brand designerto design engineer

Copenhagen (home) · Munich office, Sep–Dec 2026

I am a brand designer with 10+ years of experience: from fast-paced B2C agency work to building B2B SaaS brands.

Previous work

Graphic Designer & Project Lead at MediaK · Agency B2C · Copenhagen · May 2022 – Jan 2025

How I fit into the team

How I work

Function first. Then the magic.

I document every iteration, from first idea to final decision. Approval today, clarity tomorrow, and a design base that lasts.

  1. 01

    Ground it

    Low-fidelity design, grounded in first thoughts and research.

  2. 02

    Loop it

    Feedback loops with copywriters, developers and everyone else who shapes the work.

  3. 03

    Systemise it

    A design system when it’s needed, from tokens to components. Where AI saves time, it joins the workflow: the Lead Machine is being built with Claude.

  4. 04 · My favourite part

    The magic

    Beautiful visuals. Thoughtful animation. The moment it all comes alive.

I came to design for the aesthetics and stayed for what it does: turning complex information into something people actually understand.

About

Good craft, and the curiosity to keep growing it.

Studying, working and living in Aalborg, Copenhagen, Mexico, LA, Eindhoven, Vienna and now Munich taught me that good ideas have to travel. I keep the big picture in view, write decisions down so nothing depends on memory, and bring skilled people in early. That’s how a brand stays consistent from the first sketch to the last channel it lands on.

  • Brands that show up the same everywhere. I keep the website, photography, video and content speaking with one voice.
  • Shipped, not just designed. With HR, I set the visual direction and photo/video shoot for a careers site that’s now live.
  • In market right now. I’m building a lead-generation content system with the German team, rolling out through January.
  • Design with a business goal. Every page has a job, and I design to balance what users need with what the business needs from them.
  • I can build it myself. I work in whatever stack your team already uses, or I can recommend one if you’re starting fresh. Either way, campaign and landing pages don’t have to wait in a dev queue.
  • Reliable under deadlines. I’m easy to work with, persistent, and I finish what I start.

Kind words

“Thanks, Jose, for always being there on the marketing side with great design ideas and amazing drive.”
Moritz Pinkepank · Strategic Leader, Conference Manager
“Her collaborative approach and innovative ideas strengthen our work, and she shows strong responsibility in all tasks.”
Kenneth Alberti · CEO & Partner, MediaK
“Josephine is structured, solution-oriented and conscientious. At MediaK she worked across a wide range of graphic tasks, project management and clients.”
Zoran Kjlutic · Head of Creative, MediaK
“She is very easy to work with, with a structured mindset that allows her to focus on her project without losing track of any details.”
Ana Pais · Project Manager, Sustainary

Contact

Exploring new opportunities

I’m looking for a remote, hybrid or on-site role from January 2027.

Portrait of Josephine Kleinschmidt

Design engineer · In progress

Lead Machine

Adapting our brand for the German market and building a lead-generating machine with Claude. One German campaign grew into a design system for four markets.

Workflow

  1. Plane: Planning and live docsPlane The Q4 plan, tasks and live documents, shared with marketing and sales.
  2. Figma: Funnel, audit and sitemapFigma The funnel flow, the audit of the four sales sites, the shared sitemap and the redirect map.
  3. Claude: Merging two looks into oneClaude Two site generations had two looks. I mixed their colours, type and components into one set of rules, the start of the CM Mix design system.
  4. back and forth with
  5. Figma: Design system and mock-upsFigma The Foundation and Branding libraries and the page designs, in loops of feedback between Figma and Claude.
  6. Claude Code: Build (Claude Code)Claude Code The pages built in code, ready for WordPress.
  7. WordPress: Four sales sitesWordPress conferencemanager.de, .dk, .se and conference-manager.eu.
Role
Lead digital designer & design engineer
With
Marketing DACH · Sales team
Scope
Funnel · Audit · Design system · Content · Web
Year
2026
Markets
DE · DK · SE · EN
Status
In progress
The new German start page: „Weniger Verwaltung. Bessere Events.“ above the Conference Manager platform

Overview

A German lead machine needed a brand that could travel, so four sales sites became one system.

