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Ricardo Zea

Ricardo Zea

Mentor
5.0
(150 reviews)
US$22.00
For every 15 mins
220
Sessions/Jobs
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First 15 mins free for your first session
ABOUT ME
Senior Web & Product Designer | Figma | Design Systems | CSS & HTML Expert
Senior Web & Product Designer | Figma | Design Systems | CSS & HTML Expert

Hey—I’m Ricardo. I’m a Senior Web & Product Designer who builds clean, accessible, dev-ready interfaces for data-dense products and websites. I work end-to-end: design systems, IA, wireframing, prototyping, accessibility, and production HTML/CSS for reliable handoffs (Zeplin).

I’m not a developer—I work closely with developers to ensure that high-quality products are released efficiently.

I care about results and craft.

Highlights:

  • At Check ’n Go I improved homepage load time by 84%, reduced page weight 42%, and dropped HTTP requests 89%.
  • At LexisNexis I shipped 2 global redesigns and 30+ localized sites.
  • I’ve also mentored 150+ designers with consistent 5★ reviews.

Accessibility is a big deal to me. I built Color-Ramp.com to solve a real gap: creating OKLCH/HSL color ramps that guarantee WCAG 2.1 AA/AAA in both light and dark UIs.

I also co-created AspireMap.ai, a B2C platform that helps students and career-changers find career paths aligned with their values, personality, aptitudes, and skills.

If you want to see how I think and what I ship, start here:

💻My work and writing:

⚔ What I’m good at (and enjoy):

Web & Product Design — UI/UX/Visual Design

  • Design Systems
  • Development-friendly Designs
  • Wireframing & Prototyping
  • Accessibility & Usability (WCAG-first)
  • Interaction Design
  • Branding
  • Color
  • Typography
  • Design principles: Hierarchy, Grid, Balance, Symmetry, Rhythm, Space, Gestalt, Pattern, Modularity, etc.

Web & Front-End Designer

  • Production-ready HTML
  • Production-ready CSS/Sass
  • jQuery (presentational)
  • Responsive & Adaptive Designs
  • Accessibility & Usability
  • SEO
Spanish, English
Eastern Time (US & Canada) (-05:00)
Joined April 2016
EXPERTISE
Figma
9 years experience | 8 endorsements
My go-to design tool is Figma. I've been creating all kinds of designs: Design systems, websites, prototypes, data-heavy dashboards, reus...
My go-to design tool is Figma. I've been creating all kinds of designs: Design systems, websites, prototypes, data-heavy dashboards, reusable components, interactive prototypes, etc. While at Willis Towers Watson, I built and maintained shared libraries for their eepoint platform, with heavy use of auto-layout, variables, design system assets to ensure consistency across teams. At Nestlé Purina, I expanded HubX libraries and led UX lunch-and-learns, streamlining collaboration between designers and developers. I also enjoy helping others make the most of Figma—through ADPList workshops and 1:1 sessions, I guide individuals and teams in setting up component hierarchies, organizing tokens, and building workflows that scale.
Component librariesAuto LayoutDesign Systems
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Component librariesAuto LayoutDesign SystemsFigmaWireframing/prototyping
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HTML/CSS
10 years experience | 97 endorsements
Visual design
10 years experience
UX/UI Design
10 years experience | 10 endorsements
SaaS
10 years experience
Branding
10 years experience
Design Systems
2 years experience | 2 endorsements

