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Strategic UX/UI Designer & Product Builder — 5+ years

RAFAELA
COSTA

I turn complex ideas into clear, human-centered experiences.

Design, strategy and structure for digital products and brands with purpose. I work across a range of fields — from research to shipped interfaces and design systems.

Selected workGet in touch
Rafaela Costa

About

I'm a strategic UX/UI designer and product builder with 5+ years of international experience.

I work at the intersection of design, strategy and structure. My background spans a range of fields, and I build my own projects in parallel: an AI app, a fashion brand, and a handful of products I've been developing through vibe coding.

I learn constantly, think laterally, and take ownership of what I build. I don't work on projects without real impact.

Capabilities

WHAT I DO

Design

  • Figma (advanced)
  • Design systems
  • User research
  • Prototyping
  • UX/UI Design
  • Identity design

Product

  • Product strategy
  • Project management
  • Workflows with developers
  • Roadmapping
  • Stakeholder alignment

Technical

  • HTML/CSS prototyping
  • AI design tools (Figma Make, LLM-based UI)
  • Web3 / blockchain fundamentals

Selected work

CASE STUDIES

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Vero

Vero

Founder · Product Designer · Solo Builder — 2026

Vero is a verifiable credibility layer for the open web, built on Midnight. A source proves it holds a real credential — accredited journalist, licensed professional, recognised outlet — and chooses how much of its identity to reveal. I designed it, and then I built it: positioning, product, interface, and the 149-line zero-knowledge contract underneath.

Product DesignProduct StrategyZero-KnowledgeWeb3Solo BuildVibe Coding
Wordi

Wordi

Product Designer — 2026

A phonics app built for one small reader — brand, monsters, alphabet, learning worlds, and a working app. Designed and AI-assisted in two weeks.

UX/UI DesignBrand IdentityAIEdTechMobile App
Blame On Mercury

Blame On Mercury

Founder · UX/UI Designer · Project Manager — 2026

Blame On Mercury is a brand I founded and am building end to end — identity system, production pipeline, and a live product — while acting as its UX/UI designer and project manager. This case study is about that work: the design decisions, the systems built to support them, and a product shipped solo through vibe coding.

UX/UI DesignBrand IdentityProject ManagementVibe CodingDesign Systems

Experience

WHERE I'VE WORKED

UX/UI Designer & Project Manager

2023 — Present

DigiUp — Porto, PortugalCurrent

Leading cross-functional teams and designing user-centric interfaces for high-impact digital products. Building Blame On Mercury as a personal studio practice in parallel.

UX/UI Designer

2021 — 2023

DigiUp — Porto, Portugal

Focused on visual consistency and user experience optimisation across client projects.

Women in AI Accelerator

2025

Build Club

Selected for the accelerator with Wanna Be Delulu, an AI personal development app. Focus on AI product design and community.

Commercial & client-facing roles

2015 — 2020

Century21, Remax, Maxfinance — Lisbon, Portugal

Years in real estate and credit intermediation before design. Client relationships, negotiation and commercial strategy — the business instinct I now bring to product work.

Building

PROJECTS I'M BUILDING

Vero

↗

A verifiable credibility layer for the open web, built on Midnight. Zero-knowledge proofs for real credentials — designed and built solo.

Founder, product designer, solo builder

Blame On Mercury

↗

Fashion brand with a limited-drop model. Identity, art direction and digital presence built from scratch.

Founder, designer, strategist

Approach

HOW I WORK

My process is research-led and systems-driven. I read patterns in products and in people — the misalignment between what a brand says and what it feels like, the gap between a user's stated need and their real behaviour. Then I build the structure that closes that gap.

Full approach →
01

Research & discovery

User research, stakeholder interviews, competitive analysis and systems mapping. I start by understanding the problem space before touching a pixel.

02

Strategy & structure

Information architecture, design systems, product strategy and roadmapping. The invisible scaffolding that makes a product coherent at scale.

03

Design & delivery

UX/UI design, prototyping, identity and craft. The part that makes the system feel unmistakably like the brand and usable for real people.

TWO WAYS IN

For clients & collaborators

WORK WITH ME

I don't work with everyone. I don't work fast. But if you have a complex problem that needs both structure and taste, let's talk.

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For roles & partnerships

OPPORTUNITIES

Product design, design systems, brand identity and strategy for teams building something with weight.

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