Carlos Cifuentes
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Mérida, Mexico
Toptal member since February 25, 2019
Carlos is a creative, multidisciplinary UX/UI product designer and innovation consultant with 20+ years of hands-on experience. He specializes in user-centered, omnichannel design, guiding projects from research to execution. Skilled in UX/UI, branding, and marketing across the web, SaaS, and blockchain, Carlos transforms visions into impactful user experiences using tools like Figma, Adobe CC, and AI. His expertise spans digital and print, delivering cohesive and engaging brand experiences.
Portfolio
Bette Progressive Web App
Icon Design
Work Experience
Lead UI/UX, Creative, Visual Designer
EthicHub
- Crafted comprehensive brand guidelines and design systems, including presentation templates and diverse marketing assets, achieving brand uniformity.
- Created user journeys, personas, empathy maps, site maps, and facilitation in creative sessions.
- Engineered and iterated specialized landing pages for onboarding, token acquisition, and NFT bonds, resulting in a 19% increase in user engagement metrics.
Creative, Visual, UX Designer
Wallkie
- Executed consulting projects, digital strategies, and marketing designs for 35+ diverse, long-term clients in industries like blockchain-based crowdlending, healthcare SaaS, and furniture configurations for over six years.
- Personalized WordPress templates to craft unique web designs, driving client brand value and elevating the user experience.
- Created and improved consulting projects, digital strategy, and marketing design materials.
- Partnered with high-profile clients like True&Co and Yamaha Music to deliver design solutions on tight schedules. Spearheaded email campaigns in the US and crafted websites, catalogs, and marketing initiatives for Yamaha Music in Spain.
- Engaged in executive-level meetings across sectors, applying UX methods and analytics to exceed client expectations, boosting client satisfaction and project outcomes.
Graphic Artist for Postcard Design
Richard F. Irwin Ltd. dba DirectMailers
- Designed compelling postcards using Adobe InDesign, ensuring high-quality layouts aligned with brand guidelines and marketing goals. From concept to production, deadlines were met, and client expectations were exceeded.
- Facilitated clear communication with the client by translating feedback into impactful design revisions. Reviews ensured creative alignment and surpassed client satisfaction standards.
- Applied advanced design principles, typography, layout, and 2d monochromatic illustration techniques to create print-ready postcards that captured the audience's attention.
Brand Identity Designer
John Andrew Butler Trading as Cuts Avenue Salon
- Created a clear brand strategy to help the client manage assets across four franchises, ensuring brand consistency and coherence while improving positioning in a competitive market.
- Refined the master brand logo for improved clarity and impact and designed a new sub-brand logo aligned with the master brand’s look and feel, ensuring visual cohesion across the brand portfolio.
- Developed a comprehensive brand manual outlining essential brand management guidelines and rules tailored to the key marketing assets used across the client's four franchises.
Web Designer
MAUD Inc.
- Led a one-hour consultancy with the CEO to analyze the context of a C2B product, defining precise project goals and establishing a detailed initial timeline to meet tight deadlines.
- Developed and executed a comprehensive UX, UI, and content strategy, completing a full site redesign and element update within 12 hours to improve user experience and site functionality.
- Uploaded and updated assets across two WordPress sites using Elementor, ensuring seamless integration and consistent visual quality throughout both platforms.
UX Designer
Word on Fire Catholic Ministries nonprofit corporation
- Interviewed all 10 stakeholders and analyzed previous reports to understand the Circle platform's strengths and limitations. Designed a four-month UX strategic plan and conducted a heuristic analysis to prioritize issues.
- Identified high-priority areas under a two-speed UX approach and designed a survey to measure updated data. This strategy saved time by enabling immediate adjustments through prototypes in Circle while simultaneously conducting deeper research.
- Confirmed proto-persona profiles by interviewing 20 users segmented into four age cohorts. Produced a final report identifying main issues and proposing solutions to guide future platform improvements that depend more on business strategies than UX.
Visual/Graphic Designer
Global Appropriateness Measures - Main
- Analyzed, organized, and classified information from the brief to be coherent with the main marketing message and the online materials already done.
- Created three main layouts for the brochures to be flexible and interchangeable, following the design elements previously done for the website without clear visual guidelines.
- Prepared all final layouts in Figma to be used in digital and printed formats.
UI Designer
MOD Worldwide
- Conducted UX research for B2B and B2C using AI tools, expediting decision-making. Resulted in a 400% design efficiency increase and optimized data-driven decisions.
- Executed a comprehensive UI/UX strategy successfully, achieving 100% of client objectives. Implemented Figma for centralized design collaboration, reducing project timeline by 14 days and ensuring on-time delivery.
- Facilitated client engagement sessions at each project stage, securing a 90% client approval rating, and pioneered the application of design thinking methodologies, enhancing problem-solving capabilities and accelerating project delivery by 15%.
Senior UX/UI Designer
FtiSmallBusiness.com
- Created design systems in XD and Figma and was proactive in organizing components and design layouts.
- Conceived and articulated diverse UI designs grounded in comprehensive UX insights, offering a spectrum of alternative solutions to optimize user experience.
- Devised and implemented innovative UI/UX solutions based on rigorous UX insights, transforming mobile user flows and elevating product usability.
UX, Visual Designer
Convergence Health
- Helped create more than 200 wireframes for the platform, making the logotype for the product, the visual design, and the marketing materials for online and print.
- Collaborated with tech consultants to implement a healthcare system, boosting operational efficiency. Employed varied research methods to align the platform with user needs, aiding employees and clients.
