreds of designers actually want to use.
Her documentation and developer handoffs are clear and detailed, keeping design and code perfectly aligned throughout the process.
Beyond her technical skills, she brings genuine humor and positive energy that makes every project better, and I’d work with Maria again in a heartbeat.
— João Conceição, Staff Product Designer, Design Systems @ PandaDoc
Maria has been an absolute pleasure to work with! Her ability to collaborate seamlessly with the development team makes our workflow smoother and more efficient. She is always quick to respond when we have questions or need clarification on UX designs, ensuring that we can keep moving forward without delays. Maria does an excellent job explaining her designs and the reasoning behind certain behaviors, making it easy for us to implement them accurately. (…) Her responsiveness, expertise, and commitment to teamwork make her someone we can always count on. We truly appreciate her dedication and the positive impact she brings to our projects!
— Brandy Smith, Sr Software Engineer
Mentions, talks and such
Figma Layers 2025 - Building Mobile UI by Uniting Design and Dev
2025 [Scheduled]
A conference talk about Design to Code collaboration, UI Kits, and Design Tokens.
Designando Podcast - Episode #38
2023
A chat with the Designando Podcast where I talk about Design, changing careers and thriving in the UX UI field in today’s market expectations (PT only).
Official selection for the Berlin Lift-Off Film Festival for the Trendsetter Shorts category.
2022
“Just a Compliment” is a VR short film, filmed and edited for 360º display on VR headsets. This work provides an immersive experience about sexual harassment where the viewer takes the victim’s POV.
Would you like to hear more?