• 2018–2021
  • XING
  • 20M+ members
  • Product-led rebrand
  • Design language
  • Design system

The product is the brand

My role

I helped initiate and shape a product-led redesign of XING — from a designer-driven Hackweek idea to a company-backed design direction. As part of a small core team, I helped define the visual language, align leadership, and later joined the design system team to turn it into XDL — a scalable design language for all product teams.

Business / User need

XING’s product experience had grown fragmented. Designers worked across separate teams with little shared visual direction, while brand work often came from outside the product organisation and did not translate cleanly into digital interfaces. The opportunity was to define a product-native design language — one that made the product itself the strongest expression of the brand.

Outcome and Impact

The redesign direction gained leadership support and became the foundation for XDL, XING’s design language. Over the following years, it evolved into a design system used across product teams — creating shared visual standards, reusable components, and stronger consistency across web and mobile. It is still used today by 300+ internal users across product, design and engineering.

Moodboard combining modernist graphic design references, Lufthansa design material, icon sketches, grid system books and architectural imagery.
Problem: A product built from parts, not yet a language

XING’s product had grown through many modular patterns and local decisions. The interface worked, but lacked a strong visual grammar: designers had few tools to create hierarchy, express intent or guide attention with confidence. We needed a design language that turned typography, colour, shape and layout into a clearer, more recognisable product experience.

We started with a provocation

We challenged the idea that brand should be defined outside the product and then adapted into interfaces. For a digital platform, the product is where users meet the brand every day.
Workshop wall covered with yellow and pink sticky notes from an early design language sprint.
People reviewing sketches, screenshots and sticky notes on a wall during the product redesign process.
Team members standing in front of research boards and product screenshots during a design language workshop.
Feedback wall with clustered sticky notes and sketches documenting shared product direction.
From provocation to shared direction

In a three-week sprint, we turned a Hackweek provocation into a shared product direction: what if XING’s identity was shaped from inside the product? That became the starting point for a new design language — built to carry the brand across interfaces, teams and platforms.

Moodboard combining modernist graphic design references, Lufthansa design material, icon sketches, grid system books and architectural imagery.
Modernist roots, product clarity

XING’s product needed more simplicity, clarity and confidence. We looked to Lufthansa, Otl Aicher, Dieter Rams and Swiss graphic design — not for nostalgia, but for principles: reduce to what matters, make structure visible, and let function become beautiful.

Iconography concept board showing simple geometric construction, enlarged profile and thumbs-up icons, and a set of refined outline icons.
Built from simple shapes

We rebuilt the iconography around simple geometric shapes. Inspired by Bauhaus principles, the set became more graphic in expression and more selective in use — so each icon carries greater visual weight.

Typography board for Fira Sans showing a large lowercase letterform, type scale steps, and hierarchy examples for Hero XL sizes.
Typography became a stronger tool for hierarchy.

We rebuilt the type scale around a more expressive curve, inspired by modular systems like IBM Carbon — with precise steps for small text and stronger jumps for large headlines. Clear usage guidance and bold weights helped designers create consistent hierarchy, stronger contrast and clearer information islands.

Bold lime color guidance board showing UI examples, XING brand marks, button styling, illustration details and usage rules.
Turning a usability problem into a bold design statement

XING’s bright lime was distinctive, but it had been darkened in product UI to make it work for text, lines and controls. We restored the colour as a fresh brand signal — then defined stricter usage rules so it could create energy without carrying accessibility or readability it was never meant to handle.

Profile image guidance board comparing superellipse avatar masks with rounded rectangles and showing example member photos.
Softer shapes for people

We used a superellipse mask for profile images. Its continuous curvature feels softer and more natural than a rounded rectangle — giving people’s images a more human presence.

Our design philosophy: simplify always

The new design language brought the clarity we had hoped for. We removed unnecessary boxes, lines and visual noise, so every remaining element had a clear purpose. Stronger typography, sharper contrast and deliberate use of lime helped guide the user’s eye — making the product feel calmer, more focused and easier to understand at a glance.