José De Almeida was born in Lisbon, Portugal, 1964. During the years 1980-1982 attended the Escola de Artes Decorativas de António Arroio school of arts, in Lisbon, where he had his first contacts with the artistic world. It was there that he also developed his first artistic activities.

At age 17 he produced his first solo exhibition (Biovida, 1981), held in the school’s local exhibition room (now António Lino Gallery), consisting of China ink drawings on paper. Made several installations, performances and happenings that came to mark the time lived in António Arroio’s school, including the installation Relva (Grass) (co-authored with Pedro Vasconcelos, 1981), at the Alameda D. Afonso Henriques, Lisbon. This phase of his life ended with his second solo exhibition, the installation O Embrulho (The Parcel) (1982), also in António Arroio’s school. He was a member of the Grupo de Acção Cultural, an autonomous entity consisting of several school teachers and two guest students, which aimed to boost attitudes and artistic activities in the António Arroio’s school. In this school, was also co-founded and co-headed the AT.(RE) Atelier Livre, which amongst several other initiatives, organized two mini-courses: Diálogos sobre Técnicas de Óleo and Diálogos sobre Desenho de Figura, which he also attended personally. In these courses were taught by António Campos Rosado, Eduardo Luís, Mário Vaz, Pedro Morais, Vasco Lucena, among others.

After leaving the António Arroio’s school, he continued his artistic activities on several fronts. He made several performances and happenings, most notably:  Embrulho Humano I (Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes, Lisbon, 1991), Triangulum I (Alternativa – II Festival Internacional de Arte Viva, Almada, 1982), One Man Show (with EM de Melo e Castro and Pedro Vasconcelos, Círculo de Iniciação Teatral da Academia de Coimbra, Coimbra, 1982), Poema Frágil (Fragile Poem) and Triangulum II (Associação de Arte Espaço Lusitano, Oporto, 1982) and Triangulum III (111 Gallery, Lisbon, 1982).

He has participated in several exhibitions of historical importance in the Portuguese artistic scene, such as Papel Como Suporte (Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes, Lisbon, 1982), Lagos 82 – 1ª Mostra de Artes Plásticas (Lagos, 1982), Lagos 84 – 2ª Mostra de Artes Plásticas (Lagos, 1984), Novos Novos (as a guest artist, Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes, Lisbon, 1984).

He attended the course Iniciação à Gravura (Quadrum Gallery, Lisbon, 1984), taught by David de Almeida, which resulted in a group exhibition in which he also participated.

For some years he devoted himself to drawing and watercolor which later resulted in the individual exhibition Estas Nuvens Tão Velozes (This Clouds So Speady) (Arcada Gallery, Estoril, 1989).

Began his works in fine art photography and obtained an honorable mention in a competition organized in 1985 by the Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional, Lisbon.

Began to work, almost on an exclusive basis, as a graphic designer, profession he kept for several years. Made numerous freelance works for contemporary artists exhibitions, such as: Amy Yoes, António Campos Rosado, Pedro Cabrita Reis, Cristina Ataíde, Dennis Oppenheim, Fragateiro Fernanda, Fernando Calhau, Gerardo Burmester, Joaquim Bravo, José Escada, Julião Sarmento, Luís Campos, Nancy Dwyer, Ofélia Marques, Sebastião Rodrigues, Stephan Huber, etc., namely at the Alda Cortez Gallery, Colares Gallery, Diferença Gallery, Lambertini Gallery, Monumental Gallery, Pedro Oliveira Gallery, Valentim de Carvalho Gallery, etc.

Performed graphic design works for the Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional, in the fields of career and technical education and cultural heritage. Also made several works (book covers, illustrations and books) for several publishers: Círculo de Leitores, Editorial Caminho, Fenda Edições, Edições Rolim, etc.

He received two prizes: 2nd Prize for Poster (Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional, Lisbon, 1985) and Youth Award (VI International Art Biennial of Vila Nova de Cerveira, Vila Nova de Cerveira, 1988) concerning all the graphic work he created so far.

Following on his graphic design work, he also dedicated to video and designed movie credits for several training videos (heritage, natural resources, etc.) and done sound and assistant director in videos like, Projecto de Ensino Ambiental, Viver e Conhecer, Criar o Amanhã, Viver o Tejo for the Direcção Geral do Ensino Secundário, UNESCO, Serviço Nacional de Parques e Conservação da Natureza and Associação Amigos do Tejo (1986-1987).

