MY PHILOSOPHY
My philosophy is basically this. And this is something that I live by. And I always have. And I always will. Don't ever, for any rea[...] Just kidding!
Here’s a bit of me. A mix of jazz, indie rock, with a Brazilian rap twist, playlist and style alike! Catch me with headphones on 90% of the time, and fair warning, I'm 100% jump-prone when surprised (totally not your fault). I love board sports in general, currently cruising with my Pink Panther, and yeah, I name all my boards. Oh, and if you hang out in California enough there might be a doodle version of you in my sketchbook – hope you are as cool in real life as in there!
shades of me
Anyone who left their nest's comfort must quickly learn to see opportunities where others see obstacles. This impacted my design journey in immeasurable ways.
Methods
Human-Centered Design
Value Proposition Design
Design Sprint
Lean UX Design | SCRUM
User Research
Usability Testing
User Stories | JTBD
Informational Architecture
Design Systems
Wireframing | Prototyping
TOOLS
Procreate | Illustrator
Indesign | Photoshop
After Effects | Premiere
Midjourney | DALL-E
XD | Figma | Zeplin
HTML | CSS | Processing.js
Figjam | Miro | Mural
Jira | Asana | Trello
Portuguese | Spanish | French
Recent Highlights
WORK
2022 - NOW
2021 - 2023
2019 - 2022
My Trajectory in three acts
ONCE
In 2014, I left Brazil to pursue a Pixar Artist status in the US, until I took"UX for Artists" with Beth Cataldo, unveiling Jesse James Garrett's enchanting "Elements of UX." --> Mindblown! Merging visual design, anthropology, psychology, and business into a bowl of impactful outcomes (and let's be real, some good money too) was what I aimed for as a vocation. It became my Ikigai.
NOW
In this decade-long expat journey, I've delved into coding, volunteered with NGOs, earned scholarships, attended conferences, spoke at conferences, led meetups, led teams, launched products, and engaged in continuous cycles of mentoring and being mentored. More recently I've finished an MFA in Interactive Design that paved the path for me to explore new technologies and teaching at a tier-1 university.
NEXT
So next? Here I am, pushing past the anxiety of sharing my portfolio, which always feels like trying to capture a running river. A creative birth is what it is, with all the pain and joy it brings. I’m now excited about extending the journey I initiated with my thesis, delving into the crossroads of design, emerging tech, and the destigmatization of death.
All rights reserved Jean Menezes – 2023
