Emiliano Herrera
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Montevideo, Montevideo Department, Uruguay
Toptal member since January 21, 2016
Emiliano is a product designer and front-end engineer with 20+ years of experience helping startups and enterprise teams build digital products. His work spans product strategy, UI/UX design, design systems, front-end development, and AI-powered applications. He specializes in turning complex problems into intuitive user experiences while balancing business objectives, user needs, and technical feasibility.
Portfolio
AI News Aggregator
Topix
BCI Web Portal
TeamGo
Scotiabank
Work Experience
UX/UI Designer
XcelLabs LLC
- Led the discovery and evaluation of an AI-powered coaching platform, analyzing user journeys, workflows, and product positioning to uncover opportunities for growth and differentiation.
- Produced a detailed competitive analysis of coaching, learning, and performance management products, translating industry best practices into actionable product and UX recommendations.
- Defined strategic UX initiatives to improve onboarding, engagement, coaching effectiveness, and performance visibility, establishing a foundation for future product development and user adoption.
- Created product concepts and wireframes exploring alternative approaches to performance visualization, AI-generated feedback, progress tracking, and coaching workflows.
- Developed visual design and branding recommendations to strengthen product identity, improve consistency, and better communicate Navi’s value proposition.
Product Designer
Teragonia Inc.
- Led the end-to-end UX and UI design of a data operations platform, delivering over 10 user-facing modules including pipelines, data ingestion, experiments, and performance dashboards.
- Designed and prototyped dynamic, AI-powered interfaces—such as a smart assistant for data querying and an automated pipeline monitoring dashboard—enhancing user autonomy and decision-making.
- Developed wireframes and high-fidelity UI components for 8+ core pages, including Connections, Ingestion Tabs (Airflow, Doc2Data, Fivetran), and chatbot integrations, ensuring visual consistency and usability across the platform.
- Translated stakeholder feedback into actionable UX improvements, leading to the restructuring of navigation and clearer separation between platform-wide resources (e.g., Connections) and tool-specific workflows (e.g., Airflow Pipelines).
Co-founder & Principal Designer/Developer
Spectra
- Led product design and front-end development for an AI-powered news aggregator that reimagines how users consume, explore, and interact with current events.
- Shaped the end-to-end experience—from early prototypes to polished interfaces—integrating generative AI and real-time data into a clean, personalized reading experience.
- Contributed to Spectra, which was awarded a grant for business validation and served as a testing ground for developing intelligent systems that balance UX clarity with technical complexity.
Co-founder & Principal Designer
Overlap
- Led product design and front-end development for AI-powered applications, helping startups and enterprise clients bring complex ideas to life with clear, human-centered interfaces.
- Worked closely with founders, engineers, and stakeholders to rapidly prototype, validate, and launch web-based products—often in the AI, learning, and productivity spaces.
- Contributed deep expertise in product strategy, UX, and modern front-end technologies to each engagement, from early discovery to polished UI.
Founding Product Designer
Apty
- Designed the main product for Apty to enable users with on-screen guidance and enforce business process compliance, reaching over 3 million monthly users.
- Built a brand identity guide, including colors and typography, as well as the main design system to be used across all platforms.
- Implemented most of the front end and established the guidelines for what would become the official design system for user interface development.
Graphic Designer, Developer
GP Strategies
- Designed and developed e-learning courses for the SCORM platform.
- Implemented a front-end solution and custom development of the product.
- Worked on user stories and the creation of user personas.
UX Designer
Kaizen Softworks
- Designed wireframes for a desktop and mobile app.
- Developed user stories and personas. Conducted usability testing.
- Created the sitemap, user journeys, and process flows.
- Collaborated on prototype (POC) development in AngularJS.
Creative Director
Bluecloud Communications
- Designed UI/UX for online applications based on Microsoft SharePoint.
- Oversaw graphic design and front-end development for an e-learning platform.
- Led brand development and strategy design, including website and collateral design.
