Martin Heßmann
UX & Design Systems Lead — Design, Engineering, AI
I lead design systems and UX across regulated platforms, civic services, and AI products. I own migrations, governance partnerships, and the delivery discipline that keeps systems working at scale. I stay close to the work, close to the code, and close to the people using it.
Work Experience
I work across product discovery, model evaluation, workflow design, and production quality for an AI brand-asset platform. My role covers how brand and art-direction requirements are translated into generation logic, how output quality is evaluated, and how generation workflows are integrated into the tools creative teams already use. Forward deployment includes customer success: the job is only done when the generated assets (images, flyers, videos) meet the high standards of the people using them.
- •Defined evaluation, feedback, and versioning structures so generated outputs can be reviewed, improved, and governed at production standard.
- •Led integration of generation workflows into Figma and CMS environments, including plugin development, API scope design, and support for banner-campaign production.
- •Build observability pipelines (Sentry → Slack → Linear → GitHub Actions) that close the loop from user feedback to shipped fix
- •Design prompt-enhancer workflows with memory persistence for iterative AI generation on Gemini 2.0/2.1
I own delivery across a portfolio of clients with different stacks, stakeholders, and definitions of done. My role is to align design quality, accessibility, and technical standards with how each client operates, and to make design systems and design operations useful and sustainable rather than a burden.
- •Established quality as a delivery discipline across the portfolio — CI/CD, automated testing, Sentry, Playwright, and release traceability.
- •Accessibility audits, plugin development, and bringing UX standards to client leadership, internal stakeholders, and engineers who think in different terms.
- •Scale design operations across regulated and B2B platforms — rituals, tooling, and reviews without the process theater
- •Traceability, git discipline, and release documentation so everyone can trust what shipped and why
Digital Art Director
I led UX across a multi-brand portfolio with different technical and organizational constraints. My role combined research, prototyping, and system design to establish foundations that stayed reliable through relaunches, team changes, and new use cases.
- •Established design-system foundations in Figma and token-based workflows to support consistent implementation across teams.
- •Built trust with product and marketing stakeholders by translating UX decisions into KPI-relevant outcomes and clearer delivery priorities.
- •Defined UX standards and ensured design-production parity across three CMS stacks
UX/UI Designer
I owned the end-to-end design process for responsive web apps and campaign sites: research, information architecture, visual design, and prototypes. I worked closely with developers on handoff and production quality, and on keeping style guides and component patterns usable as platforms and use cases changed.
- •Photoshop, Sketch, Zeplin, InVision — the full path from wireframe to developer handoff.
- •Style guides and component patterns that evolved with each platform and use case, with alignment between the teams building them and the teams executing them.
- •Ran moderated usability tests and analytics reviews to improve clarity and task success
- •Maintained brand consistency and accessibility standards across launches
Design Internship
3-month internship supporting web campaigns and early UX research, contributing UI assets, prototypes, and QA feedback.
- •Created UI comps and icon sets for responsive campaigns in Photoshop/Illustrator
- •Contributed to a Natural User Interface study supporting a bachelor's thesis research track
- •Built interactive prototypes in HTML/CSS, assisted QA, and documented feedback for senior designers
Freelance Brand & Graphic Designer
Freelance brand and graphic designer delivering identity systems and multi-channel collateral for local businesses, owning client discovery, scope, and production delivery.
- •Delivered logo and brand identity packages for 10+ local small businesses across Berlin
- •Produced print collateral (business cards, flyers, menus) with press-ready specs and vendor coordination
- •Scoped and budgeted projects end-to-end, managing client communication from kickoff through production
Projects
Brasserie Colette
since 2021Directed the end-to-end redesign and headless rebuild for Tim Raue's Brasserie Colette, shaping UX and Nuxt/Prismic architecture to support multi-city menus and reservations.
Dein WoMo
since 2022Managed the rollout of EVG's Dein WoMo information hub, coordinating TYPO3 and Eleventy workflows with union stakeholders and accessibility requirements.
DPF Group
since 2019Central point of contact for everything digital across 6 premium brands — each with distinct design systems and stacks. Led CRM migration to Microsoft Dynamics, coordinated brand, marketing, SEO, HR, and Google Ads teams while keeping it all maintainable.
easyCredit Partner
since 2020Owned design and development management for the B2B payment services portal — registration flows, banner configurator, developer docs, and shop plugins. Partnered directly with Head of Product to align product, partner experience, and developer experience.
Electronica Group
since 2020Guided the Electronica Group corporate site migration to a headless Next.js front end on WordPress, showcasing reference projects and capturing B2B leads.
