Photo by Raquel Vieira da Silva
Originally from sunny Lisbon, I've spent the last fourteen years in considerably cloudier London.
Over that time I've worked across brand identity, digital and product design. A slightly unusual mix of skills that came from years of freelancing and bouncing between agencies, tech startups and clients I found along the way.
The best work I've done has usually lived somewhere between a strong brand foundation and a digital product that actually has to function in the real world. The two inform each other more than most people give them credit for.
I'm currently Design Director at TwelfthMan, a sport design agency in London, which means I finally found a legitimate use for my encyclopaedic knowledge of football. I've worked in sport for clients like UEFA, Premier League, Manchester City and Bayern Munich, but also stepped into the rather different world of corporate tech at GfK (now part of Nielsen) as well other industries like fashion and retail.
Outside of the day job, I co-founded Contrast with my sister. A clothing brand based in Lisbon that we've been running since 2018. I handle everything creative, which apparently also means I'm the one drawing every single t-shirt.
I'm also the person behind Swap Club, a free Panini sticker swapping web app for the World Cup, built to scratch my own itch, now used by several hundred others.
When I'm not designing, I'm mildly obsessed with photographing abandoned chairs in the wild, see here. I also follow Benfica with an unhealthy level of commitment and lastly I’m a recovering Football Manager addict.
What I like to do
1. Brand design
Everything that makes a company look and feel like itself. But before the logo and the colours, there's thinking to do, who you're for, what you stand for, how you want to be perceived. I help work through those questions first, then build the visual system that comes out of the answers.
2. Website design
For most people, your website is the first time they actually encounter your brand — not the logo, not the guidelines, the real thing. Getting that right starts with a deep understanding of what the brand is and what it's trying to say. Then making sure that first impression holds up, makes sense to navigate, and feels like it belongs to something considered.
3. Product design
Most digital products look like they were designed by a committee. I work on making them easier to use and better to look at — because there's no reason those two things can't both be true. Before any of that, there's thinking to do, what problem are we solving, who for, and what does success look like. That comes first.
How I like to work
Good design starts with a clear understanding of what you're actually trying to solve, before any ideas, before any pixels.
By getting under the skin of the brand, the audience, and the business goal, I help build things that hold together. Visually strong, strategically sound, and built to work in the real world.
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Start with the brand, the business, and the people. Workshops, interviews, stakeholder conversations. Getting everyone aligned on what we're actually making and why, before a single idea gets entertained.
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This is where the strategic thinking happens. Who the brand is for, what it stands for, how it should feel. For digital projects, it's also where content gets mapped and user journeys get drawn. The decisions made here shape everything that follows.
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With a clear direction in place, we move into making. Brand identity, visual systems, page architecture, art direction. The work starts to look like something and more importantly, starts to feel like the brand.
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The details that make the difference. For brand, that's making sure the system holds together across every touchpoint. For digital, it's interactions, motion, states. Either way, this is where good becomes considered.
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Whether it's a brand going live or a website shipping, this is where we need to make sure everything is actually ready, tested, documented, handed over properly, and set up to outlast the project.
Experience
Twelfthman
Design Director
2024 – Now
Mortar & Pestle
Design Lead
GfK
Design Lead
Signal Noise
Design Lead
Territory Studios
Design Lead
2018 – 2019
2019 – 2020
2020 – 2023
2023 – 2024