ARCHIVE REF. AL-2026 — LAST AUDIT 07/2026 — 3 CASES CURRENTLY OPEN
M. ALDANACASE FILES
ALDANA, M. Design investigations — open archive

Case file №. 000 — master dossier

Every design problem leaves evidence.

M. Aldana investigates brands, interfaces and spaces until the confusion confesses. Forty-seven cases closed since 2017. Three still open. The archive below is public — client names withheld, results on the record.

Review the archive Open a case
47Cases closed
09Years on duty
03Open files
INVESTIGATOR IDFORM A-01 / REV. 6
SUBJECT — 2026
Name
ALDANA, MERCEDES
Field
DESIGN INVESTIGATION
Badge
№. 0047-D
Station
LISBON / REMOTE
Clearance
FULL DISCLOSURE
VALID WHILE CURIOSITY PERSISTS
Classified
Received — 07 / 2026
Section B — the archive

Selected case files

Five files pulled from the cabinet. Hover any black bar to read what the client asked us to withhold.

CF-102Interface
-38% DROP
Exhibit A — checkout, rebuilt
Interface

The Vanishing Checkout

Filed 03.2025 — Closed 06.2025 — Client: a regional grocery chain — Verdict: SOLVED

Eleven thousand carts abandoned in a single quarter. The trail led to a four-step checkout that hid shipping costs until the final screen. We cut the sequence to one page, moved the order total above the fold, and placed the guest checkout option where first-time buyers could actually see it. Abandonment fell 38% within five weeks of deployment.

  • EXHIBIT A — heatmap audit of 4,120 recorded sessions
  • EXHIBIT B — 14 checkout prototypes, 3 rounds of testing
Evidence collected
  • UX audit
  • Prototyping
  • A/B testing
  • Design system
Solved
CF-097Identity
REG. GRANTED LEDGER P.114
Exhibit B — the ledger, the mark
Identity

The Counterfeit Identity

Filed 09.2024 — Closed 02.2025 — Client: a specialty coffee roaster — Verdict: SOLVED

A roaster woke up to three competitors wearing its colours, and a mark too generic to defend. We rebuilt the identity from the one thing nobody could copy: the founder's grandmother's handwritten ledger, whose ruled pages became the grid for a full brand system. Trademark registration granted. The imitators quietly repainted.

  • EXHIBIT A — 60-page brand book, ledger-ruled throughout
  • EXHIBIT B — packaging line, 12 SKUs, two-colour print
Evidence collected
  • Wordmark
  • Packaging
  • Brand book
  • Trademark filing
Solved
CF-111Product
ALERT FLOOR: 4,000/DAY -> 31/DAY
Exhibit C — the one alarm that matters
Product

The Silent Alarm

Filed 01.2026 — Status: field trial — Client: a payments fraud desk — Verdict: ONGOING

A fraud-monitoring team missed the one alert that mattered. Not negligence — the interface cried wolf four thousand times a day. We are rebuilding the alert hierarchy so severity is legible at a glance: three levels, exactly one colour, and a feed that stays silent unless a human decision is required. Field trial running since May; misses to date: zero.

  • EXHIBIT A — alert taxonomy, 4,000 daily signals sorted into 3 tiers
  • EXHIBIT B — motion spec: nothing moves unless it must
Evidence collected
  • Alert taxonomy
  • Dashboard UI
  • Motion spec
Ongoing
CF-089Type
SPECIMEN 640/640 GLYPHS
Exhibit D — specimen, cut from deeds
Type

The Forged Signature

Filed 05.2023 — Closed 01.2024 — Client: a century-old notary firm — Verdict: SOLVED

A firm founded in 1904 was signing its documents with a typeface downloaded in 2011. We traced the partners' actual hands through six decades of archived deeds and cut a proprietary serif from the evidence: two weights, 640 glyphs, tabular figures for the ledgers. The firm now signs like itself, on paper and on screen.

  • EXHIBIT A — 214 deed samples photographed and traced
  • EXHIBIT B — printed specimen book, 48 pages, foil case number
Evidence collected
  • Custom serif
  • 640 glyphs
  • Specimen book
  • Licensing terms
Solved
CF-118Spatial
W. WING PLAN 1:200 - ROUTE B
Exhibit E — route B, west wing
Spatial

The Empty West Wing

Filed 04.2026 — Status: install autumn 2026 — Client: a maritime museum — Verdict: ONGOING

A museum's west wing drew six percent of foot traffic. Visitors weren't avoiding it — they never found it. The old wayfinding treated the building like a corridor instead of a coastline. The new system paints routes on the floor, numbers the galleries like harbour moorings, and sets every sign at a child's eye height as well as an adult's.

  • EXHIBIT A — 3 days of visitor shadowing, 61 lost-visitor interviews
  • EXHIBIT B — full signage kit: 9 types, 240 pieces, marine-grade paint
Evidence collected
  • Wayfinding
  • Signage system
  • Floor graphics
Ongoing
Section C — standard practice

Investigation procedure

Every case runs the same four steps. The order never changes; the evidence always does.

Interrogation

Stakeholders, users, support tickets — everyone talks. I take statements before I take a position. The brief you wrote is rarely the case I end up working.

Evidence

Analytics, session recordings, competitor line-ups, archive material. Every claim gets a source. Every hunch gets a number, or gets dropped.

Reconstruction

Prototypes are re-enactments. I rebuild the scene until the failure repeats on demand — then design the version where it can't.

Case closed

Delivery with a full dossier: files, rationale, measurements. You keep the evidence. If the case ever reopens, so do I.

Section D — sworn testimony

Witness statements

Taken in writing, signed, and filed with the corresponding case number.

Verified
Witness statementRE: CF-102
She found the problem in a week — the one our own team had argued about for a year. Then she fixed it and showed us the receipts.

R. OkaforChief operating officer

Witness statementRE: CF-097
Working with Aldana felt like being politely interrogated for six months. Uncomfortable. Then extremely profitable.

J. VerheyenFounder & head roaster

Witness statementRE: CF-089
The specimen book alone was worth the retainer. After a hundred and twenty years, our name finally looks like our history.

A. Ferreira e CostaManaging partner

Section E — intake

Open a new case

The archive accepts new investigations twice per quarter. Bring the symptom, not the diagnosis: a metric that scares you, a brand nobody remembers, a room nobody enters. First consultations are taken as statements — one hour, recorded in writing, no obligation on either side.

  • Retainerfrom €6,400 / case
  • Responsewithin 48 hours, in writing
  • StationLisbon & remote, EU hours
  • Next intakeQ4 2026 — 2 slots
CASE INTAKEFORM E-77
Received

Your request has been logged as case №. CF-119.
Expect a written response within 48 hours.