Laura Escobar
Laura Escobar
Digital Illustrator & Product Design Leader
San Salvador, El Salvador

My name is Laura Escobar, also known as Laurie. I'm a salvadoran illustrator passionate about stories, inspired by sci-fi and fueled with music. I solve complex time-sensitive puzzles for a living.

I started as a graphic designer over a decade ago, and ever since my love for illustrations grew up to the point that it became second nature to me. Most of my learning related to illustration has been self-taught; the spark of curiosity always present and pushing me to study specific topics like color, light, composition, realism, render styles and many more, but also taking independent workshops in anatomy, matte painting and concept art.

Skills

Marketing IllustrationConcept ArtKeyframe IllustrationEnvironment DesignUser Interface Design

Software proficiency

Photoshop
Photoshop
Figma
Figma
Protopie
Protopie

Experience

  • July 2023 - January 2024
    Design Lead at Reelgood

    Innovating and enriching the entertainment journey for the streaming age. Responsible for:• Leading growth design of the onboarding and NUX (New User Experience) of the B2C product

    • Directing the end-to-end UX Research process of critical projects to drive innovation of the top-of-funnel growth• Strategy, planning, and execution of the Design System, socializing its impact and facilitating the learning process for designers, developers, and stakeholders• Driving a more systematic and lean UXR practice to increase user empathy

    • Spearheading the transformation of the Visual Language across mobile and web for B2C and B2B touch points of the brand

    • Developing fundamental DesignOps practices to optimize the design process

  • November 2020 - June 2023
    Design Team Lead at Ravn

    • Established a distributed Product Design team from the ground up to work with US companies on web and mobile products in less than a year

    • Led, coached, and developed 14 Junior to Senior Designers to build critical thinking, efficiency, and high-quality craftmanship

    • Recruited, interviewed, and evaluated Junior to Senior Designers with a custom-made hiring framework designed for efficiency and transparency

    • Built and directed a Product Design trainee program for entry-level candidates, graduating a total of 10 Junior Product Designers

    • Increased design maturity at the company by mentoring designers on problem-solving skills, Product Thinking, and end-to-end iterative design process

    • Directed strategy, execution, and design for 15 projects from end to end acting as the DRI

    • Established the Design System practice as a core service to build Design Systems from scratch

  • January 2019 - October 2020
    Product Designer at Miami Heat

    Led end-to-end Product Design challenges for 5 different products that drive core operations in marketing and basketball operations for the Miami HEAT basketball team of the NBA.

    • Led product discovery on high-stakes projects based on a strategic vision and tied to business goals

    • Integrate complex workflows into streamlined systems of invoicing and statistics reports for coaches, scouts, executives, and internal staff

    • Shaped the impact of design to influence product strategy, documentation, and cross-functional collaboration

    • Optimized design processes to increase efficiency by 200%

  • December 2018 - October 2020
    UX/UI Designer at Applaudo Studios

    • Redefined the role of a UX/UI Designer in the company by taking an end-to-end approach, from discovery facilitation to UX Strategy, and all the way to high-fidelity prototyping and documentation

    • Accelerated the UX maturity of the team which allowed more specialized services

    • Pioneered the practice of new processes like Design Systems and Design Sprints, creating a highly profitable discovery process for dozens of clients

    • Mentored and championed the growth of other team members, which led to the creation of a training program

    • Strengthen the collaboration between design, product, and development to optimize implementation time by up to 40%

    • Exceeded expectations on multi-year project roadmaps to ship high-quality work at a fast pace

  • June 2017 - November 2018
    Lead UX/UI Designer at IdeaWorks International

    I led the design of a wide variety of product developments, identifying the best user flow for each case, implementing user experience best practices, and solving the user's pain points by focusing on human-centered design principles.

    I had the opportunity of incorporating Figma as the centralized design and prototyping tool, improving the time investment, developer handoff, stakeholder feedback, and overall team communication, which helped ultimately to integrate efficiently the design stage into the software development process.

    Among these projects, I led the UX and UI of the soccer community platform "Clash of Fans" for the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018, in which soccer fans could follow along the tournament games, play trivias, and challenge their friends to predict the results of the games.

  • March 2013 - December 2017
    Illustrator at Improbable Studios
    United Kingdom

    Remote work for a worldwide indie studio.

    Props and enviroment illustrator for in-game puzzles and matte painting for the opening sequence of the game "Sherlock: The Game is On"