Hey there, I’m Tino.
I’m a UX designer, strategist, facilitator, and collaborator currently living in Los Angeles. My inspiration comes from a deep appreciation of people, the art of communication, and the power of connection.
One of my greatest influences has been U2’s frontman, Bono. He’s been the creative and empathetic voice of my generation who continues to inspire millions around the world. He once was quoted as saying the following that is as true for rock stars as it is for designers:
“As a rock star, I have two instincts, I want to have fun,
and I want to change the world. I have a chance to do both.”
— Bono, The Guardian, 1999
Solving problems and designing for well-being are an integral part of my craft. My strategy for thriving at both is led by these six beacons:
User Research
There are many opportunities to help delight people in every industry, but most of them go unrealized. That’s because most organizations don’t take the time to really get to know their users. I’ve dedicated much of my career to developing best practices with and for my teams to design and build products that improve people’s lives.
Gaining Design Trust
I enjoy setting up and/or participating in brown-bag lunch sessions where teams presents work to folks curious about UX. I’ve presented conference learnings & cross-functional processes that unify the org, educate many on user-centered design, and help create shared understandings of the importance of UX.
Outcomes over Output
Success and innovation occur when teams are given problems to solve and are afforded freedom to use their ingenuity to solve that problem. It’s easy to give a team a solution and have them execute. I strive to establish a culture of trust in my teams by observing and measuring outcomes and not just total team output.
Co-Creation
I participate in bi-weekly meet-ups with the team where we discuss a chapter of a UX-related book, or an interesting audio piece from a UX podcast, or something that caught our attention from a LinkedIn or Medium blog post. We then discuss how we can apply the concepts in our daily work.
Continuous Learning
I believe in constantly learning and improving my craft, often experimenting with new ways of doing things that make me a better designer and a better manager. This has allowed me to gain expertise with a wide variety of strategies, techniques and tools that allow me to facilitate great design among teams and companies.
Be a Culture Add
Wherever I work, I try my best to be a culture add, not a just culture fit. I want to learn from my colleagues and I hope that I can add value and differences to share with them as well. The very best teams are those where each person brings a different strength to the table to lift the entire organization.