Curtis Dizon

MY JOURNEY  1/3

I started university with big dreams in digital marketing, but felt lost by my second year

Honestly, I initially aimed for a career in digital marketing. Yet, after finishing two internships in the field, I realized I craved an industry that offered more creative freedom. Through mentorship and soul-searching, I discovered UX/Product design. I thought about dropping out of my program but decided to push through since I was more than halfway through. Plus I didn't want to leave the friends I met along the way.

Hi there I’m Curtis, and I’ve taken an unconventional path to product design. 

Countless hours of practice paved the way for me to land 3 internships in the field where I further developed my craft. These experiences helped me discover my passion for uncovering user insights that shape design experiences. When I'm not thinking about design, you can find me cycling or capturing moments with photography.

MY JOURNEY  2/3

Community involvement helped me find my passion for UX and Product 

Design wasn’t exactly on the syllabus of my classes so I took every chance I could to develop my craft in design. It all started with managing a student group’s website where I experimented with my process. From there I competed in and won a few hackathons.Using these projects to build my early portfolio opened doors to landing design co-ops down the line.

MY JOURNEY  3/3

Internships helped put design theory into practice 

Within the past year, I was lucky enough to land design internships, where I experienced the dynamics of structured collaboration in big corporations and the agile, multi-faceted problem-solving culture inherent in startups, both enriching my growth as a UX designer.

With over 1.5 years of experience,  I’m passionate about uncovering user insights that shape meaningful design experiences. Currently, I’m in my last semester of commerce at TMU. Previously, I worked on cool design projects at CIBC, CGI Inc. & Lab2Client. 

I don’t have a design degree, but that hasn’t stopped me from developing my craft

Through the internet, books, and tons of practice I landed 3 design internships working for big names and a local startup.

DESIGN PROCESS
MY JOURNEY
EXPERIENCE

My Journey

1/3

2019 - I began university with dreams in digital marketing, but felt lost by my second year

After completing 2 internships in marketing the field, I wasn’t fulfilled and craved an industry with more creative freedom. With some soul-searching, I found UX/Product design. I thought about dropping out of my program but decided to push through since I was more than halfway through, I also didn’t want to leave the friends I met along the way. 

2/3

Community involvement helped me find my passion for UX and Product

Design wasn’t exactly on the syllabus of my classes so I took every chance I could to develop my design craft. It all started with managing a student group’s website where I experimented with my process. From there, I competed in and won a few hackathons. These projects helped me buildmy first portfolio which opened doors to UX co-ops.

3/3

Internships helped put design theory into practice

 Within the past year, I was fortunate enough to land 3 design internships where I worked at big corporations and a startup. These experiences showed me the differences between working in structured and agile team dynamics.

More to come...

Experience

Present

Tangerine - Product Designer

Ted Rogers School of Management - UX Design Lead Facilitator  

2023

Lab2Client - Product Design Intern

CGI Inc. - Design Systems Intern

CIBC -  UX Design Intern

2022

Scotiabank - Marketing Intern

Ted Rogers Students' Society - UX Design Lead

2021

The DMZ - Marketing Intern

Ted Rogers Marketing Association - Graphic Designer

Recognition

2023

CIBC Open banking challenge: 1st place

University of Waterloo TILE Designathon: 1st place

CGI x Google AI Hackathon: 1st place

Awarded over $33,000 scholarships throughout undergrad

5 year goals

Life

  • Travel to Japan

    Travel to Italy

  • Travel to Netherlands

  • Travel to Germany

  • Bike 50km in a single ride

  • Bike 75km in a single ride

  • Bike 100km in a single ride

  • Bike 150km in a single ride

  • Run a half marathon

  • Run a full marathon

    Buy a condo or house

  • Get into photography

Career

  • Present in front of 100+ people

  • Speak at a conference

  • Work at a MAAMA company

  • Complete a freelance project

  • Land a UX internship

  • Ship a new feature for a mobile B2C app

  • Facilitate a workshop of any kind

My Journey

My path to design was anything but linear.

I entered university wanting to pursue business, but at the end of my 2nd year, I felt lost and craved an industry with more creative freedom. With some mentorship and soul-searching, I discovered UX/Product design. Granted, design wasn’t exactly on the syllabus of my classes, so I took every chance I could to develop my craft in design.

My first gig was managing a student group’s website where I experimented with my process and leveraged that to get my first design co-op. Since then, I’ve completed 3 internships in UX/Product design, won a few hackathons and currently teach UX bootcamps on the side at my university.

Outside of design, you can find me cycling, hitting the gym or capturing moments with photography.

Experience

Lab2Client - Product Designer

SEP - DEC 2023 / Internship

Collaborated with 4 developers to launch a functional MVP of the Lab2Client platform taking them from 0 to 1.

CGI Inc. -  UX Design Intern, Design Systems

MAY - SEP 2023 / Internship

Expanded a component-based multi-device design system to be used by 150+ designers and developers.

CIBC - UX Design Intern, Business Payments

JAN - APR 2023 / INTERNSHIP

Translated business and stakeholder requirements to propose a redesign of CIBC’s commercial banking dashboard. Conducted 20 usability tests throughout the design process.

Ted Rogers Students'​ Society - UX Design Lead

MAY 2021 - 2023 / LEADERSHIP

Led a team to enhance TRSS' website by: editing the site's information architecture to optimize access to resources, conducting user research, and aligning designs to accessibility standards.

Scotiabank - Marketing Analyst Intern

Jan - AUG 2022 / Internship

Created a dashboard for Scotia Wealth Management’s digital marketing efforts. Presented recommendations at the Director, Managing Director and Vice President levels.

Ted Rogers Marketing Association - Graphic Designer

APR 2021 - 2022 / LEADERSHIP

Led the creative direction of 7 marketing campaigns and produced 35 unique graphics and animations. Each campaign was distributed across 4 social platforms. Expanded Instagram following by 35% from Sept. 2020 to Apr. 2021.

Recognition

  • 2023: CIBC Open banking challenge: 1st place

  • 2023: University of Waterloo TILE Designathon: 1st place

  • 2023: CGI x Google AI Hackathon: 1st place

  • 2022 - 2023: Awarded over $33,000 in academic and leadership scholarships

Skills

Software, Coding

  • Figma

  • Webflow

  • Sketch

  • InVision

  • Jira

  • Adobe Creative Cloud

  • HTML

  • CSS

UX/UI

  • User interviews

  • Customer journey mapping

  • Accessibility adherence

  • A/B testing

  • Affinity diagramming

  • Developer handoff

  • Prototyping

  • Lottie animations

5 year goals

Life

  • Travel to Japan

    Travel to Italy

  • Travel to Netherlands

  • Travel to Germany

  • Bike 50km in a single ride

  • Bike 75km in a single ride

  • Bike 100km in a single ride

  • Bike 150km in a single ride

  • Run a half marathon

  • Run a full marathon

    Buy a condo or house

  • Get into photography

Career

  • Present in front of 100+ people

  • Speak at a conference

  • Work at a MAAMA company

  • Complete a freelance project

  • Land a UX internship

  • Ship a new feature for a mobile B2C app

  • Facilitate a workshop of any kind

Curtis Dizon

Developing craftsmanship  →  1% at a time

Designed in Figma, developed with Webflow

© 2024