I’m a visual storyteller that’s passionate about solving complex problems & working with great people.

With over a decade of experience spanning prestigious companies in Ireland, England, Canada, Japan, India, and most recently the Netherlands, I specialise in crafting captivating and inspiring user experiences. My approach is deeply rooted in a commitment to user-centric and data-driven design, ensuring that each creation meets user needs while strategically aligning with business objectives.

In 2018, my husband Eoin and I bid farewell to Ireland and set off on an exhilarating adventure, from backpacking around Mexico to driving up the West Coast of America in a camper van. Eventually we decided to settle in Toronto, and for six remarkable years, it became our home, filled with unforgettable experiences. Then, in September 2023, accompanied by our beloved dog Teddy, we embarked on our next chapter, setting sail for the vibrant city of Amsterdam.

  • “I've never been so impressed with a designer so quickly than with Elena. She is passionately dedicated to crafting the best solution, and does so with her high-caliber design-thinking, collaborative energy, and astute understanding of the end user and their experience. She's strategic and savvy. And beyond being amazing at product design, she's also an amazing person. She adds incredible energy and morale to any room (even virtually!), and her sense of humor helps keep creative ideas flowing even during higher stress projects. Any project with Elena's name on it is sure to be a success. I would 100% recommend her and would love to work with her again!”

    Bethany Boss - Creative Director Paytm

  • "I worked closely with Elena during my time at Paddy Power and I was consistently impressed with the quality of her work. She is talented, focused and an incredibly positive person to work with. As an interaction designer there can be an element of apprehension when handing over wires to visual designers but I never had anything but absolute confidence with Elena and she has been an absolute pleasure to work with. Her ability makes her one of the best designers I have ever worked with while her personality makes her one of the best people I have ever worked with. I would have no hesitation recommending Elena for any design role."

    Ben Taylor - Senior Product Design Manager Hubspot

  • "I had the pleasure of working with and mentoring Elena in the 3+ years that she was at TELUS Digital. Elena has a great eye for design and is always willing to explore and try new ideas. Her designs are always bold and done with a great attention to detail. She is always looking for ways to push the boundaries of the brand while still working within it. Elena is always a great collaborator who is eager to share her ideas and takes others’ feedback well. Elena would be a valuable asset to any company."

    Gary Chow - Creative Director TELUS Digital

  • "Elena is one of those talents who has the rare gift of elevating design through unparalleled vision and attention to detail. She also happens to possess immense talent in brand extension, whether it's on the UI layer or component design for an already robust design system. Talent aside, she's also an absolute joy to work with, one of the funniest, down to earth colleagues you can ask for. As I'm sure others can attest, Elena is an asset to any organization looking to add a top calibre design talent to their roster!"

    Andrew Douglas - Group Design Director Appnovation

  • "Elena and I worked together at TELUS Digital, and she quickly became one of my favourite colleagues with whom to collaborate. Not only is she dedicated and hardworking, but her talent, passion, and experience shine through with every project. Elena's superpowers include her consistent drive for quality, openness to feedback during the design process, positive attitude, and sense of humour. I am confident that Elena would be an invaluable addition to any workplace."

    Joanna Carson - Senior Digital Strategist VTS

  • "Elena is a thoughtful and talented Designer whom I had the pleasure of working with for over 3 years. She has an enviable ability to constantly deliver creative UI/UX solutions that reflects her keen business acumen and an empathic understanding of customer needs. Incredibly curious, delightfully collaborative and a champion of smart work, Elena is who you want on your team."

    Kay Wan - Content Strategy Manager Deloitte

  • "Elena is a fantastic designer to pair with as a content specialist. She's incredibly talented at taking large product problems and seamlessly creating delightful and user-friendly designs. She works tirelessly to ensure that the user is at the forefront of every product conversation and that decisions are guided by data. Elena is always a team player and can manage conversations with stakeholders fearlessly. I'd work with Elena again any day!"