Elodie Carstensen
since 2024Designed and built an immersive React portfolio for Elodie Carstensen, blending modular storytelling, rapid content updates, and performant 3D-inspired interactions.
Fairworks
since 2023Delivered Fairworks' launch stack by pairing Next.js with WordPress content ops, marketing automations, and analytics for the flexible workspace brand.
Fonds für Wohnen und Mobilität
since 2021Built subsidy applications as understandable digital flows — with AI chatbot support that measurably relieves teams. Multilingual assistant (15+ languages), privacy-compliant (PwC audited), with 'think first' principle: no hallucinations, routine automated, edge cases to humans.
Grün Berlin
since 2020Translated urban infrastructure and civic participation into digital systems benefiting teams and citizens equally. Rebrand into modular TYPO3, interactive project maps, digitized annual reports, and park newsletters across Berlin's green spaces.
infraSignal
since 2022Spin-off from Grün Berlin with cloned template, distinct branding, and fault reporting system. Citizens report traffic signal issues via Mapbox-powered interface linked to Berlin's 2,100+ signal installations database.
Open Wonder
since 2025Shaping how AI systems balance creative freedom with brand restrictions. Daily involvement in LLM process definition, governance at scale, and AI-assisted development with Cursor agents. Product design and development on both sides simultaneously.
Porsche Lifestyle Group Pressroom
since 2019Managed the Porsche Lifestyle pressroom relaunch on Next.js and WordPress, enabling editors to schedule global releases and automate embargo workflows.
RAS Services
since 2021Designed and developed the RAS Services concierge platform, integrating WordPress automations, CRM touchpoints, and monitoring for nationwide roll-out.
SPOTS UP
since 2019Delivered the SPOTS UP hybrid marketing site, merging Next.js and Nuxt product catalogues with automation-ready lead capture and content workflows.
Stadt Weide Land
since 2023Crafted the Stadt Weide Land storytelling site, prototyping brand visuals and TYPO3 experience pages to support conservation partnerships with Berlin boroughs.
Studio KLV
since 2017Maintained the Studio KLV digital presence, shipping a WordPress theme refresh, CRM-ready forms, and multilingual workflows for ongoing campaigns.
TeamBank
since 2021Connected brand, content, and tech into a maintainable platform ecosystem across 4 portals. Translated brand vision into functional UI, digitized partner handbooks into structured searchable systems, and bridged design-tech-stakeholder alignment.
Tertianum Premium Group
since 2019Evolved premium senior residence brand with WordPress design system, CRM integration, and observability. Balanced distinct brand identity with shared digital backbone across nationwide locations.
Tertianum Premium Residences
since 2019Scaled Tertianum Premium Residences microsites with a multilingual WordPress Multisite setup, consent management, and operations dashboards for local teams.
The African Forum for Utility Regulators
since 2022Launched AFURN's knowledge portal on WordPress, implementing secure communications, CRM integrations, and low-connectivity optimisations for regulators across Africa.
Viniculture
since 2021Partnered with Viniculture on a premium wine e-commerce refresh, defining brand tone and guiding Shopware UX improvements to drive higher order values.
Key Achievements
Go Where the Complexity Is
I take cross-disciplinary responsibility. I open black boxes, learn what's inside, and translate it so teams can make decisions.
Make Design Systems Fun Again
When a design system becomes a burden instead of an enabler, I dig in, simplify the complexity, and get teams back to shipping.
Enable, Don't Just Execute
I don't just build — I make teams capable of building themselves. Enablement over handoff.
Think in Systems, Ship in Iterations
I prototype, test, iterate. Big-bang launches are risky; small bets compound into real impact.
Skills
Design
AI & Delivery
Code & Ship
Stakeholder & Strategy
Education
Bachelor in Digital Media / Communication Design
University of Applied Sciences
Languages
Awards
Top 20 Cursor Users – Berlin
Cursor
Recognized among the top Cursor power users in Berlin for 2025 based on automation templates, workshop support, and community mentorship.
Cursor Hackathon Berlin
Cursor
Co-built an AI-assisted design ops toolkit during the Berlin hackathon, delivering a live demo and product pitch to 200+ attendees.
GitLab Open Source Community Program Member
GitLab
Accepted into GitLab's Community Program for open source contributions and knowledge sharing around developer tooling and workflows.
Digital infrastructure support – Platte e.V.
Platte e.V.
Supporting Platte e.V. with their digital infrastructure and automations for the organization.
Tech From Below Meetups
Wikimedia Foundation
Attending the Tech From Below meetups at the Wikimedia Foundation.