About
Two disciplines,
one working method.
I'm Iona Reyes, a product designer and director based in Lisbon. For the last seven years I've split my practice deliberately in two — interface and identity work under daylight, motion and cinematography work after hours — rather than blur them into one generalist label.
The two feed each other more than they compete. Timing learned from cutting a music video shows up in how a transfer confirmation animates. Grid discipline from a design system shows up in how I frame a shot. But they stay separated on purpose: a client hiring for a banking flow shouldn't have to wade through show reels to find it, and vice versa.
Outside client work, I run a small monthly critique group for Lisbon-based motion designers and occasionally teach a weekend workshop on kinetic typography.
Tools
Lisbon, PT — GMT+0
Experience
2023 — Present
Senior Product Designer
Nova Systems · Lisbon, Portugal
Leading design for consumer banking flows, from research through the shipped design system used across three product teams.
Own end-to-end design for Nova's consumer banking surface, working across a research analyst, four engineers, and a product manager. Introduced a shared component library that cut new-screen design time by roughly a third and reduced visual inconsistency flagged in QA.
Ran the redesign that became [[Halcyon]] in the public case study, including two rounds of moderated usability testing with existing customers.
2020 — 2023
Motion Designer
Studio Halide · Berlin, Germany
Directed and shot commercial and music video work for independent brands and artists, from concept through final color.
Joined a four-person production studio as the second hire and grew the video arm from occasional freelance jobs into a standing commercial practice. Directed and color-graded work including the launch film for a footwear brand and a music video that picked up regional press coverage.
Built the studio's first internal pipeline for practical-effects shoots, reducing average post-production turnaround from three weeks to nine days.
2018 — 2020
Junior Designer
Fenwick & Cole · Porto, Portugal
First design role out of university, split between print identity work for local retail clients and early UI support on a small internal team.
Supported senior designers on identity and packaging projects for regional retail clients, including full ownership of the packaging system that became the early basis for [[Cortado]]'s later, more mature identity.
Learned production printing constraints the hard way — three separate reprints on a die-cut job taught more about tolerances than any course had.
Education
2014 — 2018
Universidade de Lisboa
BA, Visual Communication Design
Thesis project focused on kinetic typography for accessibility — animating captions in sync with speech emphasis rather than flat timing. It placed second in the department's year-end review and became the seed for the interaction thinking behind later motion work.