I'm Carlos - I use Design to overcome complex Challenges.

My professional background is defined by bridging the gap between disciplines in dynamic and/or uncertain environments.
As a product manager and designer, I am focused on building intuitive user experiences while ensuring alignment with key business objectives.

I'm Carlos - I use Design to overcome complex Challenges.

My professional background is defined by bridging the gap between disciplines in dynamic and/or uncertain environments.
As a product manager and designer, I am focused on building intuitive user experiences while ensuring alignment with key business objectives.

I'm Carlos - I use Design to overcome complex Challenges.

My professional background is defined by bridging the gap between disciplines in dynamic and/or uncertain environments.
As a product manager and designer, I am focused on building intuitive user experiences while ensuring alignment with key business objectives.

Project Highlights
Empowering a Small Business with AI-Forward SEO

Initially hired to deliver a basic SEO course, I pivoted the scope after a proactive audit revealed the client didn't need training, they needed a tailored strategy. I designed a comprehensive, proprietary manual on advanced SEO and RAO (Retrieval Augmented Optimization), providing the team with a long-term, sustainable strategy to future-proof their web traffic.

Deep Tech UX: Designing a Digital Notebook for Automated Scientific R&D

With the challenge of digitizing a complex, multi-day material preparation process, I acted as a UX-focused Project Manager and delivered a dynamic, two-part interface featuring a structured e-notebook and a visual, node-based workflow builder that translated intricate lab actions into machine readable code for automated robotic execution.

0-to-1 Product Strategy: Launch plan for a Mobile Platform

Tasked with structuring a platform for both community outreach and group member management, I conducted an architectural prototype that revealed a concept flaw. My solution was to split the project into two distinct products: a public-facing Outreach App and a secure Member Platform ensuring a better product-market fit and a more viable, scalable architecture.

I can provide assistance as a consultant on design, UX and planning topics. I also offer speaking sessions and workshops.
Below is a list of the topics I can collaborate with:

  • Product Design and Management
  • Agile Planning and Methodologies
  • Design Thinking and Innovation
  • Objective Prioritization
  • Market Fit | GTM Strategy
  • UX Design and Research
  • Experience Journey and Mapping
  • Information Architecture
  • Product/Market Workshopping
  • Identity, Voice and Branding
  • Visual Design
Latest Insights
Are we doing digital communications wrong?

Design is a form of communication. This statement has guided the way I think, structure solutions and lead my teams. I've recently been interacting and researching a lot of LLM and AI related content to learn how to effectively use them as well as to piece together an understanding of how they process, search for and rank information.

Tl;dr AI's favor concise, well formatted and informative sources, meaning the original slew of AI created redundant articles made to include links and make people scroll infinitely, would be rejected.

This got me thinking about how fast we move to create and adopt more efficient operation methods when it comes to new technologies. Yet, when remote work became more ubiquitous, (and thank your deity of choice for THAT), we stopped at accepting cameras and speakers as our preferred method of communication, even when a lot of cues and details necessary to communicate can't be transmitted well by them.
I'm currently super taken with designing a method to better the way in which we communicate digitally amongst ourselves, since I believe that being able to effectively exchange ideas can be key in feeling happier and more fulfilled on our every day comings and goings.

orbit
I keep a blog sometimes

I write about design and communication

Empowering a Small Business with AI-Forward SEO
The Challenge

Facing a dip in website traffic and revenue, Maggie Castillo Cooking Studio engaged me to help their marketing team improve their online presence. The initial request was to deliver an SEO best practices course.

The Action

Instead of proceeding with the planned course, I conducted a proactive strategic audit of the studio's existing content. This process revealed a key insight: the marketing team wasn't lacking basic SEO knowledge; they were lacking a cohesive, data-driven strategy. Recognizing this opportunity to deliver greater value, I pivoted the project's scope.

My research into modern SEO trends led to the discovery of RAO (Retrieval Augmented Optimization). I performed an analysis of how LLMs and AI agents retrieve and rank information, comparing this process to traditional SEO strategies. This allowed me to design a complementary methodology that could leverage both approaches for a stronger and more lasting result.

The Result

The final deliverable was a comprehensive, actionable manual on SEO and RAO strategy, designed to empower the marketing team to independently manage their digital presence. The manual included a proprietary audit methodology, strategic recommendations, and custom Schema Markup code for each page type to enhance discoverability.

