Designing systems
that scale.
I craft digital products where strategic thinking meets obsessive craft — from zero-to-one apps to enterprise design systems used by hundreds of engineers.
Work that moved needles
Every project starts with a clearly framed problem. These are the solutions — and the numbers behind them.
Rethinking personal finance for the anxious millennial
Users of a legacy banking app had a 63% drop-off rate within the first session. Exit surveys revealed one cause: financial data felt overwhelming and judgmental rather than empowering.
I led an 8-month redesign — from discovery sprints and JTBD interviews through a design sprint, to a full native app rebuild across iOS and Android. The core insight: hide complexity behind calm, actionable surfaces. We introduced “financial moods,” proactive nudges, and a radical simplification of the IA.
Turning behaviour data into sustainable habits
A Series B health-tech startup had great sensor hardware but a fragmented app. Users collected data but couldn’t act on it — 80% never returned after the first week.
I redefined the IA, moving from data-dump dashboards to an insight-then-action narrative. Working with the behavioural science team, I designed habit-loop mechanics, streak visualisations, and a weekly synthesis report that felt like a trusted coach.
From spreadsheet hell to a revenue intelligence platform
RevOps teams spent 14+ hours per week reconciling data from 6 disconnected tools. Decision latency averaged 11 days. Leadership had no single source of truth.
Through 40+ stakeholder interviews across 3 user roles, I mapped the full data journey and designed a unified revenue intelligence dashboard — with anomaly detection, a north-star metric module, and role-specific workspaces.
Architecture for teams that ship
Three enterprise-scale systems built from scratch — serving 200+ engineers and 30+ designers — from first token to full Storybook documentation.
A disciplined design process
Rigorous enough to de-risk decisions. Flexible enough to move fast. Always anchored to the problem statement set at the start.
Stakeholder interviews, user research, competitive analysis, and JTBD mapping. I don’t open Figma until I can state the problem in one sentence.
Insight synthesis, persona refinement, and problem statement workshopping. Deliverables: opportunity maps, HMW statements, KPIs.
Crazy 8s, design sprints, and concept explorations with engineers and PMs — shared ownership reduces late-stage friction.
From low-fi wireframes to pixel-perfect, spec-annotated, interactive Figma prototypes. I design in the system — never outside it.
Moderated usability testing, A/B experiments, and post-launch analytics. I measure against the KPIs set in phase 2 — and I report failures too.
Designer. Strategist.
Systems thinker.
I started my career as a visual designer in São Paulo, moved into product design at a Series A fintech in London, and have since led design at companies from early-stage startups to publicly listed enterprises.
I care deeply about craft — but I care more about whether the design actually solved the problem. I present work in narrative, not slides full of screenshots, and I always have working Figma files to hand.
“Mara is the rare designer who can run user research in the morning, present a system architecture to engineers at lunch, and ship a pixel-perfect spec by end of day. She made our product team significantly better.”
“What stood out was how Mara framed problems before touching a design tool. She consistently traced every design decision back to user evidence and business metrics.”
Ready to do great work together?
Available for senior IC and lead roles. Working Figma files, live prototypes, and full case study walkthroughs available on request.