Rafael Gonzalez

About My Professional Journey!

Key Milestones and Valuable Lessons Learned Along the Way

Seasoned product and design professional with extensive experience delivering user-centered solutions across startups, corporations, and government projects. Specialized in B2B and B2C products, aligning with market trends to drive growth and satisfaction.

Skilled in leading collaborative teams and creating innovative digital experiences that balance business goals with user needs. Always open to new challenges and opportunities to craft impactful, memorable products.

Working Methods That Deliver

A practical toolkit of methods I use to align teams, reduce risk, and ship better outcomes.

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Scrum

Scrum drives collaboration, adaptability, and continuous improvement so teams can deliver value efficiently.

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Design Thinking

Design Thinking promotes creativity and user focus, turning challenges into practical opportunities.

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Design Sprint

Design Sprints speed up innovation by solving complex problems with focused collaboration and rapid prototyping.

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Double Diamond

The Double Diamond helps teams move from broad discovery to focused solutions with clarity.

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Lean UX

Lean UX prioritizes collaboration and feedback, reducing waste and improving speed to value.

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Agile

Agile encourages adaptability, iteration, and continuous delivery to respond to change quickly.

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OKR

OKRs align teams around clear, measurable goals and make progress visible.

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Human-Centered Design

Human-Centered Design keeps users at the center so solutions are useful, desirable, and feasible.

Disciplines & Fields

I'm skilled in project/product management, digital design, and frontend development, focusing on innovation and impactful results.

  • Project Management
  • Product Management
  • Product Marketing
  • Growth Hacking
  • Scrum Master
  • Product Owner (PO)
  • Program Management
  • User Experience Design (UX)
  • User Interface Design (UI)
  • Interaction Design (IxD)
  • Service Design
  • Digital Product Design
  • Data Visualization Design
  • Graphic Design
  • Creative Direction
  • Frontend Developer (Web)
Frameworks

I'm skilled in project/product management, digital design, and frontend development, focusing on innovation and impactful results.

Design
  • Design Thinking
  • Double Diamond
  • Human-Centered Design
  • Lean Design
  • Systems Thinking
User Interface (UI) Design
  • Material Design by Google
  • Human Interface Guidelines by Apple
  • Material You
  • Fluent Design System by Microsoft
Product Management
  • Value Proposition Canvas
  • Optimal Product Process (by 280 Group)
User Experience (UX) Design
  • Five Planes of UX (by Jesse James Garrett)
  • UX Honeycomb (by Peter Morville)
  • Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
Toolbox

I'm skilled in project/product management, digital design, and frontend development, focusing on innovation and impactful results.

Design and Prototyping

Figma • Adobe XD • Sketch • InVision • Zeplin • Abstract • Adobe CC Suite • Illustrator • Photoshop • Axure RP • Marvel • App • Protopic • Framer • Principle • Affinity Designer • Framer X

Generative AI

ChatGPT and Codex • Claude • Copilot • Gemini • DALL-E • RunwayML • Midjourney • Stable Diffusion • Adobe Neural Filters • Adobe Firefly • DeepDream • DeepArt

Collaboration and Documentation

Yes • Confluence • Notion • Trello • Asana • Slack • Miro • Monday.com • Whimsical • Airtable • Microsoft 365 • Google Workspace • Basecamp • ClickUp • Coda

User Research and Analysis

Hotjar • Google Analytics • Optimizely • UserTesting • Lookback • UsabilityHub • Maze • Typeform • SurveyMonkey

Product Management

Aha! • Productboard • Roadmunk • Love • Craft.io • ProductPlan • ProdPad

Development and Version Control

GitHub • GitLab • VSCode • Sublime Text • MySQL • SQL • JQL • Javascript • Python • Dart • HTML • CSS • Sass • Bootstrap

Others

Tableau • Power BI • Microsoft Power Automate • Zapier • HubSpot

My Career Path

Leadership Roles and Professional Evolution

A curated view of the roles that shaped my approach to product strategy, design leadership and execution.

I mentored designers and product professionals, helping them strengthen decision-making, portfolio storytelling and career direction with practical guidance.

adplist.org

Mentor

2022 - Current

I supported companies with product strategy, UX direction and digital transformation, helping teams define clearer priorities and more scalable experiences.

Rafael Gonzalez Global Consultant

Product Consultant

2012 - Current

I contributed to improving the usability and visual consistency of the product interfaces, applying UX principles to make the experience clearer and more intuitive. During this time, I strengthened my foundation in user experience, interface design, and digital product thinking, collaborating closely with teams to translate user needs into practical design solutions.

Eyecare Health

Product Designer Specialist

2025 - 2026

I led product design across complex initiatives, aligning business priorities, design systems and delivery teams to raise consistency and product maturity.

Got Chosen

Lead Product Design

2021 - 2024

I connected innovation, product direction and execution, shaping opportunities that improved delivery speed, user value and internal alignment.

Built

Head of Product and Innovation

2019 - 2020

I structured the UX discipline, improved discovery practices and helped teams move from isolated design work to a more strategic product mindset.

Built

Head of User Experience (UX)

2018 - 2019

I led multidisciplinary creative work across digital products and campaigns, balancing brand quality, speed of execution and measurable business impact.

Advance

Digital Creative Director

2014 - 2018

I built the studio foundation, defined the creative standard and directed projects from early concept to final delivery across multiple client contexts.

FirstMad

Founder and Creative Director

2012 - 2014

I translated communication goals into stronger digital experiences, bringing clarity to brand expression, campaign execution and interface quality.

ADesign Brasil

Senior Art Director

2012 - 2013

I helped shape interfaces with a stronger usability foundation, building the base of my work in UX, visual systems and digital product thinking.

W3Connect

UI/UX Designer

2011 - 2012

Results That Scale

A snapshot of the experience, leadership and delivery volume behind the work shown in this portfolio.

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Projects Done

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Years of Experience

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Years of Management

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Brand Partners

What Others Say About Me!

A collection of experiences and impressions from those I've had the privilege to work with.

Please, ask me for more recommendations or visit my LinkedIn Profile LinkedIn Profile and see for yourself.

Brands and organizations

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Let's Work Together!

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