Matthew Ortega, Designer in New York, NY, United States
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Matthew Ortega

Verified Expert  in Design

Designer

Location
New York, NY, United States
Toptal Member Since
August 11, 2017

Matthew has been working as a designer for more than seven years and continues to love what he does. Although he's worked in all areas of design, he definitely specializes in pixels and code. Matthew also runs a creative technology studio called Form & Void and the freelance design collective: Peopl. His clients have included Apple, Verizon, R/GA, Critical Mass, and Citibank.

Web DesignMobile App DesignUI DesignUser Experience (UX)BrandingMobile UIAdobe PhotoshopAdobe IllustratorInVisionSketchPrincipleStrategyPrototypingFramer PrototypingAdobe Experience Design (XD)

Portfolio

Work Experience

Product Designer

2021 - 2022
Handsome @ Unity
  • Conducted team and stakeholder interviews and developed hypotheses for design team improvements.
  • Developed a UI refresh that would be applied across the line of Unity products.
  • Maintained and documented a large cross-platform design system that included spatial contexts.
Technologies: Framer, Blender, Docusaurus, User Interface (UI), User Experience (UX), Spatial Design, Unity, Figma

Lead XR & System Designer

2019 - 2021
Verizon Media
  • Created designs and prototypes with Framer, Unity, Three.js, and Blender.
  • Maintained a multiplatform software development kit (SDK) and design system.
  • Acted as the bridge between the design and development teams.
Technologies: Figma, Unity, Framer, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Blender, iOS, Android

Freelance Lead Interactive Design (Remote)

2018 - 2019
Crowdtap
  • Developed the dashboard and other screens UI and UX design.
  • Defined the style guide for the UI elements based on a renewed version of branding.
  • Created concepts and ideas for the iOS mobile app.
Technologies: Zeplin, Sketch, Principle, InVision

Freelance Interactive Designer

2017 - 2017
R/GA
  • Worked on a project for one of the biggest telecommunications companies that aimed to redesign how the company acquires new customers.
  • Was involved a major UX overhaul along with the implementation of a new visual identity.
  • Worked in a faced-paced environment with a team of more than 20 people.
  • Worked in a collaborative environment where UI and UX designers equally input on visual standards and flow design.
  • Iterated quickly on designs within months—working in Sketch and testing prototypes in InVision and Principle.
Technologies: Principle, InVision, Sketch

Freelance Interactive Art Director

2016 - 2016
Apple
  • Worked on the blue sky concepts for the revamp of the Apple online store.
  • Implemented, in a small team, the changes to the marketing site for an upcoming launch.
  • Was required to learn the entire design system and Human Interface Guidelines of Apple before starting on any live work.
  • Worked with some of the best designers in the world.
  • Worked on items that eventually ended up in front of Apple Executives.
Technologies: Adobe Photoshop, Principle, Sketch

Freelance Senior Designer

2015 - 2015
Critical Mass
  • Relaunched, in a small team, a major banking app's design.
  • Worked in an agile workflow, led design sprints, and built and tested clickable prototypes.
  • Explored new ways to engage with customers, revised user flows, and worked on sections of the app.
  • Worked in a fast-paced work environment—one-week sprints.
  • Worked closely with developers to make sure that the designs were technologically feasible.
Technologies: InVision, Adobe Photoshop, Sketch

Designer

2012 - 2013
Barrel
  • Worked as an interactive designer on projects spanning from identity design to web apps.
  • Improved upon the workflow and tools used by the design team, along with giving presentations on new techniques in the design world.
  • Often acted as a lead designer on project teams and took on some of the front-end development responsibilities when needed.
  • Presented to clients on a regular basis; designers had a one-on-one relationship with clients to keep an open dialogue.
  • Worked on small design teams that consisted of a designer, developer, and project manager.
Technologies: InVision, Front-end Development, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator
2017 - 2017

Certificate in Creative Technology

School for Poetic Computation: SFPC - New York City, NY, USA

2017 - 2017

Certificate in Interactive Telecommunications

New York University ITP - New York City, NY, USA

2011 - 2011

Continuing Education Certificate in Graphic Design

Parsons School of Design - New York City, NY, USA

2004 - 2008

Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Art

Rutgers University - New Brunswick, NJ, USA