Daria Lanz
Daria Lanz
Hi, nice to meet you
I’m a Canadian-born UX designer based in London, UK.

Obsessed with learning and self-discovery, I value freedom and autonomy, and I strive to foster a supportive, collaborative team culture.


It’s important to me to stay focused and close to the craft. My goal was always to shape real impact in the world through the products and services we design. In the last few years, I’ve focused particularly on strategy and service design. I love meaty, complex problem spaces that sometimes hurt the brain.


More recently I’ve shifted my focus to developing my leadership skills, inspired by the works of Brené Brown, Abby Wombach, Jim Collins to name a few. I believe in fostering an inclusive culture, in giving teams space to develop and grow, try and stumble and pick themselves up again. I prefer to lead by working alongside, rather than in front.


Currently applying my knowledge and passion as an Experience Design Manager at PlayStation.

Education

Growing up and educated in Canada, I excelled both in art and math, feeling a constant pull to focus on one or the other, not both.

After a miserable year in Business school, I switched to study design. Covering everything from branding, book design, and advertising to human factors, information design and UX, I found my calling in the latter. I love how my work balances both the mathematical and the artistic sides of my brain in a single discipline.

My education didn’t stop at university, though. I have a chronic addiction to learning, and I’ve taken dozens of courses throughout my adult life so far. More recently, I’ve been interested in behavioural psychology, startups and entrepreneurship, and product.

Alongside design, I’ve been exploring music composition, songwriting and production through Berklee’s School of Music online programmes. I’ve been playing piano since I was 4 years old, and music has always been part of my DNA.

Career

My career has always been rooted in creativity and problem solving. While going to university for design, I worked in Vancouver’s film industry. I experienced everything from set dec to digital post production.


While at university, I earned a full-ride scholarship through 2 accelerator programmes in digital design, concept ideation and traditional design. After completing, I left the film industry to work at various Vancouver agencies, and eventually took the plunge and worked for myself. Working with a range of clients across Canada and the States, I was initially spreading myself across everything from branding, advertising, print, web design and build.


As I progressed through my career, I shifted further from visual design and code. My heart has always been more with UX and strategy – I’ve always been driven by the impact the ‘thing’ you make has in the world. For me it’s about how it works and what it accomplishes more than what it looks like, and I wasn’t feeling truly satisfied in my work until I reprioritised my focus.


In 2014 I was ready for a big adventure; I decided to move to London to progress my career further. While I miss my family, friends, and the wild nature of Canada, I’ve never looked back. London is home.


My first year in London I worked in a healthTech startup before I found my home at the agency, Webcredible. Working at Webcredible gave me a solid foundation in true research-driven design, for which I’m grateful. Racking up hundreds of hours speaking to interview participants, I’ve learned more than I could have possibly hoped about what people value, what makes people tick, and the intricacies across various industries. It also taught me a lot about myself.


After 3 glorious years at Webcredible, we were acquired by Inviqa, where I currently work and further shape the UX Strategy Domain I feel affinity with.

Let's make something wicked together
I'd love to hear from you
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