Not everything in life can be about picking colors based on the mood of the day, so I decided to create a design system for my personal brand. Think of it as a little “visual toolbox” that helps me keep things consistent and under control! 🎨
GOODBYE ACCOUNTING, HELLO UX · UI!
After 8 years working as an accountant in the public sector — surrounded by endless spreadsheets, never-ending balance sheets, and rules that felt like they were written in another language — I decided it was time for a change. Don’t get me wrong: the numbers added up, but my motivation definitely didn’t. 🙃
I’d always been drawn to digital design: that sweet spot between logic and creativity that turns an idea into a real experience, so I set out to make the leap into the world of UX/UI. This personal brand project was born as my calling card: a space to show not just what I do, but also who I am and where I want to go.
Here I share how I turned my portfolio into more than just a website: into a statement of intent. Because yes, I left behind the grey world of accounting to focus on designing digital products that are useful, beautiful, and (hopefully) a little less boring than an Excel sheet. 🌈
DURATION: 8 MONTHS | ROLE: DESIGNER | TOOLS: FIGMA, ELEMENTOR, CANVA
DESIGN SYSTEM
CREATION PROCESS · PERSONAL BRAND
1. THE PROBLEM (A.K.A. "ACCOUNTING JUST WASN’T MY THING")
After 8 years buried in balance sheets and painfully unintuitive software, I realized the numbers added up… but I didn’t. Sure, the public sector gave me stability, but absolutely no room for creativity. Numbers weren’t my thing — what really excited me was designing digital experiences that are useful, beautiful, and way less boring than an Excel sheet.
Basically, I wanted to go from:
EXCEL DRAMA
to
FIGMA FLOW
2. RESEARCH ON UX · UI
While digging into UX/UI, I realized it was the path that actually made sense for me: I’ve always been a creative person, comfortable navigating the digital world, and curious about how users think and feel.
User experience design turned out to be the perfect balance: it blends aesthetics with functionality, user research, and — bonus points — teamwork. Exactly the kind of mix that motivates me and where I feel I can truly add value. ✌🏼
3. TRAINING & HANDS-ON PRACTICE
So I rolled up my sleeves: if I really wanted to leave Excel sheets behind, I needed more than just good intentions — I needed proper training. I kicked things off with a pretty extensive UX/UI course that gave me a full overview of the design process. Then I topped it up with some more focused “mini-doses”:
🎓 Extensive UX/UI Course → the theoretical and practical foundation to understand the entire design process.
🎨 Tools Courses → Figma, Sketch, and other essentials to navigate the digital world with ease.
💻 Front-End Development Course → because watching design turn into code feels like magic (and because I wanted to better understand what happens behind the scenes).
🌐 WordPress + Elementor → built my portfolio from scratch, applying everything I’d learned (and wrestling a bit with widgets and CSS along the way).
4. WEBSITE (PORTFOLIO) CREATION & PROJECTS
While I was training (and afterwards), I started building my website and creating “invented” projects that became my personal testing ground to refine designs and prototypes. That’s how EatWell, PetNanny, and TravelMate were born — three exercises where I could experiment and put into practice everything I was learning, both in UX/UI and in building the site itself. The idea is for this portfolio to keep growing as I move forward, adding real projects along the way. 🚀
This is just the beginning! My portfolio will keep growing with new projects as I move forward in my career as a UX/UI designer.
Let’s talk?