Interested in growth; I am inspired by humanity 🫀, evolution, flexibility, (dis)comfort, technology 💻, emotional intelligence and love 💙.
Mission
Curious. Effectiveness-oriented. Focused on building empathic solutions that will help make people’s lives a little less chaotic and a little less consumed. Hopefully, a little bit better, one day at a time.
About
Hi there. I’m Cristina Tulcidas, a product designer with training in UI/UX Design Foundations and Emotional Design & Design Psychology working remotely fom sunny Portugal 🇵🇹. Over the past +5 years, I have been helping start-ups and tech teams build meaningful and valuable experiences.
I consider myself a tireless thinker, seeker of knowledge and self-aware introvert. Passionate about physics, philosophy and psychology. I believe in animal welfare, human rights and equality; mental health and wellness; and environmental and ecological sustainability.
“It’s harder to be better. But the impact of better is far more valuable than the impact of more.” — Bård Annweiler in the book Point of Purpose.
Speaker at events
Tech-teams from a Designers POV
January 12, 2024
My hypothesis is that: the key to building successful products (And most importantly, a team that thrives in doing so) is determined by the seamless cross-collaboration between designers and developers within well organised tech teams. In fact my very first talk, in the very early stages of my career in product design, was about the importance of cross-collaboration between designers and developers, and 5 years later, I still stand by that irrevocably. Presentation Video
UX is smart. UX is kind. UX is emotion.
May 25, 2019
It is still a common misconception for many professionals in the industry (IT) to consider design to be “art”, but as a UI/UX designer, I feel the need to explain that Design is NOT art. Design in general, but more specifically so, UI and UX, is probably more Tech than Art. Art is raw, personal and without rules, and that is beautiful. But design is neither raw, personal or without rules. Just like developers and fellow engineers, designers rely on guiding rules, process documentations and creative thinking to do their job. But more importantly, UX Design needs to be kind, smart and emotional. Let’s understand why 🙂 Presentation Video
UAlg Back to School @University of the Algarve Faro
From Northern Europe to the South, Empathy in the Heart
March 22, 2019
Geek Girls Portugal @Turbine Kreuzberg Faro
Why devs and designers work better together
November 23, 2018
cross-functional teams have a much better
chance of delivering value and delight to the
users”—Matej Latin Presentation Medium article
Attended events
Industry Sessions: How AI drives Design — EDIT 2023 Online, Remote
WebSummit 2019 LX, Portugal
NORDIC.Design 2019 Stockholm, Sweden
WebSummit 2018 LX, Portugal
“Anything that costs your peace, is too expensive.”
Recommendations
Kelly Mestre Software Developer @ AI Coaching
“I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with Cristina for a few years and since we parted ways to explore new challenges I really miss her as a really good professional that she is in a team. Cristina is a team player always open to discuss, brainstorm with her teammates. Her close connection and work with the development team makes everyones work flow very smoothly and very easily. Besides being a great communicator, in her work she is very well organised and perfectionist which makes her work very defined and reliable, even from the most important to the smallest details.
I learned a lot with her, and also a word and a concept which I will never forget – consistency. These learnings have guided me throughout my professional career making me implement the best practices and giving me a better understanding on how important her work is to achieve a good product. I still hope that one day our paths will cross and we can work together again because good professionals like Cristina are really hard to find and there is no doubt that Cristina is a highly valuable member to have on the team.”
Kelly worked with Cristina on the same teams
Gustavo Jordão Engineering Lead @ Rydes
“To this day the best designer I’ve ever worked with.
Every developer knows how painful it can be to work with designers. I’ve never had a single problem with Cristina as we worked closely together to figure out the best solutions for our users but also to our developers.
10/10 would work with again”
Gustavo worked with Cristina on the same team
Penélope Gonçalves Technical & Team Lead @ Contentserv
“Cristina sparks joy whenever she talks about product design and how it can be used to better everyone’s lives, and is a big inspiration for me, as a software engineer, on the importance of delivering the best possible products that not only will be good, but that will matter. We’ve collaborated in the past through Geek Sessions, and her sense of commitment to community is just as strong as her good practices and hard work.”
Penélope worked with Cristina but on different teams
Vanessa Nascimento Agile Consultant & VP @ Algarve Evolution
“Cristina is a committed employee with a very high sense of responsibility. A team player, works well under structure leadership/project management and is able to recognise improvements from her side and to suggest fixers to team’ problems. Wish I had the chance of working together again and I would definitely recommend her.”
Vanessa managed Cristina directly
Fun Facts
A punk-rock enthusiast, who has a penchant for classical music; loves any kind of pizza combo; enjoys dark-humored stand-up comedy, especially Daniel Sloss’s live shows; forever in love with snow ❄️ and mother to the most beautiful italian mastiff.
Contacts
Email me Hi there 👋
Find me on Linkedin
Read my article’s on Medium
Request portfolio Sounds good 😊
Download Full resume
MAIS AMOR POR FAVOR ♡ All Rights Reserved 2023 Cristina Tulcidas