Hey there, my name is Hugo! 👋

Hi everyone! My name is Hugo and I am a designer from Porto, Portugal. Growing up, I always enjoyed drawing and building things, so it was a natural choice for me to study industrial design at a specialized artistic school in Porto. However, after completing my studies, I realized that furniture and lamps were not my true passion.

In the years that followed, I worked in a variety of fields, including as a line cook, a chef, and in a furniture warehouse. I also did some freelance graphic design work. In 2012, I began working as a receptionist at a hostel in Porto, where I worked for three years and had the opportunity to travel the world without ever leaving the hostel counter.

In 2015, I decided to pursue my entrepreneurial spirit and started my own business called EzyCities, an online platform for experiences like Airbnb Experiences. I designed the entire platform and managed the product, and we even received investment from a Dutch fund and participated in several acceleration programs. One of the highlights of this experience was being selected for a UN prize called the World Summit Awards.

I've used to collect badges. I think I've collected more than 100 before my wife made me throw them out!This is me pitching EzyCities to 500+ people. I was terrified!

Unfortunately, we were not successful and closed in 2017, largely because none of the team members had the necessary expertise to make the business thrive. However, I learned a lot from the experience and it shaped me into the person I am today. It also gave me some "street cred" as a designer and landed me several freelance gigs for my alter ego, My Super Studio.

Since then, I have worked for companies like InfiniteBook and Nomad Legacy as a UI/UX and visual designer. I also created an e-commerce store called Workshoped, which I later sold to Nomad Legacy.

I've designed the first "Genius Collection" for InfiniteBookI'm a really proud contributor for more than 10 InfiniteBook covers

The InfiniteBook "desk planner" was something that I've designed from scratch.Workshoped was quite successful. Specially during the holiday season!

We had several activities in the boxes. From soap making to learning calligraphy.

I have been working at Prezly for the past three years, helping the team design and ship new features and improvements. I am a completely (better) person since the day I joined, and I am also a better designer thanks to the mentoring of all the great professionals working here.

This is part of the team in an unplanned meeting in Lisbon - 2022This is the team on a retreat in Croatia - 2021

This is the team on a retreat in Croatia - 2021This is part of the product team in a visit to the HQ in Belgium - 2022

I'm one of the proud people behind some really cool features we have, such as themes, site analytics, sign-up process, SEO settings, and others.

In addition to my work, I am married to my beautiful wife Leticia, we have two daughters named Bea and Aurora and a dog named Buba. I enjoy cooking, barbecuing, traveling, picnics, and playing Padel (not the water sport). I am also a stationary addict and own more than 20 notebooks and different ballpoint pens (most of them still empty). I have a passion for history and politics, so if you need to know anything about Portuguese historical figures, I am your guy.

My family always travel to a new place once per year.I can do a barbecue with a bowl and alcohol.

This is Buba, my dog!I'm a big football fan

Now that you've learned a little bit about me, feel free to check out some of my posts. If you have any questions or want to chat about a specific topic, don't hesitate to reach out to me at hugo@prezly.com.

See you around 👋