HI. I'm Philipp, digital experience and product design lead with 20 years in the industry.

Translating human intent and need into performant products is my profession and my passion.

I've led customer and user experience design on digital products and platforms for clients across industries—from online sales pilots and digital owner portals to relaunches of marketing and commerce experiences, lately with a strong focus on rapid product approaches and AI-infused solutions.

When AI accelerates output to unprecedented speed, knowing what to build, for whom, and why requires experience strategy, human-centered judgment, and the operational expertise to rewire how we actually work.

I bring all three: the ability to evaluate where AI creates real user value versus noise, the design operations background to integrate AI-augmented workflows, and an interdisciplinary foundation that stays focused on meaning and context.

professional
expertise

design management + operationscreative direction + leadership—rapid product + fast demo-ing—design operations + design systems—experience strategy + product design—UX design + design thinking—customer experience + employee experience—(scaled) agile + lean UX—user requirements engineering + design-to-dev handoff—user research + testing—digital transformation + AI integration—Figma, Webflow, v0

industry
experience

context: 
    
B2B + B2C digital products, marketing technology, ecommerce, enterprise applications

industries:
automotive (premium brands), mobility, financial services, software

motivation and
mentality

Courage to change and appetite for transformation meet empathy and human-centric design thinking.

Agile and lean mindset (design-test-learn) meets delivery-focused execution.

Building trusting partnerships meets creating space for people to develop and grow.

background and
perspective

Two graduate degrees—one in humanities, one in fine arts—express my curiosity about world and people and about engaging with them through design.

I keep coming back to the friction point where vision meets reality. This is the space where real value is hiding and I love to dig for it.

This interdisciplinary foundation keeps me open to progress, and committed to work that evolves with both people and technology.

Portrait_Philipp_von_Essen
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