Fabiana Mozzorana is a freelance UX/UI designer from Brazil. Read more to learn about her transition into design, advice she has for up-and-comers, and more.
Hi, Fabiana! It’s a pleasure for us to have you in our Insides series. Could you tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Fabiana and I live in Curitiba, Brazil. I am a designer with a post-graduation degree in User-Centered Design. I started working in the first year of college in web design as an intern, doing maintenance of educational websites and creating graphic design pieces for the internet, such as banners. Later, I started to create complete websites and learned to develop in HTML and CSS as well.
Since then, I found interest in the area of User-Centered Design. I was concerned with usability, information architecture and how users would use what I was creating. I took every opportunity I had to learn and work in this area.
Nowadays, I work mainly with UX for apps, but I also enjoy creating other online platforms such as websites, systems, etc. Besides design, I also like dogs and other animals, movies, reading, traveling, experimenting and making food (especially sweets) and the company of family and friends.
What exactly made you want to become a web and graphic designer?
I started college studying Information Systems because I always liked informatics and I thought that was what I wanted. After a year and a half, I was convinced that this was not exactly what I wanted and went to talk to the design course coordinator, since I had a vague idea of what design was. After he explained to me in detail what design entailed I became interested. I switched courses and felt fulfilled and happy doing it.
Why did you decide to become a freelancer? How long have you been freelancing?
I started freelancing when I left the last company I was working in. I wanted to have this experience and see what it’s like to organize my time and work my own way. I like freelancing because I feel free and I have more inspiration, creativity, and motivation to work. I never delay projects and always meet deadlines. I am serious and professional in what I do, but I also like to have the freedom to do what I consider most comfortable for me.
I am serious and professional in what I do, but I also like to have the freedom to do what I consider most comfortable for me.
I have been working as a freelancer for the past year and a half. To this day, I have worked directly with clients as the only designer on a project and I have also worked closely with companies and agencies alongside other teams. I like to work in both ways, but I find that when I work with other people, the exchange of ideas, opinions, and knowledge is always very enriching.
Was it difficult for you to start freelancing? Did you face many problems? Could you share with our readers the most important lessons you learned on the way?
At the beginning I was disorganized. I was still not sure how to plan my tasks and enjoy my time wisely. I adapted gradually and today I no longer have difficulties in organizing myself as a freelancer. The biggest problem I face is the lack of projects from time to time. I do not always have active clients requesting projects, and sometimes it takes a while to find them. For that reason, I learned to organize myself financially too. For example, I prefer to save money to buy and pay for what I need in cash because, in addition to not being in debt, I can negotiate a better price.
If you would search for your profile on Google, which are the 3 keywords you would type in the search bar?
UX Designer, UI Designer, freelance designer.
What do you love most about your work? Is there one particular project that you are especially proud of?
What I like most about my work is knowing that I’m doing something that will actually help a lot of people to make their lives easier. That what I created and developed brings satisfaction and happiness to the user.
I do not have a specific work as a favorite, but I have some that I liked most to work with, like the ones that follow:
I liked this one because I worked with a very engaged UX team. The app facilitates the recording of occurrences on train rails by the operators. Before this app, they had to fill out a paper file that was quite complicated and time-consuming to complete.
This app can be used by personal trainers and people interested in doing physical training. The challenge was interesting to me because of the various interface functions it requires. So I had the opportunity to think of intelligent UI solutions for various tasks.
For the development of this app, I had the opportunity to – besides working with a complete team – do field research with users, market research, and work with personas, journeys, prototype, and usability testing. The layout is fun too.
Aside from these, I have some web and graphic works that I love too, but since I’m currently working a lot more with apps, I prefer to highlight those.
I assume your life as a freelancer is very busy. What does your working routine look like? Do you have a way to organize your day to maximize your work?
I organize my tasks according to the delivery dates. I work in the morning and in the afternoon, but I often work at night too if I have to go out during the day. In general, I always use all the working time I have to carry out the projects. That means if I can deliver a project before the deadline, I just do it and feel calmer so I can focus on other tasks or even take care of the housework.
Besides your work, what are you passionate about?
I like to cook (especially sweets), to play and to walk with my dog, to go out with friends, to travel, to read, to watch movies and TV series, to make and drink special coffees.
What tools are essential to your life?
I can’t name just one. There are apps that I use a lot and are currently essential to my organization, like Reminders, Calendar, Alarm Clock, Maps and GPS, online banking apps, finance organizers, credit card apps, apps for real-time viewing of something that I’m creating in a computer software. On my computer, I always work with a font manager, some Adobe software, and Sketch.
Where to find Fabiana Mazzorana
