About
Hi, I’m Zé
Said like ZEN, without the N
An end-to-end product designer who loves complex tools and systems. For the last three years I designed trading and payment platforms at Société Générale CIB, and helped with product scoping and strategy. Now I’m open to senior roles and fintech freelance work.
CV available on request.
Experience
Most recently, I was a Product Designer at Societe Generale CIB in London. I led the end-to-end product design for trading and payment platforms. One of my favourite projects was the trading tool I designed for professional traders.
Before, I was working on information design at Mintel, where I also created a new global graphic style that cut design time by around half.
I was also the editor, designer and printmaker of CHIMPAN zine, interviewing artists and designers, and collaborating with many illustrators and brands.
I've always loved screen printing, and back then, I interned at PENAZEBRA in Lisbon and Jealous in London, then worked at 3rd Rail and Print Club London. As a freelancer, I also printed for illustrators like Michael Driver and brands like Paynter Jacket.
Outside of work, you'll find me playing badminton, designing a digital urban treasure hunt game, thinking of the next zine, and filling travel journals.
Education
2025
Measure UX & Design Impact
Vitaly Friedman, Smashing Magazine
2025
Foreign Exchange and Money Market
Fit for Banking (Present Value Training)
2025
Introduction to Banking
Fit for Banking (Present Value Training)
2022
User Experience Design
General Assembly
2022
Data-viz Drawing
Stefanie Posavec, Graphic Hunters
2014 – 2017
B.A. Communication Design
Faculdade de Belas Artes, Universidade de Lisboa
2016 – 2017
Erasmus Exchange (merit scholarship)
Southampton Solent University
How I work
Strategy
Vision workshops are my favourite part
Facilitating, or being part of, product vision and strategy workshops.
Flow first
The whole flow before a single screen
The biggest wins are usually in the workflow, not the UI.
Prototypes
Rough on Tuesday beats perfect on Friday
That prototype might even be in code, with AI as my pair programmer.
Research
A big supporter of UX research
Short sessions and concrete screens get the best input from busy experts.
Trust
You know what I'll deliver and when
And if it slips, you hear it from me first.
Team
Close to product owners and developers
I work closely with the people who decide and the people who build.
Talks, Events & Press
UnderPinned
Featured Freelancer
Series: A day in the life of a Freelancer
2019
CHIMPAN zine
CHIMPAN zine #02 Launching Event
Hackney, London
2019
Off the clock
Travel journals
Filled on the road.
Badminton
On court whenever I can.
Tools
Design and research
- Figma and FigJam
- User research
- Workflow mapping
- UX impact workshops
- Design systems
- Miro
- Milanote
- Affinity
- Adobe CC
- Framer
Code and AI
- HTML, CSS, JS prototypes
- Claude
- ChatGPT
- Gemini
- Perplexity
- Lovable
- VS Code
- GitHub
- WordPress and WooCommerce
- MicroPython and Thonny
Work and planning
- Notion
- Monday.com
- Trello
- Google Suite
- Microsoft Office
- Later.com