Hello, nice to meet you!
My name is Katrin and I am a UX/UI Designer by heart. As translator, I love to identify opportunities to enhance products and turn feature requests into user-friendly concepts while keeping a fresh and visually appealing language. This process is always a team effort, so I am all about collabora-
tion to which I am fully committed.​​​​​​​

My approach is to align business goals with user needs while creating intuitive and meaningful experiences. It is about balancing clarity, empathy, and impact. I know when to focus on every pixel—and when to move fast and be pragmatic. I enjoy solving complex problems, building design systems from scratch, and making sure we never lose sight of the actual people using our products. 

Oh — and yes, I believe a good sense of humor (and a smile) goes a long way.
Katrin Horstkemper
Lead UX/UI Designer
Senior Art Director

DOWNLOAD CV
Send message
Wanting to know more?
OK, let‘s take a deeper look!
current position: Lead UX/UI Designer at Degura
SaaS — I am owning the product experience for two core products


Our B2B platform
A software solution tailored for HR managers to streamline and outsource the management of company pensions & other benefits offered. 

Improving what exists
I led a comprehensive with the goal of creating a more intuitive and seamless experience. The redesign focused on functionality while sticking to a visual appealing fresh look in our insurance context.


Our B2B mobile app
Designed for employees, this tool helps them understand and take full advantage of the benefits their employer offers. It allows them to manage appointments, contracts, and other personal information with ease.

Taking Company Pension Mobile
I transformed an outdated and poor B2C web platform into a modern, user-friendly experience with a native mobile app for iOS and Android. This allowed users to manage their company pension and employee benefits anytime, anywhere – without losing the advantages of a larger screen, thanks to the additional web-based version.


Naturally stepped into this — wearing the product manager hat
In my role in product management, I:
— Manage incoming feature requests
— Evaluate alignment with our product strategy (and push back when necessary)
— Gather detailed requirements and speak with stakeholders
— Define scope, user stories, and acceptance criteria
— Collaborate closely with engineering for clarification and feasibility

From there, I move into UX/UI – translating requirements into clear, usable designs and preparing developer-ready tickets. And of course, I test thoroughly once our amazing engineers have brought the vision to life.


My Approach — here’s a snapshot of how I work:
— Know when to prioritize precision and when to favor speed and pragmatism.
— Align user needs with business strategy and setting clear priorities
— Identify opportunities to enhance the product and introduce valuable new features
— Building design systems from scratch
— Create user flows, improve usability and craft thoughtful UI
— Provide guidance to team members
— Collaborate daily with developers and handling handovers smoothly
— Iteration through design revisions and refinements
— Design for mobile and web platforms
— Practice user-centered design (UCD)
— Ongoing clear and empathetic communication with stakeholders

And yes, smiling is always part of the package...


Previous Role: UX/UI Designer at Bryte
At Bryte I am working on an interactive re-skilling & up-skilling platform (SaaS) build for teams – called Airtrain. With Airtrain you can setup-up and run practice focused training programs, ranging from employee onboarding to leadership training. It combine the latest training science with a user-centered learning experience to deliver impactful, skill focused team and leadership training. Airtrain is fully integrated in your software stack and day-to-day workflows to ensure efficient, cost-effective and engaging continuous trainings.

As a part of a team of 2 in UX/UI department, I have been setting up the design system/component library in Figma (based on MUI library) to build a base for our wish to not only create a visual pleasing but also easy to use product. So this is solved by consistency, clear color palette, navigation elements as well as using elements users are familiar with and not trying fancy but misleading alternatives.

Teamwork is done like this: There is a wide range from being a sparring partner to my UX partner and having ideations to talk about best possible flows and avoid user frustration as well as talking about visual translations from provided lo-fid wireframes into high fidelity screens within a short period while keeping a professional and modern look and the important topics like accessibility and usability in mind.

I am used to have daily stand ups with FE and BE, english as business language and present my ideas. Also testing and ensuring, that components and Design is implemented right is routine and part of my working process and approach. As we all are human, It is important to stay open for alternatives, recommendations how thing could be solved easier and get FE and BE early on be sure meeting the deadline.

The MVP of Airtrain was done from September until end of November.


Life Before Entering UI/UX Design
Before discovering my passion for digital world, I had been working for over 10 years in branding. Due to this, I have a deep knowledge in communication and empathy with various national and international customers. In the project teams I led, I longed for design solutions that were tailored to their respective target group. That’s why I know how to support a brand and strengthens its appearance. I have worked in agencies and on the corporate side. This experience helps to provide an overall impression and know-how that not only focuses on the product, but also on the overall design of the brand in the market. 
While working on various projects on corporate side and in agencies I could gather a lot of experience.
During this time I worked for phantastic clients, such as Triumph, Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-AMG, GORE® (GORE®-TEX®, GORE®-WINDSTOPPER®), Michelin and BillyBoy.
Clients I have worked for*

— GORE
— Mercedes-Benz
— Mercedes-AMG
— Triumph
— Billy Boy
— Michelin
— Sandoz
— Von Rundstedt
— Cornelsen
— CDU

*during my permanent positions​​​​​​​
Collaboration Freelancer

— Brand Pulses
— minigram, Studio für Markendesign
Capabilities

— Design systems
— Web and mobile app design
— UI elements and hierarchy
— User-centered design
— Wireframes
— Prototyping
— User testing, A/B Testing
— Basics HTML/CSS
— Graphic Design
— Editorial Design
— Typography
— Lead teams
Tools

— Figma
— Sketch
— InVision
— Usability Hub
— Adobe InDesign
— Adobe Illustrator
— Adobe Photoshop
— Adobe Acrobat
Languages

— German (native)
— English (business proficiency)
— Spanish (basics)
↑Back to Top