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About Karla

The human
behind the screen

Digital Product Designer & Educator — 25+ years building products, teaching designers, and shipping ideas as a team of one.

Karla Fernandes
My philosophy

"Design is not decoration. It is problem solving, decision making, and creating meaningful connections between products and people."

I teach you how to design, build, and ship digital products as a team of one, using AI where it matters most. I simplify the path from idea to market through process, strategy, experimentation, and clear results.

I've spent 25+ years building digital products end to end, delivering 300+ client projects, publishing 20+ native apps on iOS and Android, and supporting over 20,000 app downloads. I've mentored 70+ designers one-on-one and guided 4,500+ learners worldwide.

My work combines UX/UI design, digital product strategy, and hands-on execution. I design interfaces, build systems, ship products, and teach others to do the same. I've collaborated with startups, tech companies, educational organizations, and service-based businesses across the globe.

I believe design is not decoration. It is problem solving, decision making, and creating meaningful connections between products and people.

My GitHub activity

I've been using some AI :)

324 contributions in the last year @karlafernandes ↗
JunJulAugSepOctNovDecJanFebMarAprMay
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By the numbers
300+ Client projects delivered worldwide
20+ Native apps on iOS & Android
70+ Designers mentored one-on-one
4,500+ Learners worldwide
Mentor trusted by Trusted by
In the press
Career journey

29 years of building products
from idea to market.

1997

Graphic Design

Learned print design on the job using Adobe Pagemaker & Corel Draw. Crafted magazines, newspapers & flyers from scratch.

1998

Web Design

When the internet launched in Brazil, curiosity led me to create designs for the web at a small publicity agency in a team of four.

2003

Programming

Learned Pascal, Delphi, ASP, PHP while earning my Computer Technician degree. Built my first Windows software and a bunch of Flash websites.

2005

CMS Development

Left agency life to build government websites with WordPress and Plone. Learned Python and Zope while creating products from scratch to launch.

2006

Front-end Development

Reached the top of my game with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The Holy Trinity! This expertise earned me a fancy new title.

2011

Responsive Revolution

Bootstrap arrived and lit everything on fire! Mastered responsive web design while learning new CMS's like Joomla and Drupal.

2014

Global Perspective

Left Brazil to find my profession had evolved everywhere. Cultural experiences across Argentina, France, Germany and Morocco taught me more than just design.

2016

Digital Upgrade

Feeling behind, I refreshed my skills with a Nanodegree at Udacity and ended up working for them in São Paulo.

2018

Design Evolution

Left Adobe behind to fall in love with Sketch. Got my first European certification for UX/UI Design and Voice Design. Bought some voice assistants right away.

2020

No-code Era

Discovering that Figma plus no-code tools allowed me to create native apps was the confirmation I'd made the right choice.

2023

No-code + AI Power

No-code became supercharged with AI. Expanding into copywriting, image generation, audio, video. Now easier than ever to create your own products.

Happy Coworkers, Happy Me.

Speaking & Podcasts

On stages and in conversations.

Conference speaking
Podcasts & Media
From mentees

Happy Mentees, Happy Me.

"Karla's guidance has been incredible for my design process. Her design work is always impressive, and her approach is truly inspiring to me."
Nikoo Beyzaei
Nikoo Beyzaei UI/UX Designer, USA
"I recommend Karla to anyone looking to push themselves. She set the bar high and held me to it and I'm really grateful I got to learn from her."
Kyssha Mah
Kyssha Mah UX/UI Designer, Canada
"I don't know if I could have completed the course without Karla's support. Her enthusiasm, positivity and encouragement helped increase my confidence when I needed it most."
Christy Clonts
Christy Clonts UX/UI Designer, USA
"Karla mentored me in UX for 8 weeks. I came away with two high quality portfolio pieces, and the confidence to progress in my career by myself."
Sophie Bryson
Sophie Bryson UX/UI Designer, Australia
"Karla is a talented designer who brings current industry knowledge to her mentoring. She helped me uncover improvements I would have otherwise not thought of."
Renata France
Renata France UX/UI Designer, USA
"Our weekly calls enhanced my time management, communication, and presentation skills. After graduating, I secured my first job in the industry."
Obinna Momah
Obinna Momah Product Designer, Canada
Languages

I speak six
languages.

  • Portuguese Native
  • English Fluent
  • German B2
  • Italian B1
  • Spanish Conversational
  • French Almost gone :D
Tools & software

What I use every day

ClaudeClaude CodeGitHubFigmaChatGPT

What I use often

Adobe CreativeBravo StudioAirtableGoogle AnalyticsGeminiElevenLabsJitterLottieFilesNano BananaSunoTallySupabase

What I tried and stopped using

  • Wispr Flownow I dictate right on my Apple devices
  • ChatGPT ProI only subscribe when I need to build a new Custom GPT
  • Midjourneysame or better results from other tools now
  • DaVinci & Final Cutsettled on Adobe Premiere
  • TextExpanderI built my own text-replacement tool
Free20 min

Let's Build Together

Your product idea, my execution skills. For founders, solopreneurs, and teams ready to ship something real.

Tell me everything →
$1971 hour

Expert Hour

25 years of expertise, yours for an hour. Design, apps, strategy, or whatever's blocking you.

Ask me anything →
Ready to work together?

Let's build something
worth remembering.

Book a free 20-min chat → Or check other options →