Experience & capabilities
Alfredo Mercedes
Product designer & builder based in New York. UX strategy, accessible experiences, design systems, and front-end development.
Profile
Design & development
Connecting the idea to the experience.
Product designer and developer working across nonprofit services, accessible interfaces, design systems, and AI-assisted products. I connect user journeys and content structure to interaction design and implementation, collaborating directly with client and in-house teams.
Selected experience
2018–present / Blue Beacon Creative
Freelance product designer & developer
Blue Beacon Creative is my solo freelance consultancy. Work directly with companies as an independent contractor, often focused on one primary engagement or extending an in-house team’s design and development capacity.
Hands-on work spans UX, accessible websites, visual systems, and product development, from understanding the problem through implementation and ongoing improvement.
Client engagement / Independent contractor
Goodwill Central Texas
Freelance product design and development through Blue Beacon Creative, working alongside Goodwill Central Texas stakeholders across the website, campaign infrastructure, store locator, and supporting digital experiences. Work spans discovery, information architecture, interface design, and WordPress implementation.
Selected client work / Design & development
World Education Services & WENR
Contributed UX design, a digital style guide, custom WordPress development, and integrations for WES, alongside the infrastructure, SEO, and content marketing system that helped support annual revenue growth from $50 million to $475 million in three years.
Designed and developed the editorial website for WENR, the WES publication serving international education professionals.
Helped set up Marketo and SendGrid, designed email templates, and helped establish the WES Advisor content funnel for international students. WES Advisor became one of the organization’s major organic traffic sources, alongside the research-focused WENR publication.
Selected client work / Nonprofit
Young Heroes
Contributed to a legacy website redesign around clearer giving options and a responsive, lightweight WordPress theme for slow and intermittent connections. Scope included payment integration and ongoing maintenance. The website received the WebAward for Outstanding Achievement from the Web Marketing Association and the American Web Design Awards from Graphic Design USA, both in 2018.
Independent product explorations
AstralKit, A11yGenius, Pinbly & LogoZap
Design and development across reusable components, accessibility workflows, location discovery, and AI-assisted brand design. Product explorations are distinguished from released work in the individual project pages.
Selected recognition
2024 / Web Marketing Association
Non-Profit Standard of Excellence
Goodwill Central Texas. Credited for UX design and WCAG web accessibility.
2018 / Web Marketing Association
WebAward for Outstanding Achievement
Young Heroes. Contributed the responsive WordPress build to the recognized nonprofit website.
2018 / Graphic Design USA
American Web Design Awards
Young Heroes. Contributed the responsive WordPress build to the recognized nonprofit website.
Capabilities
Product design
From research to interaction
UX strategy · Information architecture · User journeys · Wireframes · Prototyping · Interaction design · Figma
Systems & accessibility
Consistency with room for difference
Design systems · Design tokens · Reusable components · Inclusive design · Keyboard interaction · Semantic HTML
Implementation
Design that connects to code
React · Next.js · TypeScript · JavaScript · HTML & CSS · WordPress · PHP · AI-assisted product workflows
Education & learning
2022 / Nielsen Norman Group
UX Certificate — Interaction Design
Certificate ID 1053530.
2022–2023 / Tuck Executive Education at Dartmouth
Building a Successful Business
2021–2022 / American Graphics Institute
Web Accessibility & Web Development
2015–2016 / General Assembly
JavaScript Development & Computer Programming
2008–2009 / Daytona College