01 · Challenge

Four sites, no shared base

Conference Manager sold in four markets on two generations of sales sites, with two brand colour sets and marketing built on assumptions.

02 · Strategy

Research before scale

Map the German funnel first, with a LinkedIn spend calculator that predicts MQLs and SQLs from budget and the customer lifecycle. Run the campaign before the website, and make the German structure the master.

03 · Experience

One brand, every step

Event planners meet the same brand from a LinkedIn post to the German campaign page, the sales site and CM Academy.

Impact

4 → 1
Sales sites, one design system
~65
Old URLs mapped to redirects
8
German pages designed or in review

01 · The funnel

Start with the lead, not the logo

Before any pixels, I mapped the German funnel with marketing: stages, KPIs, conversion events and the content each step needs. The first campaign followed the same logic: three message themes, five gated tests, budget released one test at a time.
  1. 01AwarenessSpots us in an ad, a video or a post
  2. 02InterestReads the blog and opens the emails
  3. 03ConsiderationDownloads a guide and leaves an email
  4. 04IntentVisits pricing and books a demo
  5. 05EvaluationMeets sales and compares options
  6. 06PurchaseSigns the deal and gets onboarded

3 themes

  • AS1Strukturiert statt stressig
  • AS2Alles an einem Ort
  • AS3Echte Menschen an Ihrer Seite

× 4 framings

  • +/+GainMore of what you want
  • +/−ReliefLess of what bothers you
  • −/+Status quoWhat standing still costs
  • −/−LossWhat you miss out on
Three themes in four framings: +/+, +/−, −/+, −/−

5 gated tests

  1. 1ThemeAS1 vs AS2 vs AS3gate · budget released
  2. 2FramingM1 to M4 on the winnergate · budget released
  3. 3Creative styleStage vs Capsules vs Tile gridgate · budget released
  4. 4CTARead, download or book a demogate · budget released
  5. 5HookWhich first line stops the scroll

Winner becomes the standard for round 2

Five gated tests, budget released gate by gate

1 message · 3 CM Mix styles

LinkedIn ad in the Stage style: „Neue Stelle oder Conference Manager?“LinkedIn ad in the Tile grid style: „Persönlicher Support statt neuer Stelle.“LinkedIn ad in the Capsules style, with stickers for Gehalt, Recruiting, Einarbeitung and Plattform + Support
One message in three CM Mix ad styles

02 · The audit

Four sites, two generations

The audit of all four sales sites found two site generations, two brand colour sets, wrong-language SEO and broken language switchers. It changed the plan: the German structure became the master for every market.
Old conferencemanager.de hero: „Conference Manager – Ihre effiziente Event Management Software“Old conferencemanager.dk hero: „Event management system til møder og kurser“Old conferencemanager.se hero: „Effektivisera dina event med vårt eventsystem“Old conference-manager.eu hero: „Event Management made for Shows & Entertainment“
Before: four sales sites on two site generations, with different navigation, URLs and brand colours
New German start page: „Weniger Verwaltung. Bessere Events.“New Danish start page: „Mindre administration. Bedre events.“New Swedish start page: „Mindre administration. Bättre evenemang.“New English start page: „Less administration. Better events.“
After: one start page template, four markets (DE · DK · SE · EN)

03 · Design system

One system, many expressions

Foundation holds the colour scales, type and components. On top sit four marketing styles, from calm Stage to the Cosmic depth launch look, so a paid ad, a customer day and a product launch each get their own expression and still read as Conference Manager.
Story artboard in the Stage style: „Meet the new CM Events app.“ with the app in front of a large ring

Stage

Everyday brand and sales communication up to launches. A large ring, cropped by the edge, is the stage for a message on its own or with the product in front of it as flat UI cards.

Story artboard in the Capsules style: „From first invite to final check-in“ with a Save the date sticker

Capsules

Product messages and campaigns on social media. The highlight capsule from the headline becomes a sticker: tilted capsules, round icon stickers and photo cards on navy.

