Irina Altuna

Irina Altuna

Senior Product Designer in Barcelona

About

Designer with a solid visual background and a product mindset.

Projects

2023

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As an early-stage startup, I joined as the first designer under the leadership of the CPO to design the MVP and pursue Product Market Fit.

In just two months, we were able to launch the first release of the app and validate our value proposition.

Work Experience

2024 — Now
Remote

Empowering creators to bring their game ideas to life effortlessly.

As the first designer hired at Upit, I led the design vision and strategy from the ground up, shaping the product and user experience that powers our innovative game creation platform. I played a central role in designing the entire product from scratch, crafting the Beta app, and contributing to a successful go-to-market strategy.

Key Contributions:

  • Product Design: Designed the core product experience, building intuitive workflows that enable creators to imagine, enhance, iterate, publish, and share games seamlessly.

  • Beta App Development: Delivered the Beta app, combining user insights and cutting-edge features to provide a powerful and user-friendly platform for creators.

  • AI Integration: Designed intuitive interactions with AVA, our AI assistant, empowering users to generate code, graphics, and sound effortlessly.

  • Go-to-Market: Partnered with leadership and marketing teams to refine the product for launch and engage the community of creators.

Highlights:

  • Shaped the design vision as the first hire, driving the product from concept to market.

  • Created a user-first platform that balances powerful features with ease of use for creators of all levels.

  • Designed features to foster collaboration, remixing, and inspiration among creators.

At Upit, I am proud to have been instrumental in building a platform that revolutionizes game development—making it faster, more accessible, and deeply rewarding for creators worldwide.

2023 — 2024
Berlin

• As the right-hand to the Head of Brand and Design, I am responsible for running meetings and ensuring the smooth functioning of the Design team.
• My duties involve organizing and prioritizing tasks, distributing projects, and overseeing the work of other designers.
• I frequently check in with the project team to ensure everything progresses as planned and push ahead when necessary.
• I am also proactive in generating new ideas, finding ways to improve our processes, and creating new opportunities.
• As a User Experience lead, I have a holistic view of the entire experience from various entry points.
• I bring insights from user research and data analysis to inform our design decisions.
• I create prototypes to test ideas before investing significant design time and explore ways to test theories before investing engineering time.
• I provide direction on structure and organization through the Design System.

2021 — 2023
Remote

As the first full-time product designer:
• Worked closely with product managers, engineers, and stakeholders to ensure product design consistency and quality.
• Gathered and analyzed user feedback, created user flows, explored early-phase ideas, and improved design interactions to provide a seamless experience for readers.
• Prioritized product features based on user needs and business goals and planned ways to test hypotheses before investing by considering effort vs. impact to maximize impact.
• Quantified the impact of design by defining metrics to track project success.
• Participated in the hiring process of other designers and was responsible for documenting, onboarding, and creating new methods for collaborative work.
• Designed the entire mobile experience for iOS and Android and helped maintain the WebApp for mobile and desktop.
• Worked with developers and presented and handed off designs to achieve consistency between the design files and the design implementation.
• Contributed to social media posts to help the marketing team.

Key tools and skills
User research and usability testing, Information Architecture, Wireframing & Prototyping, building mockups, Envisioning User Flows, Visual Communication, Product Design software (Figma), Design for Accessibility and Usability, Collaboration and Teamwork, Interaction Design, Mentoring and onboardings, Product design ownership, Human Centered Design, Familiar with Personas, Job-to-be-done and other Product design frameworks

2020 — 2021
Barcelona

• Designed the complete product lifecycle for one of Barcelona’s healthcare solutions, from initial ideation to final design deliverables.
• Collaborated closely with project managers, developers, and other stakeholders to generate ideas, design, and develop multiple customer solutions.
• Created and maintained a design system for an enterprise customer.
• Participated in design thinking workshops with internal stakeholders and customers to identify user pain points and opportunities.

Key tools and skills:
User research, Human-Centered Design, Design Thinking, Analytical Skills, Information Architecture
Interaction Design, Collaboration, Visual Communication, Wireframing & Prototyping

2020 — 2020
Barcelona

• I developed a consumer website for the biggest mindfulness/yoga teacher in Spain.
• Conducted user research to identify user needs and pain points.
• Developed user personas and user journey maps.
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to define product requirements and develop design solutions.
• Created wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity designs for both web and mobile platforms.
• Conducted usability testing and iterated on designs based on user feedback.

Key tools and skills
User research and usability testing, Information Architecture, Wireframing & Prototyping, building mockups, Envisioning User Flows, Visual Communication, Product design software (Figma, Sketch, Invision), Design for Accessibility and Usability, Collaboration and Teamwork, Interaction Design, Mentoring and onboardings, Product design ownership, Human Centered Design, Familiar with Personas, Job-to-be-done and other Product design frameworks

Certifications

2024

Articulate & demonstrate the value of your Design work in a way that business stakeholders understand, appreciate, and reward.

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