Nanda Dias
experience & strategic designer
Since 2002 I’ve embarked on a journey of constant learning and adapting to change was key for my career progress.
My design background and exposure to different cultures shaped a lot my interest for psychology, research and leadership. Designing great experiences depends a lot on embracing a culture of innovation. For that, much of my work was coupled with change management and communication of the impact of UX Maturity in a product. I believe that diverse teams can deliver more conscious and successful products. My most recent passions are UX Lean & Agile, Sustainability, AI ethics and its impact on user experience. I intend to continue learning and acting in these areas for the next years.
CV PDF
“Validating hypothesis (early and often) is a crucial step on my design process.”
Nanda Dias - a human-centred designer.
Source: SAP Design Thinking Diagram
“Living abroad enriched my learnings on diversity and its impact on successful products.”
As a designer, I perceive these learning as powerful assets:
being immersed in diverse cultures made me even more aware of unconscious biases and it translated in a more empathetic view;
the different environments and projects I worked for (9 industries, B2C and B2B) has enriched my soft skills, design planning and execution;
the challenge of evangelising User-Centred Design among different cultures and teams enhances my communication and negotiation skills continuously;
working with different companies sizes (consultancy, start-ups and enterprise) made me observe diverse needs – which today supports my strategic design skills;
On diverse teams, I could perceive how Agile and Design Thinking might (sometimes) clash in its nature. These challenges have been helping me to experiment and learn on team collaboration;
Design thinking workshops and coach camp[s] in SAP were essential to enhance my skills in managing conflict and keeping momentum;
As an expat, I’ve joined debates on the topic of diversity in tech. Giving more talks and workshops I perceive how the community exchange enhances our critical thinking, while adding a sense of collective empowerment.
creativity boosters
The sea side and long walks in parks;
Yoga and cycling;
Travelling & discovering new places;
Live music & DJ-ing;
Sketchbook[ing] & interesting talks;
Good food & new recipes!
knowledge sharing
The impact of UX Maturity in your UX ROI | 11.2020 I UX Summit Brazil
The Future of Sustainability in our workplaces | workshop moderation 10.2020 I Adalovelace Festival
The Impact of Unconscious Bias in Product Development 04.2020 I Global Business Women’s Network SAP
The Importance of DesignOps in Successful Products 03.2019 | UXDX BERLIN.
Conversational AI – The Trends and the Evolution of UX 04.2018 | SAP Innovation Center Network [Potsdam]
Diversity Impact on Innovation 12.2017 | Berlin UI/UX Designers Meetup.
Agile vs Design Thinking. 10.2017 | SAP Innovation Center Network [Potsdam]
Step and Play! Space as Interface in the Context of Location-Based Musical Album Apps. 10.2014. ACM Conference Audio Mostly [Aalborg, Denmark]
Education & Certifications
Master of Science in Digital Media | 2011 – 2013
Inter-university program at: Bremen Universität / HS Bremerhaven, HfK Bremen - Germany.
Bachelor Degree In Industrial Design – Visual Communication | 2002 – 2007
Universidade Estácio de Sá - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil.
Lean UX and Agile | Oct 2019 | Nielsen Norman Group
Being a UX Leader: Essential Skills for Any UX Practitioner | April 2019 | Nielsen Norman Group
Engaging Stakeholders to Build Buy-In | April 2019 | Nielsen Norman Group
Measuring UX and ROI | November 2018 | Nielsen Norman Group
Design Thinking Coach Training | November 2016 | SAP Internal Training
Designing for Change | IDEO U | November 2017
IELTS Academic - C1 | 2010, 2014 | Cambridge University
SONIC ENDEAVOURS
Music and sound collages are some of my favourite creative exercises. Exploring the auditory sense helps creating a balance considering my always attentive visual perception. I have done some experiments with field recordings, home made vocals and composed them using Ableton Live, Audacity and simple mobile apps (remix minus; DM1; iMaschine, Figure and Tabletop). Learning how to mix with vinyls has been also a fun activity after a long day of work. On a daily basis, I've been listening to my best focus mates, a.k.a mixtapes.