Raf
📻️

Raf

Product Designer, Lead in Toronto, he / him

Be kind, work hard, spread joy.

20 days ago

About

Raf is an Italian designer and product leader based in Toronto. With expertise spanning software engineering and design, he crafts human-centered experiences for emerging technologies. His journey from an internship at Apple to leading AI product design has shaped innovative solutions for companies backed by industry leaders like Eric Schmidt, Zalando and more.

Currently leading design at theoriq.ai, Raf focuses on making AI interfaces more accessible and intuitive. His past work includes establishing design systems at Zalando, leading accessibility initiatives at CurbCutOS, and creating user-centric solutions for the NFT marketplace Atlas. Before his current role, he founded a design consultancy that contributed to over $100M in startup valuations, working with clients from US government agencies to Web3 platforms.

His roots in Italy's Amalfi Coast and transition from engineering to design fuel his passion for simplifying complex technologies. Today, he actively contributes to Toronto's tech community while shaping the future of human-AI interaction.

Contact

Twitter

Work Experience

2024 — Now
Toronto

Work: Shaping how people interact with AI. Designing interfaces for advanced AI tools.

Role: Founding Designer, UX/UI Lead.

Impact: Making complex AI technology accessible, useful and democratic for everyone.

2023 — Now
Remote

Solved: Making accessibility reports easier to create.

Created: Software for joyful and easy reporting.

Impact: Helped CurbCutOS become a leader in accessibility tools.

2024 — 2024
Design Lead at DeFi Tuna, Leveller, etc.

Led the design of DeFi interfaces for several crypto products.

2023 — 2023
Lisbon

Role: Co-founded the company. Led design and product development.

Focus: Created AI solutions that put people first.

Clients: US.gov, Metafy, Lyfe, Web3Ops.

Next: Joined ai.pt to continue AI innovation.

2022 — 2023

Work: Created safe, user-friendly NFT marketplace for pro traders.

Role: Player-Lead. Designed actively alongside two team members.

Impact: Successful launch, high adoption. Backed by Eric Schmidt.

2021 — 2022

Work: Built a unified design system for Zalando B2B platforms.

Role: Led design efforts across multiple company areas.

Impact: 40% faster product development, 30% reduction in engineering time. Established comprehensive end to end documentation.

2021 — 2021

Work: Created the company's first design guidelines and app demo.

Role: Hands-on Product Designer, worked directly with the leadership team.

Impact: Set the look and feel for all TravelNest products. Built the foundation for future design work. Established design organization within the company..

2020 — 2021

Work: Redesigned brand identity and messaging.

Role: Led board team in brand and product design.

Impact: Delivered MVP in 3 months. Improved brand presence across channels. Helped raise £300K in funding in 3 months.

Side Projects

2022

How you work > What you worked on.

Inspired by Lily's original work, I refactored and made a template in Craft (available to the community).

2022
HIT THE NEW YEAR RUNNING at Nike

Creative Direction / Model: Raffaele Vitale
Photography: giannidegennaro.it

2021

Projects

2024
AI, Product at ai.pt

Collaborated with Kunal Gupta, CEO, directly in a hybrid role pivoting across product, design, and development roles, delivering AI-centric no-code solutions for publishwithspark.com and getjetson.ai. fun to work in person.

2023

Tela offers a prompt crafting experience, a testing suite for creating brand-specific test cases to evaluate prompts, a system for setting up evaluators to assess output.

2023
US Courts | Design System Toolbox at US Courts, Agileana

Supported Agileana on the redesign and redevelopment of the US Courts official organisation toolbox.

2023
Ethos Design Pass at Ethos

Helped ex-Voyager founders to release the design of their new app, Ethos

2023
Web 3.0 Development Agency | Branding and Website at web3ops.co
2022

Created a collection of updated collections for aspiring UX / UI designers for the Italian community, constantly updated, with a simple self-evolving community.

Education

2019 — 2020
2019 — 2020
San Giovanni, Naples
2017 — 2019
Naples

Graduated cum laude

2015 — 2017
Software Engineer (withdrew) at University of Salerno
Salerno

Certifications

2021
Design System for Designers from Accredible

Credential ID: 31778649

2019
UX Certifications from The Interaction Design Foundation

Credential ID: 56668

  • Mobile User Experience (UX) Design
  • The Practical Guide to Usability
  • UX Management: Strategy and Classes (Top 10%)
  • User Research: Best Practices (Top 10%)