Hi there, I'm Zoe Mercado
Product Designer & Storyteller

With roots in Brooklyn and my Afro-Caribbean heritage, I design with data to amplify underrepresented voices — turning insight into impact across media, entertainment, and tech.

Trusted by teams @ Figma, PicoCTF, and Loomi.

Giving a presentation in front of a project screen titled "we had 120 ideas"

Currently designing @
 

Bumble thumbnail image of watch and mobile mockups
Designing Privacy-First Geolocation Services for Dating Apps
Case Study | Product Design

A hypothetical approach for Bumble to bring online matches together in real life while ensuring ethical location sharing and user safety - not affiliated with Bumble Inc.

The second floor of the museum with a rendering of our design on the kiosk screen.
Hidden in Plain Sight: Revealing 21c's Museum Experience to Hotel Guests
Case Study | UX Design

Transforming guest exploration patterns at 21c Museum Hotel through strategic touch points that draw visitors from the lobby into the museum's upper floors.

Mockup of title with city cards on a red background
Building Social-Emotional Skills Through Collaborative Play
Client Project | Game Design

Designed a transformational game for LEGO® Brick Clubs, now played across Allegheny County to boost middle schoolers’ social-emotional skills through collaborative building.

✍🏾 Published Explorations

Story preview of "WanderWorld: Restoring Attention Through Mindful Digital Games" with lo-fi mockup
A reflection of my project for the User-Centered Research & Evaluation course @ CMU using facial recognition to detect and rectify user dissatisfaction with AI-generated content.
Story preview of "Emotion Detection and Facial Recognition to Mitigate AI Bias" with lo-fi mockup
A gamified approach using psychological principles to help Millennial and Gen Z professionals reclaim their attention spans in their daily workflows, developed during my Persuasive Design course at CMU.