About
Hi, I'm Mara. Nice to meet you.
I'm Mara, a product designer and front-end developer based in Lisbon. For the past decade I've helped banks, start-ups and climate companies turn complicated problems into products that feel simple, calm and genuinely useful.
I started out building websites at a small studio in Berlin, which is where I learned that the best design decisions happen close to the code. Since then I've led a design team at a digital bank, helped grow a research tool to 40,000 teams, and built design systems used by hundreds of people every day.
Today I work independently with a small number of teams each year, usually as an embedded partner from the first workshop to launch and beyond. When I'm not designing, you'll find me swimming in the Atlantic, hunting for old azulejos, or mentoring designers at the start of their careers.
- Based in
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Experience
- 10 years
- Languages
- English, Portuguese, German
- Education
- BA Communication Design
How I work
A calm, evidence-led process
Every team is different, but the projects that go well tend to follow the same rhythm.
- 01
Listen first
Every project starts with the people involved: your team, your customers and your numbers. The first weeks are for questions and for watching how the product is really used.
- 02
Frame the problem
We agree on the problem worth solving and how we'll know it's solved. A one-page brief and a few measurable goals keep everyone honest.
- 03
Design and prototype
I explore widely, then narrow quickly with realistic prototypes tested on real people, so decisions are made with evidence rather than opinions.
- 04
Build and refine
I work alongside your engineers, often writing production code myself, and keep improving the product after launch based on what we learn.
Experience
Where I've worked
Ten years across studios, scale-ups and independent work, always close to both design and code.
2023 – Now
Independent product designer and developer
Self-employed · Lisbon
Partnering with founders and product teams to design, prototype and ship digital products end to end, from the first workshop to production code. Recent clients include Atlas Mobility, Verdant and Oakhouse Coffee.
2020 – 2023
Lead product designer
Lumen Bank · Lisbon
Led a team of six designers across onboarding, payments and savings, and created Halo, the design system now used by every product squad.
2018 – 2020
Senior product designer
Fieldnote · Remote
First design hire. Shaped the collaborative research workspace from private beta to 40,000 teams, working hand in hand with engineering on every release.
2016 – 2018
Designer and front-end developer
Studio Parallel · Berlin
Designed and built websites and web apps for clients in culture, retail and technology at a 14-person digital studio.
Skills and tools
What I bring to the table
A designer's eye, a researcher's curiosity and an engineer's respect for the details that make things work.
Design
- Product and interaction design
- Visual and interface design
- Design systems
- Prototyping
- Motion design
Research
- User interviews
- Usability testing
- Diary studies
- Journey mapping
- Product analytics
Development
- HTML and CSS
- TypeScript
- React and Next.js
- Tailwind CSS
- Accessibility (WCAG 2.2)
Tools
- Figma
- Framer
- Storybook
- Linear
- Notion
Recognition
Awards, talks and features
Some of the moments when the work was recognised by people outside the team.
Design systems that survive engineering
Interface Lisbon
Talk2025
Have a project in mind?
Let's make something people love to use.
Booking new projects for January 2027. I reply to every message within two business days.
Start a project