Gerardo Cruz Q
Gerardo Cruz Q
Designer
 
 

I'm a great communicator, self-motivated, and vision-driven creative.

 

I have been an Entrepreneur, Service Designer, User Experience Designer, Creative Director, and Software Designer with over 12 years of experience.
I've managed teams to find new ways to improve business models and redefine their strategy in different industries such as retail, agro-industrial, human resources, safety, and technology. I created new products and strategies in e-commerce, B2B software applications, human resources, training, and more.

I also have developed brands, brand guidelines, and Government Organizations’ strategies in Costa Rica.

 
 

Education

MBA Sep 2022
ADEN International Business.
Miami, FL, USA.

Bachelor in Graphic Design Oct 2016
Universidad Creativa.
San José, Costa Rica.


Certifications

Scrum Team Member Accredited Certification
International Scrum Institute™.
Aug 2018

User Experience Design
General Assembly.
Atlanta, GA, USA.
Oct 2017

Design Thinking
NovoEd - Standoford Online
Aug 2013


Events & Others

Leadercast Event in Costa Rica
2016

DOMO Event, Digital Marketing
2016

Campus Party Costa Rica
2016

Design Submit, Universidad Veritas
2013

Judge in Android Development Camp, Costa Rica
2012

Experience

Transformation Office Manager (Intern)
Walmart Central America | Feb 2022 - Present

Manage the Transformations Office team to lead the strategic alignment and promote the agile transformation through the operationalization of the strategy

  • Increase the company's strategic alignment by coaching commercial, logistic, and operation teams in the usage of OKRs and working in multidisciplinary teams

  • Conducted the operationalization of the strategy by launching seven pilots to increase market share by empowering the experimental mindset of the organization


Human Center Designer
Walmart Central America | May 2020 - Feb 2022

Promote through strategic projects the customer-centric mindset and implement design methodology on analog problems

  • Augmented the cost-saving in 2020 by $5million by reorganizing our headquarters and convincing our leaders to promote a hybrid workplace based on an internal customer research

  • Maintain 150 associates' jobs by challenging a headcount reduction program that was against the company's strategy

  • Boosted business continuity during the COVID pandemic by proposing and launching over 20 projects using a future-thinking methodology


Service Designer
Walmart Central America | Feb 2019 - May 2020

Implement a design thinking way of working on strategic teams, guide multiple workshops to define strategy, and improve collaboration for complex problem-solving

  • Grew sales in 12 categories of the assortment by 10% vs. LY by implementing a redesigned version of the design sprint for brick and mortar retail

  • Increased the variety of the poultry category by 15% in 6 test stores by conducting customer and field research and assessing the operation process.

  • Increase sales company-wide by 5% vs. last year by conducting a workshop to define the commercial proposal for seasons.


Senior UX Designer
GBM | Jan 2018 - Feb 2019

I operated the UX discipline in the company by creating a team, developing new services, and finding new market opportunities

  • Improve the customer satisfaction by designing and prototyping a new web-based service platform for customers and support agents

  • Prototype a progressive web app for a Bank in Nicaragua by assessing their loan process and conducting contextual inquiries with their customers

  • Design a platform to improve and manage factory equipment by merging IoT devices from a start-up and IBM technology into a web-based platform


Partner & Senior UX Designer
Dnamic World | Mar 2017 - Jan 2018

Marged, my design firm with Dinamic Word, to increase the offer of services to our customers and acquire new ones

Increase the company revenue by adding three new services to our customers by creating a UX department
Built a new way of working by launching six projects by integrating the software development department and the UX process


Co-Founder & UX Designer
Illusionseeds | Nov 2010 - Mar 2017

Launched and managed a new design firm focused on digital products and corporate identity.

  • Accelerate my design firm, increasing the revenue by 300% in the last three years of operations by exporting our services to companies in the USA and working with government institutions in Costa Rica

  • Design 5 websites for the Costa Rican government by implementing a UX process with the government entities and user communities

  • Gain equity of Dnamic World by merge my design firm with a software development company


UX Design Manager & Front End Leader
PREMIERGORUP | Feb 2012 - Aug 2014

Established the UX Design capabilities, trained the current design staff, and pushed the boundaries of the tech stack

  • Maximize company resources by reducing the product personalization from 2 weeks to 8 hours by implementing a CSS/SASS framework

  • Lead the company's technology update by redesigning four core products of the portfolio by implementing AngularJS, SASS and redesigning the user interfaces with atomic design principles

  • Grew the front-end team from 2 people to 7 in 2 years by showing the company the value of a dedicated design and front-end development team


Associate Software Engineer & Tech Leader
BOSZ Digital | Mar 2011 - Feb 2012

Supported and implement new designs on a variety of world-class websites

  • I have been promoted to the technical leader by increasing the number of tickets we were processing by 10% by using my design skills to facilitate the team's operation


UX Designer
OneNews | Dic 2009 - Feb 2011

Design a multiplatform application that allows users to share the news with news channels

  • Release a multiplatform app publishing a website and their current apps by designing a coherent experience on Web, Android, iOs, Blackberry, and Symbian