My name is Rafaela, but everyone calls me Raf. I was born in Argentina and grew up between there and Mozambique with my family.

After completing Uni, I spent 10 years as a digital nomad (or a digital slow traveler) and lived in and visited over 20 countries; from Mount Maunganui in New Zealand to remote fishing villages in Brazil. If there was wifi and waves, I'd be there.

In 2017 I settled with my partner in the French Basque Coast, which has the perfect balance of easy access to all of Europe and the world, plenty of surf spots, nature (beach and mountains), great food and friendly people. 

Since 2010, I have been designing for app development companies and startups such as Messapps and Flipaclip as well creating illustrations for clients like MIT and a big four consulting firm. I'm a UI designer and illustrator with a degree in advertising and my specialty is helping startups translate their ideas into tangible, polished designs. 

Head over to the Design or Illustration sections to see some of the projects I've worked on. 

My sport of choice is surfing, which I practice as many times a week as the conditions and my work schedule allow. A lot of my other out of work activities are related to design and include working on passion projects, making comics, GIFs, lettering & reading. 

I'm super excited that two of my comics were featured in the first print edition of Sea Maven. 

Shop is closed until further notice. This is where I usually have some original illustrations, prints & other items.

• The MIT Media Lab
• MonBuilding
• Schneider Electric
• Messapps
• Big 4 Consulting firm (via Toptal)

• Flipaclip (via Toptal)
• iTech Development Systems
• Senior Advisor
• All Good Surf

• Wild Code School
• Jungo Sports (via Toptal)
• Greta Yoga
• Hexasoft