Catarina Tavares Martins

Job:

User Experience Designer

Company:

AND Digital

I work for AND Digital, a company that helps clients to launch better digital products and build high performing digital teams. For me, this means I have the opportunity to be part of a variety of projects/clients. My job as a user experience designer means I am a problem solver. Have you ever struggled to find something on a website or had a bad checkout experience? I’m responsible for being your voice - I translate your frustrations into actionable work for developers or the business.

I am...

Creative

Passionate

Curious

The skills I use most in my job...

Communication

Planning

Ideation

User research

Wireframing/prototyping

The most interesting thing I've worked on in my career so far...

I worked on the design of an iOS mobile app called Sketchd, that aimed to boost creativity and bring awareness to user experience concepts. It allowed users to complete a drawing a day of certain user experience related words and then compete against each other. I was really proud of what we achieved in so little time and when we released the app we were even contacted by Apple to be part of their featured apps.

What inspired me into digital and tech...

I have always wanted a career that would help me make people’s lives that little bit easier and, from an early age, I was amazed at how different technologies can do this. I think I’ve now found the right path to enable me to help people, though I still have a lot to learn!

My educational background is...

When I was younger, I wasn’t sure what career path I wanted to take, so I tried a few different things. I did one year at nursing school, a Bachelor degree in Health Sciences, a Master in Bioinformatics and a year of a Computer Sciences PhD until I realised I needed something slightly less academic. I only found my true passion for user experience design when I started working at AND Digital.

What advice I'd give to girls thinking about a career in digital and tech...

Don’t be afraid to try something for fear of failure. Failure is how you learn, without it you won’t find where your passions and priorities lie. So be brave and keep learning - you’ll only become a better version of yourself.