João Calixto. Product Designer.
I design flows that make complex rules understandable: onboarding, authentication, registration, and checkout. I work with B2B and B2C products, connecting people’s needs, business goals, and technical feasibility.
BACKGROUND
My academic background is in Control and Automation Engineering. My development experience brought me closer to a recurring problem: technically functional systems that were still difficult to understand and use. This gap between technical capability and user experience is what I aim to address through design.
My technical background shapes how I collaborate with engineering. I have reviewed PRs and taken part in implementation sessions, seeing how design decisions can get lost between specification and product. I discuss backend constraints, sequencing, and scope based on actual delivery conditions.
I have worked on Keycloak-based authentication and onboarding for people with limited access to financial services in Brazil. Shared devices, unstable connectivity, and limited digital familiarity are relevant design conditions.
Accessibility informs decisions from the start: contrast, keyboard use, screen reader access, touch targets, and error recovery. Training in WCAG 2.1 complements this work and reinforces the need to make every interaction clear.
In 2026, I released five open-source AI skills for Claude: UX auditing, design critique, structured discovery, strategic design, and frontend specification. They distinguish data, estimates, and inferences to make feedback easier to verify.
Areas of focus
Onboarding and conversion
Account opening and registration flows in complex contexts, including fintech and financial inclusion. The goal is to collect the necessary data clearly, without making the process unnecessarily bureaucratic.
Onboarding
Conversion
Fintech
Authentication and identity
Login, MFA, and identity verification with clear security and recovery requirements. Experience with Keycloak, OAuth/OIDC, and products where the cost of friction needs to be discussed with engineering.
Authentication UX
Keycloak
MFA
Security
Accessibility
Training in web accessibility and WCAG 2.1. I consider contrast, touch targets, keyboard navigation, screen reader access, and accessible error messages from the earliest decisions.
WCAG 2.1
A11y
Inclusive design
Design Systems
Component libraries with clear naming, documented states, and constraints that support implementation. I collaborate with design system teams and contribute new components as products evolve.
Components
Tokens
Figma
UX research and strategy
Interviews, competitive analysis, co-creation workshops, usability testing, and prioritization by impact and effort. I use research to make decisions and trade-offs explicit.
Interviews
Benchmarking
Prioritization
AI workflows
I created open-source skills for Claude covering UX auditing, critique, discovery, strategic design, and frontend specification. My focus is on making the process more rigorous and verifiable.
AI tools
Open source
Claude
How I work
Function before aesthetics
Task completion comes first. Then clarity, accessibility, feedback, efficiency, and consistency. Aesthetics complement an experience that already works.
Documented decisions
I record the reasoning behind decisions, what was cut or deferred, and the alternatives considered. A specification with clear reasoning helps the team preserve intent during implementation.
Constraints as input
Timelines, technology, and business needs are design inputs. The best decisions come from working within real limits and making their consequences explicit.
Cross-functional collaboration
I have been the sole designer on an engineering team and have also worked in larger product organizations. In both contexts, I start by aligning on the problem the team needs to solve.
Certifications