Being a user centred designer is my way of giving back to the love I have for the human experience.

Born with Pakistani heritage, raised in Indonesia, lived in Bangladesh and now proudly Australian. This is my story. 

I've been exposed to the world of design and technology from as long as I can remember. Whether it was through counting down the hours to Apple's WWDC's with my dad every year, or playing around with the newest apps (my favourite being KidPix and iWeb) on our family iMac - little did I know there would be a career out there for all the things I considered to be fun!

After a year of studying a degree that wasn't right for me, I realised it was time for change. All I knew was I loved technology and I loved helping people. I just didn't know how I could pursue the two together professionally. It was a miracle that I stumbled upon the B. of Design Computing at The University of Sydney and transferred instantly. Safe to say, it was the best decision of my life.

In my final year of university, I was offered a role at KPMG as a User Experience design grad which felt like a dream come true! 3 years later, having loved my design journey so far, I know I'm just getting started and can't wait to see what's next.

Born with Pakistani heritage, raised in Indonesia, lived in Bangladesh and now proudly Australian. This is my story. 

I've been exposed to the world of design and technology from as long as I can remember. Whether it was through counting down the hours to Apple's WWDC's with my dad every year, or playing around with the newest apps (my favourite being KidPix and iWeb) on our family iMac - little did I know there would be a career out there for all the things I considered to be fun!

After a year of studying a degree that wasn't right for me, I realised it was time for change. All I knew was I loved technology and I loved helping people. I just didn't know how I could pursue the two together professionally. It was a miracle that I stumbled upon the B. of Design Computing at The University of Sydney and transferred instantly. Safe to say, it was the best decision of my life.

In my final year of university, I was offered a role at KPMG as a User Experience design grad which felt like a dream come true! 3 years later, having loved my design journey so far, I know I'm just getting started and can't wait to see what's next.

What sets me apart

Empathetic and Human-Centered

I am an empath by nature, deeply invested in understanding the humans behind the screens. My approach to design is rooted in genuine care for users, ensuring that every interaction feels intuitive, meaningful, and impactful.

Global Perspective and Multicultural Awareness

Personable and Culture-Driven

Passionate About Emerging Technologies

Driven by Growth and Impact

Empathetic and Human-Centered

I am an empath by nature, deeply invested in understanding the humans behind the screens. My approach to design is rooted in genuine care for users, ensuring that every interaction feels intuitive, meaningful, and impactful.

Global Perspective and Multicultural Awareness

Personable and Culture-Driven

Passionate About Emerging Technologies

Driven by Growth and Impact

Empathetic and Human-Centered

I am an empath by nature, deeply invested in understanding the humans behind the screens. My approach to design is rooted in genuine care for users, ensuring that every interaction feels intuitive, meaningful, and impactful.

Global Perspective and Multicultural Awareness

Personable and Culture-Driven

Passionate About Emerging Technologies

Driven by Growth and Impact

Creativity and music are inseparable to me, feel free to groove to my favourite tunes of the year as you explore!

What it's like working with me

Experience Design Lead

“I have had the pleasure of working with Maria on several projects and I have absolutely enjoyed every second working with her. She is an excellent team player who is personable and lights up the room. She brings a creative and innovative approach to her work, constantly coming up with new ideas and ways to improve the user experience. Some of the projects we did together were extremely fast-paced and had demanding clients but Maria has time and time again met the challenge of delivering extremely high-quality work in very short time frames. She has a natural ability to work well with others, both within and outside of her team, making her an excellent collaborator and contributor to the company culture. On our work together, Maria always demonstrated strong values and ethics, which makes her a great role model for others to follow.”

Project Manager

“Maria's work is of extremely high quality and has been consistently praised by the client, who have numerous times mentioned how happy they are with design deliverables. This is a testament to Maria, who co-designed and delivered large amounts of work in short periods of time in time-pressured design sprints. Beyond her technical skills, Maria has consistently been a beaming light of positivity throughout our engagement and a genuine team player and collaborator. Even through difficult times of juggling multiple tasks at once, Maria successfully delivered her own work whilst managing alternate priorities. For example, Maria owned the relationship between our team and our recruitment agency, recruiting almost 40 participants for 5 separate rounds of testing, always on time and on budget, whilst delivering her own designs. Her ability to reschedule cancelled interviews quickly, without impacting project timelines, is a testament to the her great relationship with the agency and her ability to handle time-pressured situations with a cool, calm and collected manner. Lastly, Maria is an absolutely fantastic presenter. In daily review sessions where she presented on a variety of topics, including key insights from usability testing interviews or new app designs, she always was clear, concise and engaging.”

Operations Manager

“Maria is a skilled designer who is proactive, plugged in and passionate about her craft. She is able to articulate the logic behind her designs clearly when presenting to a group, and is always receptive to feedback. Her designs have contributed immensely to showcasing our potential AI solutions to stakeholders and have been universally well received. She is a bubbly breath of fresh air on the project team, and an absolute pleasure to work with. Her energy, enthusiasm and supportive nature make her a great teammate and I look forward to continuing to work with her."

