About me — San Diego, CA
From visual craft
to digital systems
Hi, I’m Mauro.
From the soul of Salvador, Brazil
to the shores of San Diego
Originally from Brazil, I moved to San Diego following a simple drive: to push my horizons and build a life around what I love. I fell in love with the coastline, the culture, and the lifestyle, and never looked back. This is where I established my home, started my family, and shaped my career in design.
Over the years, my work has spanned the entire graphic landscape—from high-touch print production and tangible collateral to scalable brand identities, digital interfaces, and Figma design systems. While my heart is rooted in visual craft and UI/UX, having a foundation in full-stack web development means I design with production realities in mind from day one. I embrace modern AI tools in that same spirit: not as a shortcut, but as a workflow accelerator to prototype faster, explore dynamic ideas, and make the handoff to engineering seamless.
Beyond design:
Home-cooked meals: Bringing Brazilian warmth and comfort food to the table.
Surf sessions: Catching morning swells across San Diego beaches.
Family time: Traveling, discovering new places, and making memories with my wife and son.
- UI/UX Design
- Figma
- Design Systems
- Brand Identity
- Visual Design
- Interactive Prototyping
- Dev-Ready Handoff
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- Design Tokens
- AI-Accelerated Workflow
- Responsive Layouts
↳ How I work
Three principles that guide
everything I create
01 /
Craft is the message
The decisions others skip — the precise letter-spacing, the easing on an interaction, the hierarchy of a label — are where trust is built or lost. People feel it even when they can’t name it.
02 /
Systems, not screens
Good design solves the pattern, not just the single screen. I build design systems and components that hold up under dynamic content, edge cases, and developer handoff long after the project ships.
03 /
AI as a collaborator
The tools are evolving fast, and I embrace them to move quicker. I weave AI into my process to explore visual directions, test complex interaction ideas, and stress-test user flows before locking in high-fidelity designs. The creative judgment is always mine; AI simply removes the friction between initial concept and polished delivery.
↳ Toolkit
Skills & tools
Design & Craft
- UI / UX & Prototyping
- Design Systems & Tokens
- Brand Identity Design
- Print Production & Collateral
- Typography & Editorial
- Conversion Optimization (CRO)
Dev Literacy & Handoff
- Design-to-Code Architecture
- Responsive Layouts (HTML/CSS)
- Frontend Component Logic
- Developer Handoff Specs
- Version Control Literacy
- Build Feasibility Testing
Tools & Modern Workflow
- Figma
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- Interactive Prototyping
- AI-Accelerated Workflows
- Rapid Concept Generation
- Prompt & Workflow Design
↳ Where I've been
Experience
-
2020 – Present
Full-time
Head Designer
Now Media Group — San Diego, CA
-
2014 – 2020
Freelance
UI Designer & Art Director
Techaround — San Diego, CA
-
2015 – 2019
Freelance
Graphic Designer & Production Artist
Creative Circle — San Diego, CA
-
2008 – 2012
Full-time
Production Artist
SLA Propaganda — Salvador, BA, Brazil
-
Certificate
Education
Full Stack Web Development
UC San Diego Extension
-
Degree
Education
B.A. Communication & Advertising
Universidade Salvador — UNIFACS, Brazil
Ready to start a new project?
↳ Get in touch