About

Architecture taught me systems. E-commerce taught me where they break.

UX/UI Designer with hands-on experience in e-commerce and cross-functional product work, from journey mapping and user research to high-fidelity prototyping. A background in Architecture sharpened how I think about systems, usability, and quality from the ground up.

What draws me to UX is the detective work: working through layers of research data to find the pattern that explains what could be improved. Working across teams with different priorities has taught me that good UX is as much about listening and aligning as it is about design.

Five years of that was spent inside e-commerce product operations at Farfetch and Esprit, owning image quality and product content at scale, and then owning a cross-functional returns optimization project end to end.

Career break

February 2025 to May 2026, parental leave, alongside a UX research mentorship and the case studies published here.

Portrait of Daniela Cardoso
Based in
DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY · REMOTE
Role
UX & UI DESIGNER
Status
Available on-site or hybrid across NRW, remote worldwide, and open to relocation.

The path

Four chapters, one throughline

2011 – 2018

Architecture

An Integrated Masters in Architecture at the University of Minho. Years of thinking in systems, constraints and human scale, how people move through a space, and where a plan meets reality.

2019 – 2022

E-commerce at Farfetch

Junior Retoucher, then Retoucher for Browns Fashion in Porto. Inside a luxury e-commerce operation I started an informal mentorship with the UK Product Design Team Lead, my first structured exposure to UX and UI principles in a commercial context.

2022 – 2025

Ownership at Esprit

Retoucher & Image Quality Control in Ratingen. I took ownership of a cross-functional returns optimization project, mapped the end-to-end product journey, and facilitated ideation sessions that fed into size charts, product descriptions and the fit assistant. I also redesigned the corrections workflow into a shared tracking system that other teams adopted.

2023 – now

Designing full-time

A UX & UI Design bootcamp at AllWomen Tech, a four-week UX research mentorship with Susana Passinhas, and freelance product design work, research, prototyping and usability testing with real users.

Experience

  • Product Designer

    Freelance · Oct 23 – Present

  • Parental Leave & Professional Development

    Career Break · Feb 25 – May 26

  • Retoucher & Image Quality Control

    ESPRIT · Ratingen, DE · May 22 – Jan 25

  • Retoucher, Browns Fashion

    FARFETCH · Porto, PT · Jan 20 – Apr 22

  • Junior Retoucher

    FARFETCH · Guimarães, PT · Aug 19 – Dec 19

Education & training

  • UX Research Mentorship

    Susana Passinhas · 2024

  • UX & UI Design Bootcamp

    AllWomen Tech · Oct 23 – Dec 23

  • Integrated Masters in Architecture

    University of Minho, PT · 2011 – 2018