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Portfolio

Hello, I'm Mauro

I'm an Android Engineer and Product Designer based in Helsinki, Finland. I enjoy crafting delightful user experiences that are backed by high-quality code.

Within this page, I discuss some of the projects I've worked on.

Primal

April 2020 - present   ·   Video texting for close friends   ·   Google Play Link

Social media is broken. It's addicting. It makes us feel lonely. It lowers our self-esteem. Yet the desire to be connected to the ones we love is ever present.

Video as a format is one the best ways available to digitally build deep relationships. However, current video chat apps are all real-time, which limits their frequency of use. The result is people end up communicating mostly through apps like Whatsapp, which are designed primarily for text messaging.

Primal combines the best of texting - all-day-long, no schedules, flexible - with the best of video - rich in expression, emotion and context –  to help couples and close friends build deep connections. With Primal you and your loved ones send videos back and forth –  telling stories, showing things, and being close.

This is a project that best illustrates my skills, passion and drive. I researched, designed, programmed, and published this Android app by myself. I took part in the best startup accelerator program in Finland, Kiuas.

Technologies used

Mobile app: Native Android, built in Kotlin. I use Kotlin Coroutines and Flow for asynchronous, reactive programming. The app follows a Model-View-Intent (MVI) architecture, following Clean Architecture principles. I leverage multiple open-source libraries such as CameraX, ExoPlayer, Room database, Moshi, etc.

Backend: Node.js (express.js), GCP App Engine, GCP Storage, Firestore, Firebase, Mux.com.

Here are a few articles on how I built the app: [1], [2].

Wolt group ordering

In the summer of 2018 I interned as a UX/UI Designer at Wolt, the 2nd fastest growing startup in Europe (Financial Times, 2020), now a Unicorn. I designed an entirely new feature: Group Ordering. I performed user interviews, competitor benchmarking, customer journey maps, UI Design, prototyping, and evaluation sessions.

Other projects

Some other projects I've worked on over the years.

The Journey with Mauro Banze

A newsletter in which I share insights and essays on Psychology, Neuroscience, and Sociology, based on books I read on the subjects. The goals is to learn about Human Nature, and use it to build great products. Dozens of founders and tech professionals have already subscribed.

Older Android App Projects

With links to repositories. In the Readme file you can also find app screenshots.

  • Kinani, event app;
  • SwipeColor, personal experiment, first app I published.
  • Jobito App: connecting informal workers with clients, in emerging markets;
  • DFS Glossary: glossary of terms used in Digital Financial Services industry;
  • LabInfo: help journalism students practice writing stories.

University Projects

As part of my Masters degree in Human Computer Interaction and Design at Aalto University and KTH Royal Institute of Technology (2017-2020), I developed the following projects:

  • A recommender system ;
  • A VR Game using Unity and Google Daydream SDK;
  • A multi armed bandit reinforcement learning program that learns which logo variation users like the most, more efficiently than traditional A/B testing.