I design in the places most designers avoid — regulated, complex, high‑stakes.
I'm Ligia, a product design leader with 15+ years across advertising, biotech, telco, travel and financial services. For the last eight, I've shipped FCA-regulated journeys — onboarding, identity, investments, pensions — where the constraints are hardest and the outcomes are measurable. I believe good design is good business, and I treat constraints as creative fuel, not blockers.
How I work
Start with the right problem, not the first one handed.
Briefs arrive framed around solutions. I start further back, with evidence.
Treat the hardest constraint as the material, not the blocker.
Regulation, legacy systems, sceptical stakeholders — that's where the design happens.
The value of design is only realised in delivery.
Once something ships, its impact becomes a business outcome you can measure. That's the strongest case for design I know.
Start with the right problem, not the first one handed.
Briefs arrive framed around solutions. I start further back, with evidence.
Treat the hardest constraint as the material, not the blocker.
Regulation, legacy systems, sceptical stakeholders — that's where the design happens.
The value of design is only realised in delivery.
Once something ships, its impact becomes a business outcome you can measure. That's the strongest case for design I know.
Selected work
Wealth Management — building a proposition from scratch
2023–presentHybrid advice for the UK mass affluent segment — end-to-end experience across client and colleague journeys
Wealth Management · UK
From admin to advice
Redesigning how pension advice scales — a digital-first Letter of Authority process, live across the UK provider network. Led end-to-end, from service design to shipped journeys across client and colleague experiences.
Read the case study →
Experience
Design Principal — Barclays Private Bank & Wealth Management
Leading design of a new wealth proposition for the mass-affluent segment, blending adviser-supported and self-serve journeys for investment advice and retirement. Redesigned annual reviews, Letters of Authority and fact-find; introduced reusable patterns (progress trackers, document capture, e-signatures) enabling multi-squad delivery and FCA compliance; lifted quality through decision logs, crits and clear acceptance criteria.
Senior Designer & Design Principal — Barclays UK
Delivered end-to-end journeys across native app and web with compliance and accessibility built in. Owned the bank-wide identity verification service, led the first in-app business-account onboarding, and the first app-native digital investing onboarding for existing and new-to-bank customers; codified reusable patterns and simplified the portfolio, including decommissioning legacy journeys.
Designer & UX Researcher — Booking.com
Ran immersive research (airport, in-trip, post-booking) that shaped roadmaps and product experiments; embedded UXR in agile delivery, set patterns and accessibility guidance, mentored teams, and interviewed 50+ candidates to raise the bar in human-centred design.
Designer & UX Researcher — Laterooms.com
Led discovery → prototype → testing for core booking flows, introducing journey mapping and experiment-led iteration to de-risk decisions and improve conversion.
Customer Experience Lead — Telefónica/Vivo (Brazil)
Redesigned IVR and self-service for 100M+ customers; partnered with Accenture to map end-to-end journeys across web, mobile and IVR, reducing cross-channel friction and call drivers.
Customer Experience Graduate — Telefónica Group
Drove omnichannel CX strategy (web, mobile, IVR), coordinated RFPs with consultancies, aligned stakeholders and secured buy-in for strategic initiatives.
Digital Strategy Intern — Syngenta
Used insights and analytics to inform content design and engagement; coordinated agency delivery and approvals.
Design Principal — Barclays Private Bank & Wealth Management
Leading design of a new wealth proposition for the mass-affluent segment, blending adviser-supported and self-serve journeys for investment advice and retirement. Redesigned annual reviews, Letters of Authority and fact-find; introduced reusable patterns (progress trackers, document capture, e-signatures) enabling multi-squad delivery and FCA compliance; lifted quality through decision logs, crits and clear acceptance criteria.
Senior Designer & Design Principal — Barclays UK
Delivered end-to-end journeys across native app and web with compliance and accessibility built in. Owned the bank-wide identity verification service, led the first in-app business-account onboarding, and the first app-native digital investing onboarding for existing and new-to-bank customers; codified reusable patterns and simplified the portfolio, including decommissioning legacy journeys.
Designer & UX Researcher — Booking.com
Ran immersive research (airport, in-trip, post-booking) that shaped roadmaps and product experiments; embedded UXR in agile delivery, set patterns and accessibility guidance, mentored teams, and interviewed 50+ candidates to raise the bar in human-centred design.
Designer & UX Researcher — Laterooms.com
Led discovery → prototype → testing for core booking flows, introducing journey mapping and experiment-led iteration to de-risk decisions and improve conversion.
Customer Experience Lead — Telefónica/Vivo (Brazil)
Redesigned IVR and self-service for 100M+ customers; partnered with Accenture to map end-to-end journeys across web, mobile and IVR, reducing cross-channel friction and call drivers.
Customer Experience Graduate — Telefónica Group
Drove omnichannel CX strategy (web, mobile, IVR), coordinated RFPs with consultancies, aligned stakeholders and secured buy-in for strategic initiatives.
Digital Strategy Intern — Syngenta
Used insights and analytics to inform content design and engagement; coordinated agency delivery and approvals.
Let's talk.
Building design capability in a regulated industry, or exploring AI in customer experience? I'd like to hear about it.