Rita Maldonado Branco is a communication designer currently undertaking a PhD in Design at the University of Porto. She completed her degree in Design at the University of Aveiro (2008) and graduated with distinction in MA Communication Design from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London (2012) with a project that explored communication design contributions to dementia. Having two people in the family living with Alzheimer’s disease, Rita proposed informative and more empathetic ways of representing dementia, as well as tools to mediate and facilitate the communication between her grandparents and her family. She is now taking this research forward through her PhD, focusing on the social aspect of dementia, seeking new ways for communication design to enable people with dementia and their families to develop their own personalised strategies of communication.
She has worked as a graphic designer for Francisco Providência Design Studio in Porto, and the Design Against Crime Research Centre and Minus 9 Design Studio in London.