Senior UI Designer

“Maria was a pleasure to work with. Her UX skills are killer, and her dedication to continuous learning in UI design is commendable. Her consistently positive attitude made the collaboration truly enjoyable, and I look forward to our next chance to work together.”

Firm Partner

“It is an absolute pleasure to be working with Maria. Her passion to learn and grow, as well as her collaborative style make it truly enjoyable to have her in the team. She clearly articulates her point of view, whilst openly seeking everyone's perspective to achieve the best outcome for the client. Her creative input to the user journeys in our current engagement were well received, to the extent that the client shared feedback and mentioned "Her positive and prompt responses has enabled me to use the information in a number of team meetings to bring hunting teams along on this journey".

UX Designer

"I really appreciate your strong approach to collaboration, creative design thinking skillset and dedication to support end-to-end project requirements as well as the broader team needs. Your open communication, enthusiasm and positive attitude greatly enhanced project outcomes and helped to create a highly connected, inclusive and efficient project atmosphere. I appreciate your ongoing support and motivation to ideate, design and create meaningful outputs as well as how we were able to collaborate effectively to come up with new ideas, experiment different design options, organise key tasks and achieve our project goals."

Junior UX Designer

"Maria made a world of difference as a mentor for my first UX role at KPMG. She helped to review my work. Despite being very busy with her work, Maria consistently made time to check in with me and provide thoughtful, detailed suggestions. This really speaks to her exceptional time management and ability to juggle multiple complex projects. Her feedback was always constructive, never critical, which made me feel valued and welcome. Beyond that, Maria's technical skills as a UX designer was clear in every interaction. Her deep understanding of UX principles and her ability to communicate complex design concepts in a clear, approachable way significantly boosted my own learning and confidence in applying best practices. Maria's guidance not only helped my grow as a designer but also gave me the confidence I needed as I navigated my first UX project with KPMG. I am grateful for the impact that she has had on my development, and I believe her mentorship is a testament to her strong leadership, technical knowledge and design skills.”

Tech Manager

"Maria was proactive in seeking feedback, and presented an adeptness with taking on learnings and making swift changes based on the guidance received. As a senior consultant Maria welcomed and actively sought opportunities to coach and mentor more junior members of the team. I was impressed by her ability to encourage positive change from her more junior colleagues and create lasting improvements to performance whilst also promoting a friendly and welcoming team environment."

UX Design Manager

"Her exceptional work has not only earned her repeat projects from the lead partners but also speaks volumes about her professionalism and expertise. Can't wait to work with her again!"

Firm Partner

“It is an absolute pleasure to be working with Maria. Her passion to learn and grow, as well as her collaborative style make it truly enjoyable to have her in the team. She clearly articulates her point of view, whilst openly seeking everyone's perspective to achieve the best outcome for the client. Her creative input to the user journeys in our current engagement were well received, to the extent that the client shared feedback and mentioned "Her positive and prompt responses has enabled me to use the information in a number of team meetings to bring hunting teams along on this journey".

UX Design Manager

"Her exceptional work has not only earned her repeat projects from the lead partners but also speaks volumes about her professionalism and expertise. Can't wait to work with her again!"

CX Director

"Your role on the project involved managing a substantial workload within tight deadlines over an extended period. During the UX Design sprints, you frequently received significant input for revisions to enhance the designs, which you responded to very positively. I want to commend you on how you consistently maintained a high volume of output and a positive attitude throughout this period. Your attitude greatly influenced your team members. Your dedication has significantly contributed to the quality of the UX deliverables, a fact that has been frequently noted by the client."

Junior UX Designer

"Maria made a world of difference as a mentor for my first UX role at KPMG. She helped to review my work. Despite being very busy with her work, Maria consistently made time to check in with me and provide thoughtful, detailed suggestions. This really speaks to her exceptional time management and ability to juggle multiple complex projects. Her feedback was always constructive, never critical, which made me feel valued and welcome. Beyond that, Maria's technical skills as a UX designer was clear in every interaction. Her deep understanding of UX principles and her ability to communicate complex design concepts in a clear, approachable way significantly boosted my own learning and confidence in applying best practices. Maria's guidance not only helped my grow as a designer but also gave me the confidence I needed as I navigated my first UX project with KPMG. I am grateful for the impact that she has had on my development, and I believe her mentorship is a testament to her strong leadership, technical knowledge and design skills.”

Senior UI Designer

“Maria was a pleasure to work with. Her UX skills are killer, and her dedication to continuous learning in UI design is commendable. Her consistently positive attitude made the collaboration truly enjoyable, and I look forward to our next chance to work together.”

Tech Manager

"Maria was proactive in seeking feedback, and presented an adeptness with taking on learnings and making swift changes based on the guidance received. As a senior consultant Maria welcomed and actively sought opportunities to coach and mentor more junior members of the team. I was impressed by her ability to encourage positive change from her more junior colleagues and create lasting improvements to performance whilst also promoting a friendly and welcoming team environment."

I'd love to hear from you

maria.salman@me.com

Thanks for visiting!

☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻

Thanks for visiting! ☻

I'd love to hear from you

maria.salman@me.com

Thanks for visiting!

☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻

I'd love to hear from you

maria.salman@me.com

Thanks for visiting!

☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