Amsterdam, Netherlands 🇳🇱
unmute
#007

David Morales de los Reyes

UX Designer

David is a UX Designer based in Amsterdam. He recently started a new UX Design role following his UI Design role with Coinrule.
By
Chat in Slack

Where are you based as a UX/UI designer?

📍 Amsterdam, Netherlands

https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1468436385273-8abca6dfd8d3?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&q=85&fm=jpg&crop=entropy&cs=srgb

What led you into UX/UI design?

I've been always interested in graphic design so when I discovered the UX/UI field which is a mix of design, psychology, research, etc... I decided to switch career and spend my time working on things I love.

Why are you a UX/UI designer?

I like the idea of humanizing technology and adapt products to user needs. We are users' advocates.

My background is in sociology and methodology in social research. I’ve been working for the last 7 years on and off for a NGO as a project manager and as a researcher. Besides being really proud of the work that I did, I feel that most of the social research ends up in a forgotten drawer and projects are usually static and difficult to change due to organizational complexities. Instead, UX/UI designers use effective methods to study users' problems and come up with solutions to improve their products/services and iterate over them in order to keep adapting them to their users' needs.

What does a typical day look like for you?

In general my days start with a nice breakfast and 20-30 min yoga, shower while listening a design podcast and I'm ready to start the day fresh and inspired.

At work usually start with stand-up which its actually helpful for me to organise my to-do list for the day. It depends on the day I might have design planning, product planning or any other meeting with devs and also depends on what I am working on. There are weeks when I am researching for new features or I can spend the whole week working on a design.

I try to follow Pomodoro breaks but after a few, I usually forget to keep going on so I just try whenever I feel block or losing focus to do a break.

Learn UX/UI live →

What is your current desk setup?

LG Ultrawide monitor (belongs to Coinrule so I will need to get a new one), Macbook Pro, Wacom One, phone holder to mirror mobile versions of my designs, post its, notebooks, my lovely plant from Memorisely Greenhouse, and Harman Kardon speakers to keep the flow going 🎶  (ah! and Tiger balm in case I feel pressure in my temples)

And your Workstation setup across devices?

My main tools are Figma, Slack and Notion. I think that calendar is another tool that every designer needs to use to keep track of meetings and plan your week.

I use my phone at work to mirror Figma's mobile designs. Outside work and design related I also use it to read Medium articles, listen to spotify podcasts... but, my main tool is my computer.

What work are you most proud of?

Actually some of my academic projects are still my most precious work. Probably because I was able to be part of it through the whole process (aside from development); while, in previous companies the ideas were already there.

Together was my final project at my UX/UI bootcamp and it makes me proud when people have contacted me to show their interest and thanks to publishing a Medium article about this project I got my first job! So, share your work and be present on internet! You never know what outcomes you can get from it.

Which Product recently blew your socks off?

I'm in love with Bandcamp. They created a platform to support music culture and they have strong values. Since the beginning of the pandemic, they created Bandcamp Fridays when all revenue goes 100% for the artist or labels. They solve problems on both sides... for users (music consumers) and artists. Hands up!

What challenges do you face as a UX/UI Designer?

UX/UI Design is a field that groups many different areas. We need to know lot of different things and it's a never ending learning process. We need to know how to deal with stakeholders, developers, understand business needs, users needs, know psychology and design principles... The main challenge for me it's to learn and keep in mind all that and be able to apply it to create the better user experience possible.

What tunes do you listen to whilst designing?

Three suggestions for budding designers?

  1. Embrace failure! We have two options... avoid it, or embrace it and learn from it. Every failure is a unique opportunity that you have to learn from it. As junior designers, we will probably fail many times (but senior designers also fail) just keep trying and analyze why you fail.
  2. Switching a career and coming from a different background than design can be scary. Embrace it and make it your selling point! I realized how much my background and experience have shaped me in a unique way. Each of us is unique, find those skills that make you the perfect candidate and let other know.
  3. Reach for support, feedback, and mentors! I'm still surprised how supportive is the design community... and Memorisely was the safest space that I found. There are plenty of options to reach for support through mentors as adplist.org, design communities, or even your peers can give you feedback and you can always learn from it.

Thanks for reading my story!

Amsterdam, Netherlands 🇳🇱

David Morales de los Reyes

UX Designer

Fancy a coffee?

I'd love to grab a coffee and chat about
Memorisely
UX/UI Design
Wellbeing
🗓 Book time to chat

Read more UX/UI stories

View all

Ready to become a UX/UI designer?

As you'll have gathered, we're open and honest and would love to have you join our next UX/UI Bootcamp!
View Bootcamps →