REVIEWS FROM CLIENTS

5.0
(150 reviews)
carla
carla
August 2025
Ricardo guided me on Figma and helped me with making design decisions, smart animate, prototypes and light to dark mode translations. He was very patient and gave good advice to help with making my design process quicker.
Spencer Rosen
Spencer Rosen
May 2025
Awesome! Got a great tutorial on Figma, design systems, variables, properties with a super intentional focus on exactly what I needed! Going to work with Ricardo again, for sure!
Ashley Whelan
Ashley Whelan
January 2025
Had a great experience with Figma tutoring from Ricardo. He was thoughtful, patient and prepared for each of our sessions. And, he set realistic expectations about what we could accomplish in a given amount of time. I learned a lot of basics about Figma and handy best practices and shortcuts to make my work more efficient. Would absolutely work with him again!
Removed User
Removed User
September 2024
Helped my with my HTML and CSS code Helped clean up my code to make my website more presentable
Samantha Gaiser
Samantha Gaiser
April 2022
Ricardo helped me with some graphic design stuff in regard to creating a logo. He gave me some great suggestions and helped me come up with a great strategy to move forward on my project. Thanks, Ricardo.
Mike G
Mike G
February 2022
Ricardo graciously helped with the responsiveness and styling of my React application. I was having trouble with the spacing of particular boxes within a grid format, and Ricardo was able to help break down and ultimately solve the issue. Looking forward to our next session in the future. Thanks!
Dee Barizo
Dee Barizo
February 2022
Another great session with Ricardo. He provided great ideas for a UX/UI design that I was trying to building. I was trying to build it one way but Ricardo showed me a better way to build it that looks better and is easier for the visitor to understand. A+
Colm Ginty
Colm Ginty
January 2022
Ricardo was very knowledgeable and challenged my preconceptions about what I was trying to do. This was very helpful and prevented me from wasting a lot of time.
Marko Petrovic
Marko Petrovic
December 2021
Ricardo provided straightforward and specific feedback towards the design of our website and immediate suggestions for how to apply professional design strategies for our use case.
Victoria
Victoria
November 2021
Ricardo was really helpful during our class session. He explained very clearly for me to understand. we talked about display:flex, box model etc. Also how make the Html structure more clear and simple. He is really easy to understand and really helpful with my questions. Hoping to take another lesson with him soon
SOCIAL PRESENCE
Stack Overflow
8109 Reputation
10
62
75
Community Posts
100% Responsive Typography System using a Modular Scale
Learn how to build a responsive typography system for your website in a simple way. No intricate equations or convoluted explanations of the CSS. This tutorial is so simple, even an 8-year old can understand it :). Time to level up! Let’s go!
17
19
[Sass] For Beginners: The Friendliest Guide About INSTALLING and USING Sass on Windows
The simplest and most detailed guide about how to install and use Sass you’ll ever read!
27
23
Clients/Mentees, Avoid These Terms in your Job Requests☝️. Seriously.
How a simple term like "easy" is a bit disrespectful to the mentor. Advice on how to fix this problem ;)
2
EMPLOYMENTS
Design Expert Mentor
adplist.org
2024-12-01-Present
• Provide design feedback. • Help designers improve their projects. • Give professional advice to designers. • Teach Figma to designers. ...
• Provide design feedback. • Help designers improve their projects. • Give professional advice to designers. • Teach Figma to designers. • Help designers level up their skills. • Assist designers with design systems.
Visual design
Mentoring
Product design
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Visual design
Mentoring
Product design
Design Systems
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Technical Design Interviewer
Arc.dev
2022-02-01-Present
Designers are interviewed and vetted to see if they can be accepted into the Arc.dev platform. • Provide UI/UX expertise for their custo...
Designers are interviewed and vetted to see if they can be accepted into the Arc.dev platform. • Provide UI/UX expertise for their custom-built N|Solid platform. • Analyze UX and UI designs, including wireframes and implementation-ready prototypes of new features. • Offer ongoing advice on UI/UX best practices and innovative ideas. • Develop multiple prototypes to communicate ideas on content architecture, layout, features, accessibility, interactions, workflows, and functionalities. • Enhance their strong brand in the new designs for requested features. • Suggest messaging strategies for marketing campaigns.
Interview Skills
Mentoring
Product design
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Interview Skills
Mentoring
Product design
Interview Preparation
Behavioral Modeling
Competency management
Career coaching
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Senior Web & Product Designer
NodeSource, LLC
2020-12-01-Present

• Lead UX/UI for N|Solid features + nodesource.com redesign; standardized components/tokens to reduce design/dev rework ~25–30% and sp...

• Lead UX/UI for N|Solid features + nodesource.com redesign; standardized components/tokens to reduce design/dev rework ~25–30% and speed delivery ~20–25%.

• Weekly exec/PM/Eng reviews; crisper decisions and ~30% fewer late-cycle changes.

• Spec-level Zeplin handoff + design QA lowered escaped UI defects ~25–35%.

UI design
Visual design
Product design
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UI design
Visual design
Product design
Design thinking
Figma
Design Systems
UX design
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PROJECTS
Pearlmax Oral Surgery website, branding and stationary
2010
https://www.pearlmax.net -- » Website was redesigned in August of 2019 (See the old branding on my portfolio: https://ricardozea.design/p...
https://www.pearlmax.net -- » Website was redesigned in August of 2019 (See the old branding on my portfolio: https://ricardozea.design/project-pearlmax.php), » Great opportunity to work without bureaucratic limitations » Great opportunity to implement new technologies » Great way to handle all pieces of the project, from design for print, to Web Design, to content management, everything.
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The Gym of West Milton website
2018
http://thegymofwestmilton.com -- » Great opportunity to design with complete freedom » I didn't charge for this project, we instead excha...
http://thegymofwestmilton.com -- » Great opportunity to design with complete freedom » I didn't charge for this project, we instead exchanged services: I created their website and I had a free membership to the gym for 1 year :) » Designed and coded the entire website
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