João Manuel Castro Pinheiro
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Lisbon, Portugal
Toptal member since February 21, 2022
João is a UX/UI designer, consultant, and instructor with nearly a decade of professional experience building digital products. He has designed for TAP Air Portugal, eCommerce, healthcare, education, insurance, social security, real estate, a major event venue, auto dealers, and a nonprofit. João creates amazing digital products through the design thinking framework, solves complex UX and UI problems, and works closely with product and engineering teams.
Portfolio
Work Experience
UX/UI Design Instructor
FLAG
- Taught UX strategy (competitor analysis), user research (interviews, personas, user stories, and user journeys), information architecture, low- and high-fidelity wireframes, interactive prototyping, and user testing.
- Taught UI design, visual design, Figma, InVision, Zeplin, and design systems.
- Provided feedback and tutored students on their final design projects.
UX/UI Design Instructor
University BootCamps
- Taught Adobe XD, Figma, Marvel, Miro, and HTML/CSS.
- Taught UX/UI design skills: user research (surveys, interviews, personas, and research reports), information architecture, wireflows, low- medium- and high-fidelity wireframes, visual design, usability testing, and interactive prototyping.
- Provided feedback to students regarding their weekly assignments.
UX/UI Designer
Consulting 2 Success
- Designed a mobile app for an insurance company website: conducted user research, information architecture, wireframes, visual design, and interactive prototyping.
- Created a usability report for an insurance company website, including competitor analysis and low-fidelity wireframes.
- Developed a usability report for a social security website, including competitor analysis and user research via proto-personas and user stories.
UX/UI Designer
Pepper – Brand Taste
- Conducted user research for a car showroom website, including interviews, personas, user stories, and user journeys.
- Created strong information architecture via low- and high-fidelity wireframes, simple user flows, and a sitemap for the main website of this digital agency.
- Developed a design system with information regarding typography, colors, illustrations, button behavior, and assets.
UX/UI Designer
TJPA – Marketing & Creative Agency
- Designed a responsive website for a German client to promote the venue and bring in companies to host their events. I conducted user research, information architecture, wireframing, user testing, visual design, and interactive prototyping.
- Built three design systems for different projects, including typography, color, button behavior, illustrations, logos, and other assets.
- Conducted user research for a health app, including interviews, surveys, personas, user stories, and user journeys.
UX/UI Designer
UPPartner
- Designed a mobile app for people with bipolar disorder, including competitor analysis and user research via proto-personas, user stories, and user journeys.
- Developed a functional specification with the sitemap, user flows to reach each goal, and wireframes.
- Created sitemaps, user flows, low- and medium-fidelity wireframes, and interactive prototyping.
UX/UI Designer
Bar Ogilvy
- Designed a responsive healthcare website to interest new parents in preserving stem cells from their newborn babies.
- Conducted user research for a healthcare website, including interviews, personas, user stories, user journeys, sitemap, user flows, wireframes, and user testing.
- Created the visual design and a design system for a healthcare website, including typography, colors, illustrations, photos, button behavior, and assets.
UX/UI Designer
Unlock Brands
- Designed a real estate website to promote luxury apartments and interest users in buying them.
- Conducted user research for a website related to a sustainable community, including interviews, personas, user stories, user journeys, low- and high-fidelity wireframes, and usability testing.
- Designed the visual design and design system for the sustainable community website, including typography, colors, illustrations, button behavior, and assets.
UX/UI Designer
Wingman (Merged into Deloitte Digital)
- Designed a website for TAP Air Portugal, the main Portuguese airline company: conducted a competitor analysis and user research, created low- and medium-fidelity wireframes and interactive prototyping, and performed usability testing.
- Designed a mobile app for TAP Air Portugal, including competitor analysis, user research, low- and medium-fidelity wireframes, and interactive prototyping.
- Designed an eCommerce website for mattress and bed suppliers: conducted a competitor analysis and user research via proto-personas and user stories; created the information architecture and low- and medium-fidelity wireframes.
UX/UI Designer
Front Digital
- Designed a mobile fitness app to set workouts for different types of users: conducted competitor analysis, user research (personas), wireframing, and visual design.
- Created two design systems for websites, including typography, colors, illustrations, button behavior, and assets.
- Designed and developed a website for an organization that helps children in Ghana: conducted user research via proto-personas, wireframing, visual design, and interactive prototyping.
Education
Postgraduate Degree in Design for Visual Communication
University of the Arts London, London College of Communication - London, England, UK
Licentiate Degree in Design
IADE – Creative University - Lisbon, Portugal
Certifications
The Agency Workshop Series: UX/UI Experience
EDIT Disruptive Digital Education
Skills
Tools
Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, InDesign CC, Figma, Adobe Experience Design (XD), Sketch, InVision, Zeplin, Trello, Apple Keynote, Final Cut Pro, After Effects CC, Marvel, Miro, Jira, OmniGraffle
Languages
HTML, CSS
Industry Expertise
Technology, Events, Architecture, Restaurants & Dining, Marketing
Other
Typography, Color Theory, Color Schemes, Visual Hierarchy, Digital Design, Layout, Grid Systems, Communication Design, Product Design, Industrial Design, Multimedia Design, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), User Research, User Testing, User Flows, Sitemaps, Wireframing, Prototyping, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, Information Architecture (IA), Visual Design, Proto-personas, User Stories, UX Wireflows, Mobile UX, Responsive UI, Infographics, Brand Identity, Drawing, Advertising Design, Interior Design, Design Systems, User Personas, Mobile Apps, eCommerce UX, Tech Conferences, Women's Health, Stem Cell Research, Health Insurance, Residential Real Estate, Commercial Real Estate, Web Marketing, Sales, eCommerce, Immersive Experiences, SEO Marketing, Websites, Landing Pages, Teaching, UX Strategy, User Interviews, User Journeys, Interactive Prototypes, UI Design, Tutoring, UX Design, User Surveys, Research Reports, Usability Testing, Mobile App Design, Usability, Buttons, Responsive Design, Logo Design, Functional Specifications, Annotated Wireframes, Web Design, Illustration
Experience
- User Experience (UX) - 9 years
- User Research - 9 years
- Product Design - 9 years
- Information Architecture (IA) - 9 years
- Visual Design - 9 years
- Wireframing - 9 years
- User Interface (UI) - 9 years
- Competitor Analysis & Profiling - 7 years
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