About / acerca

I trained as an architect but ended up more interested in how people move through things than in the buildings themselves.

Nestor Ruiz
BORN
Granada
BASED
London
TRAINED
Architecture
NOW
AI products at IBM

Thirteen years in practice, from architecture studios to designing AI products at IBM.

  1. 2025 — NowSenior Design ConsultantIBMLondon
  2. 2022 — 25Visual Design ConsultantIBMLondon
  3. 2021 — NowFreelance UX/UI & Visual DesignerNJRM DesignLondon
  4. 2019 — 20Part 2 Architectural AssistantFeilden Clegg Bradley StudiosManchester
  5. 2017 — 18Part 1 Architectural AssistantCarey Jones Chapman TolcherLondon

That instinct, caring about the path more than the facade, is what turned into designing products. Somewhere between drawing plans and watching people use them, I realised the part I loved was the experience, not the structure.

Where I come from

I grew up in Granada, in the south of Spain, and I think it shows in the work: considered before it gets loud, warm rather than flashy. I have been designing professionally since 2013, and I am based in London now.

The architecture training never quite left. I still draw plans before I open Figma. I want to understand what a thing is for before I decide what it looks like, and I trust structure to do most of the heavy lifting before any surface gets involved.

What I do

Most of what I do sits across product, brand and the strategy in between, usually all three at once. I like the messy middle where a product decision is also a brand decision is also a business one, and where being able to hold all three is the whole job.

Lately that has meant as much designing for AI as designing with it: shaping how intelligence shows up inside the products on one side, and rebuilding how I work on the other. I am currently a senior product designer at IBM, working on AI products.

Good work, to me, is the kind you do not notice working: a thousand small decisions in tune. I would rather make something quietly right than loudly clever.

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