UI Designer
Arkano Software
- Designed UI and developed front-end features for various web and mobile projects.
- Created branding and portals using Microsoft SharePoint.
- Developed wireframes and user personas. Conducted product research and competitive analysis.
UX Consultant
Psychology University (Uruguay)
- Conducted usability studies using eye movement recording techniques with specialized equipment (eye-tracker).
- Designed and developed e-learning materials for the One Laptop per Child Program in Uruguay.
- Designed and developed the Psychology Research Lab website using WordPress.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Design
EUCD Industrial Design School - Montevideo, Uruguay
Undergraduate Degree in Industrial Design
EUCD Industrial Design School - Montevideo, Uruguay
Skills
Tools
Sketch, Adobe Illustrator, Balsamiq Mockups, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Photoshop, Figma Prototyping, Adobe CC, Canva, Adobe InDesign, Adobe After Effects, Hotjar, Google Analytics, Adobe Fireworks, InVision, GitHub
Languages
CSS, HTML, JavaScript 6, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3
Platforms
WordPress, iOS, Figma, Web, Android, Mobile, Webflow, SharePoint, OS X, Adobe Suite, Visual Studio Code (VS Code)
Industry Expertise
Consumer Products
Other
Industrial Design, Product Design, Bootstrap UI, Bootstrap Themes, Branding, Brand Identity, Web Design, User Interface (UI), User Experience (UX), Icon Design, Iconography, UI Design, UX Design, User Experience Design, User Interviews, Web Accessibility, Prototyping, Wireframing, UX Research, Design Thinking, User Experience Strategy, Design Systems, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Mobile App Design, User Research, Brand Guidelines, Brand Design, Logo Design, App Design, Consulting, MVP Design, Mockups, Web App Design, Web UI, Web UX, Dashboards, UX Wireframes, Software as a Service (SaaS), User Journeys, Rapid Prototyping, Journey Mapping, User Flows, B2B, UI Prototyping, Mobile Prototypes, Mobile Design, Mobile UI, Mobile UI Design, High-fidelity Prototypes, High-fidelity Mockups, Mobile App UI, Interaction Design (IxD), UI Animation, Dashboard Design, System Design, Information Architecture (IA), SaaS, Buyer Personas, Customer Journey, Mobile UX, UX Analysis, User Journey Maps, Complex Application User Interfaces (UI), Usability, Software Design, Data Visualization, SaaS Design, Web Application Design, Marketplace Design, Web App UX, Collateral Design, Graphic Design, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), Persona Design, UX Testing, Mobile Applications, Web App UI, Redesign, Web Applications, Color Theory, Interactive Prototypes, Low-fidelity Prototypes, User Validation, Responsive Web Apps, AI Design, Mobile Apps, Social Networks, Brand Logos, Rebranding, Web UI Design, AI-enabled Applications, AI-powered Product Design, iOS UI Design, React, A/B Testing, User Feedback, Packaging, Label Design, Presentation Design, Visual Design, Pitch Decks, User Testing, Landing Pages, Motion Design, eCommerce, Artificial Intelligence (AI), CRM Design, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Enterprise Design, Calendar Design, B2C, Blog Design, Editorial Design, Digital Editorials, Artificial Intelligence as a Service (AIaaS), Storybook, AI Agents, AI Chatbots, Chatbot Conversation Design, AngularJS, Tobii Eye Tracker, Android UI Design, Android Design Guidelines, Adobe UX, Human Interface Design, Consumer-facing Product Design, Software, Strategy, Visual Identity, Illustration, Next.js, Tailwind CSS, Tailwind UI, Shadcn, Claude Code, Cursor AI, UI Development
Experience
- Adobe Illustrator - 10 years
- Sketch - 8 years
- Product Design - 8 years
- Figma - 6 years
- User Experience (UX) - 5 years
- HTML5 - 5 years
- CSS3 - 5 years
- User Interface (UI) - 5 years
Tools
- Sketch
- Adobe Illustrator
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