About me

I'm Thiago, a product designer born and raised on the island of Florianópolis, in southern Brazil, in a Japanese-Brazilian family (yonsei, fourth generation). I like understanding how things work and questioning what seems obvious. I spend my days turning messy problems into products people can actually use.

I started in design in 2019, before AI became a mandatory topic. Since then I've worked at Wellhub, Multidrop and Laboratório Bridge, where I helped design a platform for Brazil's Ministry of Education used by millions of students. I earned my degree in Computer Science at UFSC, with an exchange in applied computer science and AI at Sapienza, in Rome.

Today I work as a Forward Deployed Product Designer specializing in artificial intelligence. I work closely with product and engineering teams to turn problems into working products. At Zyla, I designed and implemented the workout sticker in React Native and took the GPS recorder through research, design and engineering handoff.

I'm also the founder of Xikota Design, my design studio, and I lead The AI Collective Florianópolis, the first chapter in southern Brazil. I do research at UFSC, I'm writing a book (on its way with Casa do Código) and, in my free time, I teach Japanese music to young people at the local Japanese association.

I still believe in design made for people, with people: conversation, repertoire and critical judgment. AI speeds up a lot of things. Deciding what's worth building is still on us.