About
My work moves
between type, brand, products & systems.
The problems got bigger, but the attention to detail stayed.
How I got here
I learned early that where you stand changes what you see.
I was born in Mozambique, into a European family that had lived there for generations. Africa was home. Europe belonged to family stories, a place my parents had never visited. When I was twelve, we had to move to Portugal.
We spoke the same language, but Portugal did not feel familiar. Even the light was different. Adapting meant learning to pay attention to people, situations and the small cues that shaped everyday life.
Since then, I have studied, lived and worked across different countries and cultures, from Lisbon and Barcelona to Luxembourg, London and Oslo. I speak five languages, but language only gets you so far. Working with people in different environments taught me to pay attention to the situation around them: what is assumed, what is left unsaid, what matters, and how things connect.
That became part of how I design. I try to understand people and businesses in context, and pay as much attention to the relationships around a product or service as to the thing itself.
My work developed in much the same way. Typography, graphic design and branding grew into products, services and increasingly complex systems. I never saw one as replacing another. Each added another perspective to the work I was already doing.
Outside the work
I draw and sketchnote because I like thinking visually. It helps me expand and clarify ideas, and explore them in ways words alone do not always allow.
Most mornings start at the gym around six. It gives me energy and usually puts me in a good mood before the day properly starts. I cycle to work, and right now much of my spare time is going into renovating an apartment.
I also mentor founders pro bono through GründerAcademy and The Factory. I like meeting people, understanding where they are, and helping them move forward while avoiding some of the pitfalls along the way. Seeing an idea become clearer and a startup evolve gives me energy too. I value the exchange as much as the mentoring itself.
A few things I believe
A few principles I keep coming back to.
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On systems
A design system only works when people agree on how and why to use it. The components are the visible part; the shared decisions behind them matter more.
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On research
I am often most interested in the exceptions. The people dealing with what does not fit the expected flow usually reveal more about how a service really works.
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On speed
Fewer steps are not automatically better. Sometimes a pause, an explanation or an explicit choice gives people the confidence to move forward.
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On craft
Details matter most when people are uncertain, under pressure or have little choice about using a service. That is where clarity, language and interaction stop being polish and become part of whether the experience works.