DESIGNER
RESEARCHER
STRATEGIST

Hello! I’m Daniel, DESIGN RESEARCHER and STRATEGIST across brand and product with 10 years experience.

My focus is to collaborate with cross-functional teams and in doing so implement design strategy, human-centered design, facilitate workshops, manage projects, develop roadmaps and journey maps, and use mixed methods research to help build products and businesses. My goal is to use an interdisciplinary design approach to provide actionable insights to impact business goals and objectives. Bilingual in English and Spanish.

More about me…

  • My passions are fueled by collaboration, valuing all people, and continually learning.

  • Service Design, CX, Surveys, Storyboards, Heuristics, Journey Mapping, User Personas, Market Research, Competitive Analysis, Business Development, Strategy and Innovation, UX Research and Design, Wireframing, FIGMA, Google Analytics, Bilingual in English and Spanish, Competent in an Agile Work Environment, Lo-to-Hi Fidelity Design & Prototyping, Team Leadership, Teamwork, Product Management, User Research, Usability Testing, Qualitative and Quantitative Research, Problem Solving, Familiar with HTML/CSS.

  • As the world changes and we increasingly value not just innovation but sustainability, it is essential to cultivate a design strategy that impacts all cultures and fields. I grew up in South America and have spent time traveling which has expanded my world view of how different people and cultures think about their approach to problems and solutions giving me a deeper understanding of inclusive design.

  • I studied Psychology in my early years as I always found the human experience and behavior to be compelling factors to understanding how we respond to interactions. This has become a valuable core in my design research and strategy approach as it helps me integrate technology and human behavior.

    Executive Masters of Science Candidate, Strategic Design for Global Leadership (due December 2024)- Parson’s School of Design, The New School, Executive Education

    UX Research and Design Specialization - University of Michigan School of Information (2022)

    FIGMA Essentials Training -Bring Your Own Laptop (2022)

    Bachelor of Arts, Psychology - Simpson University (2009)

How
it
started.

In 2009, I worked with at-risk youth and families providing in-house clinical plans for interventions, growth, and psychological treatment while researching and understanding cognitive and behavioral responses to an individual’s environment and circumstances.
Continuing in and around 2012, I started a leather working business. It was a side project from my day job at a coffee enterprise start up. This craft was an initiation into product design, sketches, prototyping, research, and strategy. More so, it sparked my interest in experience design, entrepreneurship, branding, learning-by-doing, and practicing an aesthetic craft. Although I don’t practice this craft presently, it brought me into the pathway of strategic thinking in design.

Thinker
Maker
Coffee-Lover
Designer

I enjoy culture surrounding the ocean coming from soccer, to skateboarding, surfing, photography, music and lifestyle. My passions fuel my everyday work space and motivations. My goal is to use design as a key business and problem-solving tool. 
My purpose is to connect with people and provide actionable design insights that will cultivate a better future.
In the span of 10 years, I have had the opportunity to continue learning.  I found myself obtaining skills in product development, branding, design strategy, UX design, team management, cross-functional collaboration, and mixed methods research. 
Presently, I am a Team Lead at a local distillery in Seattle in which I look over end-to-end product execution partnering with marketing and sales in order to achieve strategic goals and benchmarks. Previously, I helped launch a coffee enterprise start up. At the coffee enterprise, I learned what it meant to be understanding of customer's needs in order to continue to provide a product they love while working cross-functionally with multiple teams. These experiences have allowed me to work well with others and learn how to adapt to the changing and challenging demands of a project. I continued to refine my skills by obtaining a specialization in UX Research and Design. UX has provided a tangible way to evolve product strategy with a human centered focus based on research and data, approaching projects with empathy and curiosity while aligning with stakeholder needs. This journey also paved the way to start my own design firm in which I had the opportunity to provide consulting on product, design, user experience, and branding. The encompassing trajectory of my experience brought me to currently pursue a Masters of Science Degree in Strategic Design from Parson’s School of Design Global Executive Program.