Story artboard in the Tile grid style: photo slots and colour tiles around a Customer Day 2026 card

Tile grid

People and community: employer branding, event recaps and customer stories. Photos and flat colour tiles in the shapes from the site, on a light grid.

Story artboard in the Cosmic depth style: „Navigate every event with clarity.“ on a deep blue gradient

Cosmic depth

The big moments: launches, campaign key visuals, website heroes and event backdrops. Soft gradients, glow and one floating object give depth, the deliberate exception to the flat style.

Colour primitives specimen: navy, blue, sky, lime and grey scales from 50 to 900
Foundation · colour primitives, 50–900 scales
Typography specimen: Bricolage Grotesque headings and Inter body text
Foundation · Bricolage Grotesque and Inter
Marketing components: feature cards, stat tiles, testimonials and FAQ items
Foundation · tiles and components

04 · Brand guide and voice

Same brand, German voice

A 61-page brand guide brings strategy, verbal identity and the visual system into one place. The voice is shared across markets. German gets its own rules on top: what changes, and what never does.
Twelve pages from the CM Mix brand guide: cover, core message, personality, tone of voice, logo versions, colours, lime and blue, type hierarchy, the ring, capsules and stickers, four styles and social media
Brand guide page: Writing in English. Always British English, whatever the market
Same everywhere: one voice, always written in British English
Brand guide page: Writing in German. Sie and the imperative, and a fixed word list
Different in Germany: „Sie“, the imperative and a fixed word list

Different in Germany

Formal and exact

Readers are addressed as „Sie“, with the imperative for instructions: „Verwalten Sie alle Anmeldungen an einem Ort.“ A fixed word list keeps terms consistent: Teilnehmer, not Teilnehmende; Veranstalter, not Organisatoren.

Same everywhere

One voice, every market

Clear, professional, human and solution-oriented, always together. Short active sentences, main clause first, value before feature. We adapt to each market without losing the core voice.

05 · Content machine

Content at German speed

With Claude, the brand voice and German voice rules became reusable skills, and the image direction became prompts. The AI images are moodboard placeholders: they help us agree on which photos to shoot before the real shoot.
AI-generated moodboard image: a guest with a lanyard walking into a bright Nordic venue
Moodboard · checked in, walking in
AI-generated moodboard image: a guest scanning a QR code at a wooden check-in counter
Moodboard · scanning in at the counter
AI-generated moodboard image: two guests at a self check-in kiosk
Moodboard · self check-in kiosk

06 · Website

From DACH draft to CM Mix

Landing page v1 merged the two site generations, v2 brought in the DACH tiles, and the start page became the template for every market. German subpages followed, each reviewed with a changelog.
Landing page v1, combining the two site generations
01 Landing page v1 → both generations merged
Landing page v2 with the DACH tiles and content: „Less administration. Better events.“
02 Landing page v2 → DACH tiles and content
The Danish start page built from the master template
03 Start page → the master template, here in Danish
German start page on mobile: hero
German start page on mobile: product overview
German start page on mobile: personal support and stats
German start page on mobile: customer stories
The new CM Academy start page: „Wie können wir Ihnen helfen?“ with a search field and guides by topic

What’s next

One system, more to build.

  1. 01

    CM Academy

    Knowledge base, training and support, rebuilt in the same system.

  2. 02

    Career site

    The career site from the Employer Branding case moves onto CM Mix.

  3. 03

    Three more markets

    The Danish, Swedish and English pages, built in WordPress from the German master.

07 · Learnings

What I’d take with me

  1. 01

    Audit before you design

    The audit turned a German project into a four-market one. Finding that early saved designing the same pages twice.

  2. 02

    Rules beat taste

    Simple written rules, like lime only for calls to action, kept the brand consistent across markets, reviewers and AI.

  3. 03

    AI needs a system to stay on-brand

    Claude became fast and consistent once tokens, components and the brand voice were in place. Next: launch, then measure the leads.