Nicolás Bañados
Head of Design at LunarCrush. San Clemente, California, USA
Summary
More than 12 years of experience as a Product Designer specializing in Design Systems, UX/UI design, and digital product development. Proven expertise across web design, Web3 interfaces, AI-powered applications, generative AI tools for visual content creation, 3D/2D animation and illustration production, project management, and final design implementations. My experience spans cutting-edge technologies including blockchain applications, artificial intelligence interfaces, and AI-assisted design workflows, where I've successfully delivered innovative solutions that balance complex functionality with intuitive user experiences.
Core Competencies
- End-to-end UX/UI Design from research and definition through to production
- Building and scaling Design Systems from concept to full implementation
- Vibe coding and rapid prototyping for quick iteration cycles
- Designing innovative interfaces for Web3 and AI-powered products
- Leading design sprints and collaborative workshops for ideation and problem-solving
- Thriving in agile/scrum environments with cross-functional teams
- Web design and development using no-code tools and platforms
- Leveraging generative AI to accelerate visual content creation and explore design possibilities
- Producing high-quality 3D/2D animation, illustration, and architectural visualization
- Managing multiple projects simultaneously while maintaining quality and meeting deadlines
Experience
LunarCrush — Head of Design
Chile and San Clemente, CA · January 2021 – Present
LunarCrush is a social intelligence platform for crypto. We collect activity across social media for Bitcoin, thousands of alts, and exchanges, as well as what influencers are posting, and distill it into bitesize, digestible chunks. I lead design end-to-end: UI/UX, design system, visual marketing content and branding, and I take governance of the front-end when engineering bandwidth is tight.
- Build and scale the company's design system (Figma + code, Storm tokens)
- Own UI/UX across the landing site and the product app
- Direct visual marketing content and branding
- Lead design for Web3 and AI-powered interfaces
- UX research — personas, flows, low-fidelity wireframes, high-fidelity prototyping
- User testing analysis
- Document the system to be LLM-friendly for the whole team
Banca.Me — Product Designer
Remote, Chile · 2019 – 2020
Banca.Me is a fintech / early-stage startup developing digital products and services for the Chilean finance industry. I started working on this project from the beginning and led the development of the corporate identity from research to production. We worked with the external consultant agency Pedro Juan y Diego for the customer research.
- Lead and facilitate ideation and problem-solving online workshops using design sprint and other techniques
- Web and app UX/UI design
- UX research (user personas and user flows)
- Low-fidelity wireframes design
- UI development
- High-fidelity prototyping
- UX copywriting
- User testing analysis
- Creation of design system in Figma from scratch
Galo Verdesoto Inc. — UX/UI, Marketing, Graphic Design Consultant
Remote, NYC, USA · 2015 – January 2021
Galo Verdesoto Inc. is a solo high-end interior designer from New York City. He contacted me to help him redesign his website, and we have been working together as a team ever since. I mainly help him with all digital marketing efforts.
- Website design and development
- Weekly newsletters design
- Digital marketing
- Creative advice
OI Fields — UX/UI Designer
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia · 2018
I spent 6 months working for this Australian company. The owner, an entrepreneur with many business ideas, needed a designer to support the team to create multiple websites and constantly iterate.
- Redesigned several sites that were made in Shopify and moved them to WordPress
- Standardized the website creation development process
- Style guides creation
- Implementation of e-commerce with WooCommerce
Beatmap — Co-Founder and Creative Director
Washington D.C. · 2005 – 2018 Santiago, Chile · 2005 – January 2021
Co-founder of a web design, 3D animation, and infographics studio that delivers graphic services to the architecture, advertising, engineering, and learning industries.
- Oversee and manage production of media content for successful delivery to clients in US, Spain, Chile, and Mexico
- Direct and create graphic content for different visual platforms: web and TV
- Responsible for business development, all client communication, and interaction with the Chilean market
AJA Project — Photography Teacher (Volunteer)
San Diego, California, USA · 2005
- Assistant to the photography and video high school teacher
- Assisted teacher with the students by defining student projects and instructing on techniques
The Institute of Americas — Illustrator and Graphic Designer (Volunteer)
San Diego, California, USA · 2005
- Web design
- Designed and produced icons for various conferences at the institute
Box Image — 3D Animator and Interior Designer
Santiago, Chile · 2003 – 2005
- 2D layouts composition
- Created and produced interior virtual tours
Diseñoteknia — Industrial Design (Internship)
Santiago, Chile · 2000
- Developed exhibition systems
- Managed and designed the stand design process
Education
Universidad Mayor — Licensed Industrial Designer
Santiago, Chile
Professional degree in Industrial Design. Thesis: urban furniture for the elderly in a specific area of Santiago.
Certifications and courses
Dribbble — Scaling Design Systems, with Dan Mall
Certificate · May 2023
Memorisely — Design System Bootcamp
Certificate · UK, remote
Memorisely — AI Coding Bootcamp
Dec 2025 – 2026
Designers who build: shipping real interfaces with AI coding tools, from design system to deployed code.
AI First Designer School — Member
ADPList · 2026 – Present
Felix Lee's community and curriculum on AI-first design practice.
Hackathons
Into Design Systems — AI Hackathon
Selected participant · Feb 6–8, 2026 · Online
A weekend building with AI on design system problems alongside the Into Design Systems community.
Conferences and events
Into Design Systems — AI Conference 2026
Attendee · Mar 19–20, 2026 · Online
Into Design Systems — Vibe Coding Design Systems, Online Jam
Oct 2025 and Jan 2026 · Online
Into Design Systems — Agentic Design, Online Jam
Apr 2026 · Online
Level Up Club — From Chaos to Components: A Practical AI Workflow for Design Systems
Aug 2026 · Online
Magic Patterns — AI Prototyping with Figma Components
Mar 2026 · Online
Design The Future Conference
Apr 2024 · Online
Sparkbox — UnConference: Design Systems Culture
May 2023 · Online
Into Design Systems — Workshop: The Power of AI in Design Systems
Jun 2023 · Online
Professional organizations and activities
Studio of the Chilean artist Sergio Soza
Art and philosophy
Awards
Institute of Contemporary Art — First Place in Painting, national level
1996
Colegio Saint Jones — Second Place in Painting
1996
Colegio San Ignacio — Collective painting exhibition of students and alumni
1994
Languages
Fluent in Spanish and English.