- Worked with global teams in Mexico, Spain, and the US. Aligned research and competitor analysis, identified product evolution opportunities, and navigated cultural differences.
Art Director
Motorpress Iberica
- Orchestrated art direction for various magazines while coordinating with creatives and stakeholders to meet 2-weekly and 7-monthly deadlines.
- Steered a team of 15 designers, achieving on-time delivery of nine automotive magazines. Implemented workflow templates, enhancing operational efficiency.
- Created a "rudimentary system" (at that time) to link Excel sheets with InDesign through XML labels, then we could automate some tasks and graphics through pre-defined styles.
Education
Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Graphic Design Management
EOI Business School - Madrid, Spain
Bachelor's Degree in Graphic Design and Communication
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana - Mexico City, Mexico
Skills
Tools
Figma, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Experience Design (XD), InDesign CC, Google Slides, Illustrator CS5, Pie Charts, Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Airtable, Microsoft PowerPoint, Canva, Miro, Illustrator CC, Banner, AI Tools, Adobe CC, Apple Keynote, Photoshop CC
Languages
Visual Design Language
Industry Expertise
Marketing, Technology, Advertising, Information Technology, Events, Professional Services, Consumer Products, Health & Wellness, Sales & Marketing, Healthcare, Banking & Finance, Real Estate, Government
Platforms
Mobile, Web, WordPress
Other
Article Design, Ebook Design, Editorial Design, Typography, Pitch Decks, Brochure Design, Icon Design, Google Material Design, User Personas, UX Research, Brand Design, Prototyping, Web App Design, UX Design, Social Impact, Spain, Marketing Materials, Marketing Design, Logo Design, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Digital Creative Direction, Art Direction, Visual Design, Print Design, Design Guidelines, UI Design, Web UI Design, Design Management, Project Design & Management, Design Leadership, User Journeys, Mobile Design, Data Visualization, Creative Direction, Ad Design, Collateral Design, Layout Design, B2C, UX Wireframes, Creative Thinking, Design Systems, Newsletter Design, Printing Materials, B2B, UI Components, Web App UI, Web App UX, Dashboard Design, Artificial Intelligence (AI), UX Process, Component Libraries, User Interface (UI), Wireframing, Product Design, Branding, Web Design, Responsive Web Apps, Startups, Brochures, Mobile Apps, Digital Product Design, Dashboards, Style Guides, Graphic Design, Presentation Design, Presentations, Heuristics, Web UI, Web UX, UX Review, SaaS Design, User Research, Brand Identity, Brand Guidelines, UX Audits, Rapid Prototyping, Cryptocurrency Wallets, Layout, Responsive UI, Responsive Layout, Material UI, Banner Design, Software as a Service (SaaS), Marketing Collateral Development, Creative Design, Brand Development, Team Leadership, Interactive Prototypes, User Interviews, Merchandise, Event Marketing, MVP Design, Complex Web Systems, Complex Application User Interfaces (UI), User Workflows, Consulting, Cryptocurrency, Images, Thumbnail Images, Curatorship, Curation, User Experience Design, Brand Books, Stakeholder Interviews, UX Branding, Intuitive UX Design, Design, Mobile UI, Mobile UX, UI Style Guides, Chart Design, Visualization Design, Crypto, Interaction Design (IxD), Color Palettes, Small Business, Brand Positioning, Mobile First, Color Theory, Websites, Agile, Print, Typesettings, Information Architecture (IA), Visual Storytelling, Mockups, UI Branding, Financial Products, User-centered Design (UCD), Book Cover Design, Books, Print Marketing Design, Reports, White Papers, Charts, High-tech Startups, Design Strategy, Design Libraries, Ebooks, Social Media Content, User Experience (UX), Proof of Concept (POC), Brand Logos, Digital Media, Print Media, Agile UX, Desktop Web Design, Mobile Web Design, Web Applications, Analytical Thinking, Cross-functional Collaboration, UI Testing, UX Testing, Iterative Design, Naming, Blog Design, Crowdfunding, Social Media, Empathy Mapping, Blockchain, Fintech, Interviews, Survey Design, Remote User Testing, Illustration, Landing Page Design, App Design, Infographics, Blockchain & Cryptocurrency, Web UX Design, DApps, Design Ops, Process Optimization, Mobile App Design, Platform Design, Social Media Design, User Flows, Workshops, UI Prototyping, B2B2C, A/B Testing, Blockchain Platforms, Heuristic Analysis, Brand Strategy, Design Thinking, SaaS, Discovery Workshops, User Testing, Design Workshops, Marketplaces, Usability Testing, Journey Mapping, ChatGPT, AI Design, Web3, Packaging, Rewards Programs, Agriculture, Sports Websites, Energy, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), PowerPoint Design, Bitcoin, Ad Campaigns, Web Dashboards, PDF, Service Design, UX Workshops, Component-based Architecture, Financial UX, Design Documentation, User Stories, Workshop Facilitation, Marketplace Design, Ad Banners, Banner Ads, Online Surveys, Research Reports, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, Circle Community Platform, Data Research, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), Content Creation, Conversion Rate, Interactive UI, Label Design, Package Design, Surveys, Landing Pages, UX Strategy, Version Control, Animation, Printing, Image Retouching, DevOps, eCommerce Design
Experience
- Design Strategy - 20 years
- Brand Design - 20 years
- Marketing Design - 15 years
- High-tech Startups - 15 years
- Design Leadership - 15 years
- UI Design - 12 years
- UX Research - 12 years
- Blockchain & Cryptocurrency - 6 years
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