About me
Nice to meet you! I’m Valentina.
I like to think of myself as a generalist designer. I have a background in art and graphic design, and I started my design journey as a type design assistant. I studied Industrial Design and Communication Design at the Politecnico in Milan, where I worked in branding and editorial, then got a second Master’s in Book Design at the University of Reading, in the Department of Typography.
After five years as a graphic designer, I fell in love with the Web, moved to Berlin, learned HTML & CSS so I could code my own work, and fully embraced user experience design. After six years in Germany, I moved to California, where I evolved my design method to be data-informed and experiment-driven, often working on growth teams. I do have tons of opinions about what growth design is and isn’t; just ask me!
For a detailed account of my work experience, you can download my professional CV.
Notes on design
Design is a single discipline: a thought process and framework we apply across the ever-increasing specializations that make up this field. The design process is, first of all, a method: we pick up techniques from design peers, keep sharpening it by testing our choices on every project and staying close to the people who use the products we design. We use cultural awareness and curiosity to make it unique and ours. I prefer to be a generalist designer because I want to solve challenging interaction problems in surprising new ways, rather than applying the same blueprint over and over again.
I apply rigor to my research and use doubt in my design explorations to get a high-level view of the problems in front of me. Skipping right to execution is something I do when I am not dealing with an actual problem, just fixing a flaw or iterating on a known issue.
Every day, thousands of users connect to a website or pick up an app and struggle with an interface, judging themselves dumb and possibly giving up on the task they’re trying to carry out using technology. Design is not algebra: if it were, we wouldn’t have an endless stream of dysfunctional, frustrating products. While user experience best practices exist and are still underused, there’s no infallible formula for building an interface, which is why design is a trial-and-error process. The beauty of designing for the web is that we can keep improving our solutions and making things better for users, which in turn makes things better for businesses and anyone offering services.
Other things I love
I love books. I read a lot, and I am never satisfied with either how much reading I do or how many books I own, and I own way too many already. Secondhand bookstores are the real danger, and I often come back with a free book from my walks, and I swear I am not looking for more books; it’s books that find a way to come to me. I own many books I haven’t read (yet!), and still I go to the library and check out 3 new books before I get to the ones on my shelves.
As a kid, I split my alone time between reading and drawing. When design became a job, the drawing habit faded away, leaving a dull nostalgia I couldn’t really name. During the pandemic, I picked up the pencil again and entered a chaotic, enthusiastic phase where I experimented with all sorts of printmaking and craft practices: screen printing, linocut, letterpress, gelli and riso printing, watercolor, embroidery, sign painting, and ceramics. I expanded, collected a lot of sketches, and didn’t finish most of what I started. Now I am slowly reversing the process, thinking about what it means to develop a more focused practice.
I love cinema, from small indie movie theaters to giant IMAX screens. I am into art-house French cinema, anything that could fit the label “auteur,” and all types of horror movies, with the notable exception of extreme gore. Follow me on MUBI!
I have celiac disease, and because of it I picked up baking and over the years got more and more interested in cooking and nutrition. Baking a gluten-free Italian tart, a “crostata,” is, to me, pure joy. I cultivated a gluten-free sourdough starter for a few years, but it requires constant attention, so I am taking a break. I make my own crackers, cook a damn good Milanese saffron risotto, always make a batch of almond cookies when I have leftover egg whites, and can turn psyllium and almond flour into the best savory paninis.
As a teenager, I got into the punk scene and never left. The older I get, the louder (and angrier) the music I listen to gets. Music has been a big reason why I connected to both Berlin and the Bay Area.
