Fabiola is a half Swedish, half Swiss well-rounded UX design leader. Her 15 year journey started with degrees from Bergh’s School of Communication in Stockholm, to later explore design and technology at depths with her MFA from Parson’s in New York.
After years at Frog Design, her curiosity to develop skills within implementation and work in scrum teams increased, so she took an opportunity at Athenahealth, where she eventually took over and led the Consumer Design Language System and many other design initiatives, that half of America’s population interacts with on a daily basis when seeking healthcare.
She became an advocate for inclusive design, and polished the design system’s principles, rules, and internal usability for developers so development turn-around was more effective. She held weekly meetings with a large design team to advise on usage and best practices. This sparked her passion for doing UX mentoring as a freelancer in the past year, but she is now longing to work in a team again.
She started off working at Madison Avenue as an Account Planner to learn strategy, but shifted into design, as her deep drive is to truly help humanity and our planet thrive via empathetic, sustainable and inclusive interfaces that allows people to feel empowered in their relationship to technology and have a delightful experience.
She is lucky to have started her career with some of the best designers at Frog Design, cultivating a deep expertise in design research. This makes her stand out in the way she approaches empathy and translates user insights into effective, tangible and grounded solutions.
She is known for her deep joy, curiosity, ability to think outside the box, and empathetic leadership, and is always happy to form new intriguing connections.
SKILLS
General : Design Language System Leader / Excellent Collaborator / Empathetic & Empowered Leadership / Excellent written and verbal communication / Fluent in English, Swedish, Intermediate in Spanish and German / Good at pattern recognition / Lateral thinker / Good at translating insights into actual designs / Enjoys staying up to date on tech trends & cultural insights
Design: Ideation and concepts / UX & UI design / User-centered research & testing / Iterative prototyping / Experience strategy / Consulting / Wireframes / Storyboards / Storytelling / Empathetic design methodologies / Brand positioning & competitive analysis / Graphic design
Software: Figma / Rhino / Principle / Illustrator / Photoshop / Premiere / After Effects / InVision / KeyNote / Microsoft Office
Development: Arduino / Processing / HTML / CSS / WordPress / OpenFrameworks
Stuff: Presentation - principles of sense augmentation at Interaction19 and SXSW / panelist at 'designing for our bodies' & interviewer of Stelarc @ bodyhacking conference / designmind article bodyhacking: designing for new senses / jury at the techsage competition
JOB EXPERIENCE
Freelance Design & Creativity coach
November 2022 - Present
As a coach, Fabiola guides 1-1 clients into empowerment in their UX career, skillset, leadership and hosts workshops and courses.
LEAD INTERACTION DESIGNER AT ATHELAHEALTH
September 2015 - August 2018
Leader, mentor, designer and PO of the company wide Patient Design Language system Spark. Responsible for the day to day design and art direction of scrum teams developing our consumer health platforms. Leading user centered research initiatives and translating findings into tangible products that help users better communicate with their healthcare providers.
INTERACTION DESIGNER II AT FROG DESIGN
September 2015 - August 2018
Although well rounded, her practice at frog has been focused on design research, turning insights into concepts, and healthcare as a discipline. For additional research and design work please contact her directly.
3D MODELING AT FRANCIS BITONTI STUDIO
September 2014 - January 2015
Helped develop 3D renderings of jewelry using Maya, Rhinocerus and Grasshopper. Learnt about additive manufacturing techniques, computational design and materials in regards to 3D sculpting on the body.
ART DIRECTOR at Book&Table, Inc.
September 2013 - May 2014
An online tutoring platform with mastery based learning and core design values. Responsible for branding, UX design and every other project needing art direction.
Research Assistant at Parsons, The New School for Design
September 2013 - January 2014
Assisting with research, documentation and various media with the aim of developing an arts therapy toolkit. The Arts For Survival Toolkit is a New School Collaboratory Innovation grant initiative with The Polaris Project, an advocacy group for human trafficking survivors.
Jr. Planner at strawberryfrog
July 2012 - May 2013
Generated brand voice positioning, editorial executions, consumer research, and analytical reports for various clients. Identified critical cultural insights, social platforms and leveraged them to build greater brand affinity. Helped create new business presentations and identify opportunities for growth. Managed social media strategies for European Wax Center and strawberryfrog.
Strategy Intern at Citizen Group
October 2012 - December 2012
Analytics reports, project management, competitive audits, strategy and social media for pro-social advertising/marketing campaigns. Clients include The Heinz Endowments and H&D Ventures.
PR & Communications Manager at Silicon Vikings
August 2012 - December 2012
Silicon Vikings is a collaborative non-profit member organization for networking and promotion of technologies, innovation and businesses intersecting Silicon Valley and the Nordic region. Responsible for event promotion in all social media channels, sponsorships and the organization of pitching events facilitating communication between VC’s, angel investors and CEO’s.
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS Researcher at PSFK
March 2011 - January 2012
Gathered data for trend research within numerous categories including: marketing, social media, mobile technology, crowd sourcing, sustainability, consumer purchase habits and augmented reality. Clients include Samsung.
UX AND VISUAL DESIGNER at Zen Den Web Design
June 2009 - November 2010
Helped the company position itself and grow as a start-up. Led a small team of designers through the UX process. Led client meetings and identified business needs.
EDUCATION
Parsons the New School for Design, New York, NY
August 2013 - May 2015
Masters of Fine Arts in Design and Technology, GPA 3.8.
Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA
January 2009 - May 2012
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Advertising emphasizing on Strategic Planning and Creative Thinking, GPA 3.5.
Berghs School of Communication, Stockholm, Sweden
August 2007 - December 2007
Berghs Bachelor Program.
Sigtunaskolan Humanistiska Läroverk Boarding School, Sigtuna, Sweden
August 2002 - May 2006
Emphasis on Social Studies and Psychology.
Student Housing Leader: inculded tasks like parenting, organizing field trips and being the main communicator between students and teachers.