Deep Tech UX: Designing a Digital Notebook for Automated Scientific R&D
The Challenge

Ares Materials, a deep-tech material science company, was tackling a complex challenge: standardizing and automating their R&D process. With each material sample taking up to six days to prepare, the lab's manual, handwritten workflows were slow, prone to error, and caused a loss of crucial data when scientists left.
The company's ambitious vision was to create a new digital platform that could streamline this process and eventually automate it with a robotic workbench.

I was hired as a UX Project Manager with the main focus of designing a method to record and store formulations that could later be translated as instructions for the robot workbench.

The Action

My first priority was to understand the scientific workflow. I conducted a series of in-depth interviews with lab personnel and managers to map their current process. This user research uncovered a critical, unstated goal later confirmed by the CEO: the company also needed to standardize lab work to improve consistency and data fidelity.
I then collaborated with the automation team to understand how the robot would interpret instructions. This led to the design of a dynamic, two-part interface:

A structured digital notebook: This section mimicked the scientists' handwritten notes, but in a clear, digital format, ensuring consistent data capture.
A visual workflow builder: This was the innovative core. I designed a drag-and-drop board where scientists could visually build a process by chaining nodes. Each node represented a step and could be filled with variables that would be directly translated to machine code for the robotic workbench.

Additionally, I proactively leveraged my startup experience to assist the CEO with investor presentations, refining the visual language and information architecture. This side project led to the development of a company-wide style guide, ensuring a more consistent and professional brand identity.

The Result

Although the broader robotic workbench project was ultimately halted, the digital notebook was successfully released. It provided a scalable solution for electronically storing material processes, creating a uniform, searchable database in place of scattered, handwritten notes.

0-to-1 Product Strategy: Launch plan for a Mobile Platform
The Challenge

The Monterrey chapter of the Schoenstatt community was looking to create a digital platform to serve their entire community. The platform was intended to be a hub for everything from member resource sharing and event management to new member outreach and guided prayer.

I was brought in as an early product consultant to structure the project, design the information architecture, and create a clear action plan for the development team to follow for deployment.

The Action

To transform this broad vision into a viable product, I began by conducting user research to understand the community's activities, hierarchy, and current workflows. A key finding was that while some activities, like group event management, required user authentication and data traceability, others, such as guided prayer, needed to be easily accessible to anyone.
This insight was the foundation of the final solution. In collaboration with the lead developer, I created two distinct sets of prototypes and workflows. One for a user-facing outreach app that would feature guided prayer and news, and a separate one for an internal platform where active members could manage their group activities.
This separation addressed the authentication problem while ensuring that the core objective of community outreach was not compromised.

Throughout the process, I designed a series of low-fidelity wireframes and collaborated with the developer to ensure a practical solution that could be built using available APIs and existing infrastructure.

The Result

My suggestion to divide the project into two distinct, purpose-built platforms was very well received by both the client and the development team, who had been struggling to create a single system that could handle all the different user roles.
The final deliverable was a comprehensive booklet detailing the two-app solution, complete with workflows, wireframes, and a clear set of development tasks.

About Me

I'm a product generalist focused on building great products and experiences for people. My strength lies in guiding multidisciplinary teams through the entire product lifecycle, from initial concept to launch. I take great pride in fostering collaborative environments where everyone feels involved and valued.

My professional journey began as a freelance animator and designer, where I created interactive media for companies like Pepsi and Toyota. This early work gave me a strong foundation in instructional design and information architecture. I later transitioned to studio work, creating assets for video games and consultancy agencies. This path eventually led me to co-found my first startup as the principal designer for a remote-read water meter, a company that was later acquired after its first prototype release.

For the last fifteen years, I've continued to work with startups and deep tech teams worldwide, co-founding two additional companies and collaborating on projects ranging from cybersecurity to connected vehicles to material sciences. My core focus is 0-1 product design, product-market fit, GTM strategies, and UX design and research. This work keeps me in close contact with members of every team involved in the product lifecycle, allowing me to ensure clear communication and progress reporting to managers and stakeholders.

I enjoy reading fantasy and science fiction books, because I feel designers should try to challenge the current product paradigms and push them further. I've also rekindled my love for research on hard to breach subjects by using LLM's and AI agents to help in the retrieving and ordering of relevant materials to keep the product design challenges within the realm of the achievable.

I'm looking to join teams with exciting product visions and challenges. I'm available for both fixed and consulting roles and am always happy to connect on LinkedIn or over email to chat.