Lara Mendonça was born in Brazil in 1991. She's a designer, educator and amateur philosopher.
She holds a Master of Arts from the London College of Communication of the University of the Arts London.
Lara is interested in design theory, ethics and education. She believes we need better design practices to change our relationship to technology.
In the last 13 years, she has designed across many disciplines, including interaction, brand identity, motion, editorial, advertising and illustration.
She has previously worked at Tumblr, Twitter, Bumble, Wise, HSBC, Mitsubishi, Sky & Globosat.
These days, she leads design at redacted. She lives in Rio de Janeiro.
Tumblr
Vice-President, Labs / Design Director
2022 • 2023
She worked with the rest of the executive leadership team to bring Tumblr's strategy to life. She focused on leading the team while fostering a healthy culture, elevating design's influence, building a long-term vision and improving operations.
Senior Manager, Product Design
2021 • 2022
She led design teams working on profiles and conversations on the platform, working to improve user safety and self-expression. Notable projects include Twitter Circles, improved reply controls, tweet downvoting and new verification flows.
Bumble
Head of Product Design
2019 • 2021
She established and led a diverse and high-performing team of user researchers, product and content designers—scaling from 1 to 15 members. During her tenure, design became an efficient strategic partner, culminating on a redesign of the product and “contributing to a wildly successful IPO” (Fast Company).
Featured
Podcasts
Liderança em Design, 2022
Icons in the Making, 2022
Design To Be Conversation, 2021
Avantika, 2021
Bézier, 2020
Speaking
Working Not Working, 2021
Canvas, 2021
UXDX Barcelona, 2020
JAM Online, 2020
Triangirls Talks, 2020
Remote Design Week, 2020
General Assembly, 2019
General Assembly, 2019
Selected press
It's Nice That • 2024
POV: Is it the designer’s responsibility if an app is addictive?
TechCrunch • 2023
Tumblr tests ‘Communities,’ semi-private groups with their own moderators and feeds
The Verge • 2022
Tumblr adds new filters and hints at looser moderation rules
TechCrunch • 2022
Twitter's spin on the close friends story might be on its way soon