What led you into design?
As a kid I always loved to explore and inherited a creative spark from my family. Early on I got the chance to draw on paper, sculpt with clay and stone, do my first stitches on a sewing machine and fell in love with creating things in real life and digitally. Gladly, that never changed.
From 2008—2013 I studied communication design at Burg Giebichenstein in Halle, Germany, which was heavily influenced by Bauhaus university.
After I got my degree in communication design I started out as a graphic designer, where I worked mostly in digital and occasionally in print at DaWanda, an e-commerce company that's part of Etsy now. After 3 years inside the in-house marketing team and some freelance work on the side, I had the chance to switch to the product team in 2016. I was really interested in cognitive psychology and wanted to shape the platform, so I welcomed that opportunity. On the job I learned how to talk to users, test concepts and craft beautiful products. I do that for 8 years now and gained a lot of experience in web and mobile.
How does your typical work day look like?
I usually go out for a 30-min walk to start the day, which leads me to open my Macbook at 9:00 AM. I tend to work in my home office as my company allows for that and go to the office once a week to see my colleagues in real-life, plus enjoy the food in our office-cantina. The day starts with checking messages and replying to anything urgent. I'm in part of one of our 3 cross-functional mobile app teams. At 9:45 we've got our daily team checkin via Zoom where we update each other on our plans for the day and understand whether anybody needs support. That really helps to structure the work ahead and prioritise the right things.
The rest of the day is a mix of project meetings, 1:1s, co-design sessions, user test interviews and focus time on my own.
What's your workstation setup?
I work with a Macbook Pro 16'. My Sony Noise cancelling earphones are always close-by to help me get into the zone. I also have an external screen but only plug it in occasionally. I used to work on the web for several years, where I favoured big screens, but now I'm in a mobile team and don't need the biggy anymore. Next to laptop & co I work with my iPhone 13 and Pixel 5 to check how work-in-progress designs look and feel like on the devices. On purpose I don't have the latest devices with me because I want my work to be inclusive for older phones as well. In the office we have new and old devices available, so I often get the chance to check my designs on different ones.
To be honest I tidied up the desk for you, on a day-to-day basis it's way messier. I need some creative chaos around me to be productive. There are a lot of designers with very clean tables, but well, that's not me.
Where do you get inspired?
That would be nature for sure. I love to go to the forests, clear my mind and make space for new ideas. Last year I went to Sweden for a month and still recall the magic of the woods there.
Skating on a longboard has the same effect on me as nature has. When you have to focus on performing different steps on a rolling board, you can't overthink your projects, but need to focus on staying on board. It really helps to reset and open my mind. Apart form that I walk around with open eyes, always soaking in what I see.
Which products you've seen recently have a great design?
I like to use the Arc browser to not get lost in search results but directly get something tangible. The idea to combine different search results and create a landing page including the important infos right away is a real time saver. I enjoy how easy and pleasant using the Arc browser is.
What do you do in your free time?
In 2018 I started longboard dancing for which I love to go to Tempelhof airfield, an old airport in Berlin. The area where planes used to take off and land is very wide and ideal for skating. The sport of longboard dancing is a creative mix of performing different dancing steps on the board while keeping your balance, and it has a lovely community. I also support Longboard Girls Crew which is a non-profit organisation aiming to help girls and women who want to learn longboard dancing.