Hi, i’m Bruno Viegas. I design products, direct projects and help companies build design driven teams. Currently head of design at Gravity Sketch. Previously led software design at Nothing, created experiences for Samsung and worked for multiple design studios on graphic and digital projects.
Nothing OS
Nothing native apps
Nothing X audio
CMF watch pro
Samsung smart-tv R&D (updating)
GravitySketch (coming soon)
Playground
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© 2025
London, UK.
About me
My journey has been a mix of scrappy beginnings, big learning moments, and making the most out of small opportunities. Here you can look back at old bits of work in context of what shapped me as a designer... in a very unpolished way.
Roots [1991-2006]
I was born and raised in the south of Portugal. My mother worked hard as a cleaner at a primary school, and my father, who still works today as an aluminium fabricator, unknowingly became one of my first inspirations. He loved to sketch, filling notebooks with everything from dragons and skulls to punk rock imagery. Still remember the first time i found an old backpack from his days in the Army. I could see it was his escape, turning it into a canvas to thoughts, quotes and random drawings of his experiences. That’s probably why i was constantly getting in trouble for sketching in the margins of my notebooks.
During my basic school years I spent countless hours in his workshop, watching him take measurments, hand draw different layouts, and mock things up to discuss with clients. Wasn’t until much later that i realised he was a product designer in his own right: solving problems, communicating visually through his drawings and bringing those ideas to life. That environment shaped how I saw the world, seeing creativity as something not just expressive, but also functional and woven into daily life.
Early years [2006-2012]
I later spent three years studying Visual Arts in high school, where it became pretty clear where my strengths (and weaknesses) were. Math and chemistry weren’t my strong suits, but anything creative and hands-on clicked. I knew early on that I needed a path that allowed me to work with ideas and materials, not formulas and equations.
By the time I finished high school, I was set on studying architecture — but somewhere along the way, I pivoted to graphic design. Looking back, I’m not exactly sure what changed my mind. Maybe architecture felt too rigid and structured, while graphic design seemed more immediate and expressive. Whatever the reason, I’m glad I made that choice.
I spent the next three years at the University of Algarve, learning the academic basics of design like everyone else. I wasn’t exactly a good student; I struggled with how subjective everything felt. To be honest, I often did the bare minimum. I enjoyed the creative side of things, but when it came to problem-solving, it often felt too pragmatic and short-sighted.
In my final year at university, I got a chance to intern at ThisIsLove, a small design studio in Lisbon known for its thoughtful branding, editorial work, and a touch of web design. That internship wasn’t just a foot in the door, it opened my eyes to the true impact design could have. It was my first real taste of working in a professional creative environment with like minded people that truly cared about what they were doing. Of course I got a first exposure to navigating client needs, manage timelines and so on, but the main thing i took out of that place, was how you can bring a bit of yourself into everything you do. That trully flipped a switch in how i approached design from that point forward.
First gig [2012-2016]
Not long after graduating, I landed my first real job at Topping, a small creative studio back home in Faro, Portugal. We were a tiny team of three: a web developer, a photographer, and me as the designer. It was scrappy, hands-on, and full of opportunities to learn by doing. One day I’d be designing a logo, the next building a website, and the day after that laying out packaging or marketing materials for a 3-star hotel downtown.
With no layers of management or creative directors, I had to figure things out as I went. It was fast-paced and sometimes chaotic, but those 3.5 years taught me the value of resourcefulness and adaptability. And despite the scale, some interesting projects came out of that job, from redesigning the entire identity for the city of Quarteira, to developing packaging for local chocolate brands, or creating pixel perfect websites using an unreasonable amount of pngs... Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing.
London called [2016]
Eventually, I knew I wanted more. During my time at Topping, I took a short course on front-end development, taught by Filipe Dias, a brilliant full-stack developer. Filipe eventually moved to London and started hiring me on the side to design websites for him. Through those freelance projects, I began getting glimpses of the design industry in the UK — and the more I saw, the more I started thinking about what might be possible beyond Portugal.
In 2016, shortly after a four-day trip to London with a couple of friends, I decided to pack my bags and take the leap. I moved there hoping to grow my career — but things didn’t fall into place overnight. Those first few months were tough. I filled my time with side projects, helping out friends in exchange for a couch to sleep on (thank you Bruno and Flávio for all the help), and building my portfolio one piece at a time while sending out application after application.
2 months later I finally got a job at Newl&Potter (now Thissaway), a small design studio in Shoreditch doing a similar kind of work I’d been doing back home, but on a much larger scale. Worked with a range of UK based clients designing print and digital assets for hotels and marketing agencies, while leading small UI projects in the studio.
I
’ll always be grateful to Peter Newland and Ed Potter for taking a chance on me and giving me that crucial role as a mid-level designer. That opportunity gave me all the support and momentum I needed to start building my career.
Growth [2016-2025]
Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to work with other incredible teams in the digital space — starting with my one year at Gamesys. An online gambling company where I joined a cross-functional R&D team that focused on testing hypotheses and building experiments to improve their products. It was a place where I learned to balance creativity with research, helped develop a unified design system, and streamlined workflows across the business.
From there, I moved to Samsung, collaborating within a multidisciplinary team to forecast future consumer needs and challenge conventions. I focused on concept design and strategy for Smart TVs and IoT experiences, creating forward-thinking, user-centric ideas that integrated seamlessly into modern lifestyles. This was an amazing oportunity to travel the world for research and collaborate directly with visionary people across London and South Korea. Was a great learning experience that vastly expanded how i see design as a field.
Eventually Covid19 hit, and the change of pace made me want to try something new. I started looking around at companies with exciting projects that went beyond the vanilla design approach.
So I joined Nothing Technology on their very first year. I got the chance to work under the mentorship of Jesper Kouthoofd (Co-founder of companies like ACNE and Teenage Engineering), while hiring and leading a team of nine UI and UX designers across London and China. Together, we shaped the first version of Nothing OS all the way to the 2.6 release (plus strategy and planning for 3.0), designed all first-party apps, and crafted seamless multi-device experiences that bridged the physical and digital. Due to the company being so young, we had to work very closely with engineering and product teams shaping roadmaps and ways of working across the business.
Today, I’m leading design at Gravity Sketch, working at the intersection of spatial computing, VR, and collaborative workflows. It’s a space that continues to challenge and inspire me — exploring new ways people create, communicate, and collaborate in 3D environments.
Being in London exposed me to a broader design culture and a more collaborative way of working across disciplines. On top of that, these companies allowed me to see new parts of the world and work with amazing people with different backgrounds that not only enriched me as a creative but also as a person.
What’s next?
After more than a decade in the industry, I’ve come to value not just what I design, but why, and especially who I design it with. I’m drawn to work that challenges assumptions, empowers people, and shapes meaningful interactions, whether on a screen, in 3D space, on a piece of paper, or somewhere in between. Looking ahead, I’m excited by emerging tools, cross-disciplinary collaborations, and projects where design plays a strategic role from day one.
As for London, I’m not sure how much longer I’ll stick around. Even with all the positive experiences, I’ve been thinking more about my priorities and what matters most at this stage of my life. Lately, the idea of heading back to sunny Portugal has felt more and more appealing. Thanks to the possibilities of remote work, I can imagine reconnecting with friends and spending more time with family, while still being able to collaborate with international teams and staying part of a global design conversation.
If something in here resonates with you, don’t be a stranger.
Let’s connect.
People first