As a computer programmer, he created dozens of utilities, notably the second shareware software ever designed in Portugal (TagMail, 1990), which was, simultaneously, the first Portuguese software to have a support Bulletin Board System.

He specialized himself in the developing of multimedia applications for Computer Based Training using personal computers. He worked for the Instituto de Soldadura e Qualidade, Oeiras, and in 1991-1992 he made part of the team that developed pioneer projects for career and technical education of the Comett Program, for the European Norm EN 29002 (ISO 9002 Quality systems – Model for quality assurance in production), and for the European Norm EN 29001 (ISO 9001 Quality Management Standard). In these projects, he was responsible for the graphic design, interface design and development of the multimedia software. These were the first two multimedia projects ever developed in Portugal.

Also in the area of the career and technical education he has also worked for SAF Sistemas Avançados de Formação, SA, Lisbon, where he directed the multimedia software department (1992), where he created the multimedia courses SPCS (Software Para Construção Soldada) and PASC (Processos Avançados de Soldadura e Corte).

In 1992 he was invited be part of the Jury for the creation of the Casa do Brasil logo, Lisbon.

In 1993 he created the IMAGinE Net BBS, which at one time became Europe’s biggets Bulletin Board System.

In 1994 he founded IMAGinE+ Produções Multimédia, Lda (along with Pedro Vasconcelos), a company where he was the managing partner, from which he left two years later to return to his career as a freelancer. In 1994, with this company, he was the co-author along with Fernando Nabais, based on an idea from Luísa Ramos, of the multimedia installation O Que Quero Ser (What I Want to Be), project won after a competition held by the Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional and presented at the FormE/94 fair (Feira Internacional de Lisboa, 1994).

In 1995 he was a pioneer of the web design in Portugal, having been the first professional web designer to work in Portugal.

He developed several personal projects, among which: WebGround (once the biggest textures site in the world, with several international awards, 1995) and Knocking On The Web’s Door site (a cyber-adventure that also won several international awards, 1996). Both sites are still online, and most certainly are two of the oldest sites on the Internet worldwide.

He created the Top 5% Portugal (the 5% best Portuguese sites, 1996), the Top 5% Webzine (the first Portuguese webzine, 1996) and Top 5% WebChat (the first Portuguese chat system, 1997). Also in 1997 created the Top 5% Rent-a-Link, the first Internet advertising banners service available in Portugal, with clients such as: Centro de Informação Europeia Jaques Delors, Editorial Caminho, EuroRSCG, Expo’98, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Ministério da Economia, Peugeot, Portugal Telecom, Seguros Império, among others.

In 1996 he was the anonymous author of the support banner for East Timorese cause, Free East Timor, which circulated on the Internet around the world, with presence in many sites.

Later, in 2006 he created FeedFinder, a site that aggregated real-time news headlines from almost all major mass media in the world.

He was the author of numerous web sites for companies and institutions, including: A Bola, Apeme, Centro de Informação Europeia Jacques Delors, Editorial Caminho, Exame Informática, La Moneda, Livraria Setecapas, Ministério da Economia – Comissão Euro-Empresas, NetShop, Profissional Tours, RDP Rádio Difusão Portuguesa e RTP Internacional. In 2008, he developed the site of the Portuguese artist Marta Wengorovius.

From 1997 to 2016 he was responsible for the design and implementation of the Gulbenkian Música site for the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. From 2006 to 2016 he was also responsable for the Jazz in August site, also for CGF. And also for the same institution he has also designed the following sites: Not@as Soltas (2000), Serviço de Bibliotecas e Apoio à Leitura (2002), Ballet Gulbenkian (2003) and Projecto Educativo Descobrir a Música (2006).

More recently he resumed the practice of fine art photography. In 2012 he created Camera Leaks — a leading Tumblr blog dedicated exclusively to contemporary photography. In 2016 he created Camera Infinita Books – a publishing house and online gallery also dedicated to contemporary photography, with more than 70 titles published.

In 2023 he created Trotinetes Portugal, a leading portuguese company dedicated to the sale of mid-range and high-end electric scooters.

He lives and works in Almada, Portugal, and is married to the industrial designer Joana Magalhães Francisco. They have a lovely kid.