Sebastian Palma

Head of Design at Edilar

I shape products by turning complexity into clarity — for the people who use them and the teams that build them.

From product strategy to hands-on design, I help teams make better decisions, build scalable products, and create the systems that make great work possible.

I'm currently Head of Design at Edilar, leading a team of 4+ designers across three digital products for Mexico's education sector.

Design LeadProduct StrategyDesign SystemsUX ResearchAI-powered Workflows
Sebastian Palma

Experience

  • 2025 — Present

    Edilar

    Head of Design (prev. Lead Product Designer)

    • Lead a team of 4+ designers across three digital products serving Mexico's education sector.
    • Own design strategy end to end: discovery, product vision, and releases shipped to production.
    • Shipped Red Magisterial (36K+ active users), Portal de asesores, Red Potencia, and the Nuevo León data-visualization platform.
    • Built the design system and AI-assisted workflows that cut delivery and revision time by 27%.
    • Mentored and grew 2 designers; set hiring and design-review practices that raised the team's craft.
  • 2024 — 2025

    Chido

    Founder — independent design practice

    • Advise brands and agencies on design strategy, systems, and best practices.
    • Lead projects from brief to delivery across product, brand, and content.
  • 2022 — 2024

    ViaDirect

    UX/UI Designer

    • Designed UX/UI for digital wayfinding products deployed in public spaces.
    • Shipped tailored client interfaces with engineering and PMs under hardware constraints.
  • 2021 — 2022

    Versatio

    UI Designer

    • Designed websites, landing pages, and brand systems supporting client digital transformation.
  • 2017 — 2021

    Earlier

    Creative & craft foundation

    • Luminica — Filmmaker: directed and produced brand campaigns end to end.
    • SEER — Designer: ceramic collections exhibited at MUMEDI, BLEND, and Design Week México.
    • Fabien Cappello — Design Intern: prototyping, model making, product photography.
    • COPAL — Photographer & Filmmaker: grew from assistant to lead shooter.

Awards

  • Premio Nacional de PeriodismoPodio
    2020
  • KEIA Furniture Design2nd Place
    2019
  • FORMA · Design Week MéxicoWinner
    2018
  • Pack Lab Awards2nd Place
    2018
  • Jump The Gap by ROCAFinalist
    2019
  • Vitro Perfume DesignFinalist
    2019
  • Ambientes MagazinePublication
    2018

Expertise

Software

FigmaJiraClaudeUX TweakMazeHotjarIllustratorDaVinci

Certifications

Design SystemsAdvanced UX – UIGoogle AI StudioDesign Thinking

Let's talk

Open to design leadership roles and collaborations.