David Vera
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Toronto, ON, Canada
Toptal member since July 28, 2022
David is a user-centered design director with over twelve years of experience. His areas of expertise include AI design and development, product design strategy, and design systems. He has experience working in the fintech and insurance industries. David co-led Scotiabank's transition to Figma for its design system. He was instrumental in designing an SOTA library for both Scotiabank and Manulife, with a strong emphasis on accessibility and usability.
Experience
- UI Design - 12 years
- User Experience (UX) - 10 years
- UX Design - 10 years
- Figma - 8 years
- Product Design - 8 years
- Interaction Design (IxD) - 6 years
- AI Design - 4 years
- AI Development - 3 years
Portfolio
Work Experience
Director of DesignOps and AI
Manulife Global
- Established standards and processes to improve the design operation.
- Implemented new processes around AI in design workflows.
- Managed cross-functional teams across delivery and support functions.
Design Systems Lead
Manulife Canada
- Joined the team to support the modernization of the design and code libraries.
- Streamlined existing processes and ways of working.
- Supported the humans in making our amazing digital products.
Senior Product Designer
The MRG Group
- Successfully engaged stakeholders and end users to ensure that the design process aligned with company goals and delivered value.
- Led the design of the company's first native app, effectively prioritizing both business and user needs.
- Built a design system for the company's digital products, resulting in increased consistency and efficiency across all products.
- Conducted extensive research and documented findings to inform design decisions, resulting in more informed and effective design solutions.
- Developed a comprehensive design strategy for the company's products, focusing on high-quality standards and the incorporation of advanced technologies.
Senior Product Designer
Scotiabank
- Designed and delivered a world-class design system with accessible components and their documentation.
- Built and modernized the investment products for the online banking platform and the mobile app.
- Conducted training sessions for designers in a variety of topics including design thinking and design system best practices.
UX Lead, Sales & Onboarding
Scotiabank
- Managed a team of seven talented designers to deliver exceptional results for the projects they were assigned.
- Conducted extensive research on multiple products that resulted in excellent performance and results for the products involved.
- Completed several research activities and shared those findings in written reports and in-person presentations.
Senior UX/UI Designer
Rappi
- Worked on the design of the main app, including the Home, the "RappiFavor," and Rappi ATM.
- Contributed to the design of the custom retail sections.
- Worked closely with developers on the handoff of the design assets.
Certifications
Foundations of User Experience (UX) Design
User Interface Design Specialization
Coursera
Skills
Tools
Photoshop CC, Blender, Jira, Confluence, Illustrator CC, After Effects CC, Sketch, Help+Manual, Spreadsheets, Google Sheets, InVision, Zeplin, Zeroheight, Adobe Illustrator
Platforms
Figma, Web, iOS, Android, Webflow, Webflow CMS, Visual Studio Code (VS Code)
Languages
HTML
Industry Expertise
Entertainment & Leisure, Music, Marketing
Other
Interaction Design (IxD), Product Design, User Research, Prototyping, UI Evaluation, User Experience (UX), Design Systems, Documentation, Design, Fintech, User Flows, App Design, Research, Pixel Perfect, Usability Testing, UI Design, UX Design, Mobile UX Design, Mobile UI Design, Wireframing, Visual Design, Presentation Design, Graphic Design, B2B, Mobile Design, Mobile App Design, Web Design, High-fidelity Mockups, UX Wireframes, UX Prototyping, Web Usability, User Interviews, User Personas, Rapid Prototyping, User Journeys, User Interface (UI), Mobile Banking, Digital Product Design, User Journey Maps, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Web App Design, Design Ops, Design Guidelines, Component Libraries, UX Principles, 3D Design, Dashboards, Compliance, Enterprise SaaS, Creative Design, 3D Character Design, 3D Character Modeling, 3D, AI Design, AI Development, Digital Design, Direct to Consumer (D2C), UX Mentoring, Migration, DesignOps, Accessibility, Inclusive Design, Design Thinking, Motion Interaction, Marketing Design, Email Design, Banner Design, Branding, Landing Page Design, Early-stage Startups, Information Architecture (IA), Web App UX, UI Animation, Microinteractions, Design Leadership, 3D Modeling, 3D Product Modeling, Regulations, Risk Management, Data Visualization, 3D Lighting, 3D Textures, Character Design, Animation, Copywriting, Metaverse, Virtual Reality (VR), 3D Printing, Playbook, Case Studies, Investment Banking, Strategy, Native Mobile Apps, Mixed Reality (MR), 3D Rendering, Illustration, Ads, Advertising Design, Product Planning, UX Research, Double Diamond, Projects, Optimization, Lean Experiments, Experimental Design, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Dashboard Design, Web UX Design, App UX, Flutter, iOS UX Design, Android UI Design, Mobile UI, iOS App Design, Android App Design, Storybook, 3D Animation, GitHub Copilot Chat, Lovable, Model Context Protocol (MCP)
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