Hey, I’m Yolanda!

A design leader based in Denmark

with 12+ years of experience in the industry

Turning unmet needs into software

Technology is continuously evolving, and every time we interact with new software means we need to both unlearn and relearn. Our main goal as designers is to create new experiences that anticipate customer needs and make their adoption feel seamless and easy.

Vision and Strategy

Setting long-term goals and roadmaps aligned with the organization’s mission, collaborating across functions and squads, and identifying key objectives to ensure that the vision translates into measurable business impact.

People and Culture

Hiring and developing design teams while cultivating a positive and innovative work environment. Fostering growth, promoting creativity, and ensuring that the team thrives in a collaborative, inclusive, and supportive culture.

Projects and Ops

Executing design initiatives, managing timelines, resources, stakeholders, data-driven processes, and driving high-quality, impactful delivery by deeply understanding user needs and translating them into delightful user experiences.

My latest Case Studies

A handful of my reflections and insights gained from navigating everyday challenges within cross-functional product teams, that offer a window into my leadership practice.

Navigating the challenges of scaling a Design System

Managing a Design System in the early stage of its development, and strategies I’ve learned to tackle growing pains and increasing its adoption and maturity.

Measuring the attractiveness and usability of digital products

Evaluating subjective UX aspects like look & feel, design appeal, and relatability, and establishing metrics to track them and significantly improve user perception.

Setting effective OKRs for teams that enable other product teams

My experience exploring strategies for setting up quarterly OKRs tailored to “enabling” teams, whose main purpose is to support other product teams.

Fostering teamwork and creativity by optimizing design rituals

Creating structured opportunities for a diverse team to actively engage, collaborate, and the impact this can have in design processes and team culture.

Shifting away from a small-increment mindset

How a team can challenge incremental development norms and move towards a mentality that encourages innovation and impactful design outcomes.

Transitioning product design teams to Figma

Migrating design processes from Abstract and Sketch to Figma, and how we approached training to quickly adapt and boost collaboration and efficiency.

My design Methodology

I believe the most crucial part of a design process is approaching projects with a beginner’s mindset, and allowing space for deep understanding of users and their needs through research and data analysis. This then helps inform all the steps that follow.

Next, it’s really valuable to ensure diverse perspectives are considered early on, so a collaborative, cross-functional ideation phase helps ensure a collective sense of ownership and better understanding on the product context. Ideas are then translated into design concepts, user-tested, and iterated upon, in that lovely double-diamond, explore-shape-build style.

Throughout the process, I find it super important to maintain a focus on simplicity, usability, and consistency, and make sure the final design meets a good balance between user needs and business goals. And lastly, collecting regular post-release insights, to drive future improvements.

Let’s connect

I’m based in Copenhagen, currently leading the Design Systems team at Trustpilot. Before this role, I supported the UX team at Momondo and KAYAK.