Gabe Alves
Originally from Rio de Janeiro and based in Brooklyn since 2011, I’ve spent more than a decade building products and features used by billions of people at Instagram, Apple, and Condé Nast. I’m a design generalist who cares deeply about craft, simplicity, collaboration, and building products that live at the intersection of culture and technology.
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Align teams around product vision
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Lead complex initiatives across pillars
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Design systems that scale across platforms
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Craft high-quality experiences
Experience
The path so far.
- now 2025
New York
Instagram
Principal Designer, Design Systems
Design systems lead. Interface architecture and cross-platform governance for the Instagram app.
- 2025 2023
New York
Instagram
Principal Designer, Home Feed
Design lead for the Home tab. Led the biggest navigation change in Instagram's history, shipped to 100% of users in December 2025.
- 2022 2019
Cupertino
Apple
Human Interface Designer
Lead designer for high-profile features across Apple News and other Apple first-party apps.
- 2019 2017
New York
Conde Nast
Senior Product Designer
Digital experiences used by 200M+ readers across The New Yorker, GQ, Vogue, Vanity Fair, and other Conde Nast brands.
- 2017 2015
New York
ThoughtLab
Art Director
Brand strategy and design for startups and enterprise clients.
- 2015 2013
New York
Addison Design
Designer
Print and digital design for Fortune 100 clients.
Recognition
Education and awards.
Education
- Pratt Institute
- PUC-Rio
Selected awards
- Silver Medal
- Silver Medal
- Best of Category
- Gold
- Circle Award
- Excellence Award
- Merit
- Merit
- Platinum
- Silver Award
Clients
A handful of the brands I've helped build.
Want to talk about a project, or just say hi?
Get in touch