📍 High-end product design.

📍 The power of culture.

The next stop on my journey was another very young company called Ryzon. The Cologne-based company is known for responsible sportswear with the highest standards of quality, technology and innovation – made in Europe.

📝 Tasks:
• creation of landing pages
• further development of the webshop, e.g. by integrating a CSR element that shows the supply chain of each product
• creation of advertising media
• creation of content for social channels, such as Instagram and LinkedIn, and newsletters

🎓 Trainings:
• UX Workshop (facilitator: DUMBO)
• GTD Worksop (facilitator: Knut Sterrenberg)
• internal OKR workshops
• internal Asana workshops

🚧 Challenges:
• sustainable productivity through rejection of excessive tasks
• adaptation to the dynamics and agility of the company's own processes

💡 Insights:
• prioritisation of potentially pending tasks with subsequent implementation according to relevance to the overarching goals (OKR)
• illumination of problems from the marketing perspective
• importance of good workflows or reducing dependencies

📍 Small start-up, big insight.

📝 Tasks:
• creation of advertising media
• development of a library of custom illustrations
• improvement and further development of the already existing corporate identity
• creation of a cover and development of a layout for white papers

🚧 Challenges:
• collaboration with company executives

💡 Insights:
• realising my own value to companies
• self-confidence in my work and my approach to solutions

📍 Leading a product development.

Besides my studies, I was privileged to further specialise in UX and Product Design. smashleads is a young SaaS start-up that helps its customers to generate leads efficiently through embedded forms.

📝 Tasks:
• creation of the design of a complex new software product
• creation of the re-design of the website including final development using Webflow

🚧 Challenges:
• work independently without direction from superiors

💡 Insights:
• relevance of a sustainable development process of a software
• internal presentation of the completed work

📍 A blind date with UX.

Within the scope of a three-month compulsory internship, which was part of the admission requirements for my current degree programme, I gained my first experience as integral part of a professional environment. denkwerk is one of the leading creative and digital agencies in Germany and has recently won the Red Dot Award: Agency of the Year.

📝 Tasks:
• documentation of user interviews about the user experience on selected websites to analyse user habits including the subsequent processing and evaluation of the results (client: ESPRIT)
• support, moderation and documentation of customer workshops (client: Thermia Värme)
• support in the development of low fidelity software wireframes (client: N-ERGIE)
• support in the development and conception of voice skills for smart speakers (client: Deutsche Telekom)
• development of an internal analogue annual calendar adapted to work in agile teams

🎓 Trainings:
• internal SCRUM training

🚧 Challenges:
• integration into already existing teams

💡 Insights:
• working for and especially with clients
• agile working in teams
• working on projects that run in parallel

📍 The impact of design decisions.

The remaining three out of the six months of compulsory internship, needed among other things to qualify for the Köln International School of Design, allowed me to gain crucial insights of the direct and unforgivable impact of design decisions in the scope of e-commerce. FOND OF defines itself as a platform for development, potential fulfilment and personal growth. Meanwhile, the physical product universe includes seven brands that are characterised by uniqueness in design, functionality of the products, responsibility in manufacturing and - above all - "Playful Performance" in the team.

📝 Tasks:
• development of digital solutions to increase performance in terms of conversion rate and sales of the webshops for the brand presences of ergobag, satch, Affenzahn, AEVOR and pinqponq, e.g. using product recommendations or newsletters (CRM)
• application of the methods of A/B & multi-variant testing, as well as personalisation through target group analysis (CRM)
• development of software wireframes and prototypes

🚧 Challenges:
• dealing with circumstances given by Corona, such as remote work and social distancing
• connect with people and integrate into teams beyond my main team

💡 Insights:
• consistent application of similar measures and methods to different brands
• deriving recommendations for action by evaluating analysis results
• importance of a good CRM

📍 More to explore.

Being interested in both web design and marketing, this voluntary internship gave me a first taste of SEO. I was mentored by one of denkwerk's SEO specialists. Besides following their work, I was enabled to built my first affiliate website. As I loved playing video games back then, I chose the niche "gaming headsets".

📍 A new playground.

During a two-week student internship (high school), I took my first agency steps with one of Germany's creative leaders. This experience sparked my interest for design related professions and would later open up further doors in the future.

📍 Design talks.

RMIT’s undergraduate program Bachelor of Design (communication design) maintains one of the best reputations worldwide. Choosing to specialise in this design discipline during my two semesters abroad allowed me to create, communicate and market solutions with and to potential clients and collaborators and stakeholders.