    Chantelle Sukhu - Senior Content Designer 1Password

  • "Elena is one of the most talented designers that I’ve ever had the chance to work with. Her exceptionally thoughtful approach to solving complex challenges really shines through in her work. It is truly uncanny to see products that look incredible, amplify content strategies, and seamlessly tie every aspect of the visioning and design process into world-class responsive user experiences and delightful digital products. This is the magic that Elena creates. Working on teams with Elena echoes this. A remarkable collaborator, Elena always constructively builds on every idea, improving each one through thoughtful user-centred design, always looking for user feedback, and taking data-informed approaches to further refinement and improvement. I have been super lucky to have worked with Elena on a number of projects, and every single one she has amplified beyond my wildest expectations through her approach to design. She turns good work into exceptional work. On top of all of this, Elena is a great team player, a leader through our team rituals, and in general just a wonderful person."

    Clint Tham - Staff Content Designer Coursera

  • "Elena is an incredibly creative, skilled & talented user experience designer. She thoughtfully puts the user at the centre of her designs and has a deep motivation to drive customer impact. I had the pleasure of working with Elena as a Product Manager and then to support her in a leadership capacity. Elena is constantly learning and growing her skills. She is an authentic team member who know and demonstrates behaviours that show her values of collaboration, team health and strong communication."

    Veronica Van - Product Operations Lead Shopify

  • "Elena is an absolute pleasure to work with, both personally and professionally. Her ability to work with different stakeholders across non-creative and creative backgrounds, explain her design decisions and incorporate changes without losing the integrity of a well thought out, beautiful design has my job incredibly easy. She is incredibly talented, humble, always striving to try new things and communicates clearly and thoughtfully. I would love to work with Elena again in the future."

    Rebecca Kane - Senior Interaction Designer Google

  • "I have worked with Elena for over a year in Paddy Power. She worked initially within our IT Account App delivery team. From the first development Elena added an attention to detail and suggestions that added direct value to the product. Always conscious of UX principles and customer interaction Elena goes beyond the role of a typical UI designer participating in discussions with developers and product owners alike. I would not hesitate in recommending Elena for a Senior UI Designer or similar role. She is an asset to any organisation and a joy to work with."

    Brian O’Flaherty - Senior Software Engineering Manager Liberty IT

  • "Elena has proved herself to be an incredible designer time and time again at Paddy Power Betfair. She is one of those unique people who is as at home working on stunning creative visuals as she is working on product design and user interfaces. She has been a key product design driver on some very high profile stealth projects at Paddy Power Betfair. Collaboration with research, UX and stakeholders comes as second nature to her. On a personal level, Elena’s naturally positive and upbeat manner, and her ability to keep her cool under pressure makes her an absolute pleasure to deal with - a sentiment shared by not just myself but by every member of her team. I would have no hesitation at all in recommending Elena for any design role. A stellar designer who naturally brings a boost of culture to her team."

    Tony O’Donohoe - Product Design Leader Paddy Power

My design approach

01 Discover

I think its always worth taking some time to understand exactly what the user problem is, why its not working / doesn’t exist, and what deliverables and KPIs are expected. Always keep users at the heart of the design process.

02 Define

Although there can be time constraints, I always strive to do as much qualitative and quantitative research as possible. This ensures the design decisions are always grounded in data, leading to functional and beautiful creations.

03 Ideate

I love to brainstorm initial concepts on a whiteboard with the team or client to ensure product alignment. It's crucial to gather technical and business insights early in the process before diving into the low-fidelity design phase.

04 Develop

Exploring a range of possible solutions only works well, when you share designs often. The more feedback I can gather, the more I can fine tune the designs - which means better collaboration and working through problems together.

05 Deliver

I always work closely with the engineering teams, lead stakeholders and product teams, to ensure a successful handoff and implementation process. More often than not, this means releasing an MVP version initially, depending on constraints.

06 Monitor & iterate

Once the product has launched, I like to review how its doing and make sure we’ve reached our product OKRs and metrics of success. Whether thats through analytics or gathering user feedback, design can always be iterated and improved.