Bettina Kast

I’m a creative, independent, human-centered German-Bosnian designer, strategist, mentor, researcher, inventor, innovator, and IxDA Local Leader based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

I’m on a mission to make the world more human, engaging, and understandable. My work brings clarity, simplicity, change, new perspectives, audience growth and satisfaction.

Personal characteristics

curious, creative, collaborative, analytical, pro-active, self-motivated, authentic, empathetic, thoughtful, perseverant, resolute, methodical, open, honest, trustworthy

Experience

• 20+ years strategic design and communication (B2B, B2B2C)
• 11+ years leading enterprise design in R&D for SaaS, low-code platforms, with foci on enterprise AI, data products collaborating across multiple time zones in agile/scrum environments (remote and onsite) and across the organization
• 11+ working in corporate range in size from 800+ to 6K+ employees supporting up to 5K+ customers (SMEs + Fortune 500s) and up to 200+ million users
• 10+ years branding, corporate design, interactive media and entertainment
• 10+ experience working in start-up environments, with entrepreneurs, with/within distributed, agile, multicultural teams range in size from 2-60+ members
• 1+ year experience as interim product owner
• 1+ year experience management experience (5 direct reports)

Accomplishments

• Completed 200+ projects range in budgets from USD 1K+ to USD 2+ million
• Delivered designs used by 5000+ customers (of which most of the Fortune 500s) and with up to 200 million users ranging from consumer audiences, over business, technical, and power users
• won patent award and was awarded a patent
• shipped a video game
• graduated with degree in design

Expertise

• human-centered design
• cross-functional collaboration
• design leadership
• data products (dashboards, visualization, etc.)
• strategy
• research
• mentoring

Domains

• design, research, strategy, design management
• product-, service-, system-, process-, digital-, business model innovation
• UX, customer experience (CX), customer engagement

Knowledge

• Design processes and methodologies
• Design principles
• Design systems, web design, software interfaces, interface design
• HTML
• CSS
• Data literacy
• Color theory and application across all media
• SaaS, Low-code enterprise platforms
• Big data, ETL, Event streams, data modeling, interaction history, data warehousing
• Developer experience, Call Centers, KYC, Marketing automation, enterprise decision management
• WCAG 2.1, EAA, ADA, UK Equality Act
• GDPR, CCPA, HIPPA
• Responsible AI, EU AI Act
• ML, descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics (predictive scores, self-learning models) NLP, Sentiment analysis, voice AI, Co-Pilot, Process Mining, BI, workforce Intelligence, RPA, generative AI

Skills

Hard skills

• Research (qualitative, primary, secondary, generative, evaluative)
• Translating insights into designs
• Defining scope and vision
• Conceiving and developing concepts
• UI
• UX
• Information Architecture (iA)
• Interaction Design (IxD)
• Wireframes (low, mid, and high fidelity)
• Rapid prototyping (mixed media, digital, interactive, installations)
• Validating designs, MVPs
• Corporate design, Branding
• Typography, Layout, Information Design, visual design, data visualization
• Prompt engineering

Soft skills

• Providing and receiving design critique
• Communication (visual, written, verbal)
• Listening and observational skills
• Collaboration, Co-creation
• Product Innovation
• Leading design initiatives, planning
• Persuasion, and influencing
• Coaching, motivating, and mentoring designers
• Building and delivering presentations
• Managing stakeholders
• Identifying synergies

Technology skills

• Adobe CC
• Apple Keynote, QuickTime, iMovie
• Figma, Sketch, Axure RP Pro, Balsamiq
• Mac OS
• MS Office
• Mural, Miro, FigJam
• Whiteboard, sticky notes, and markers
• Generative AI tools (chatGPT, Firefly, Claude)

Languages

• Egnlish (Fluent)
• German (Fluent)
• Dutch (Level B1+)

Interested in

hybrid, in-office, collaboration, design maturity, innovation, strategy, research, analytics, data-driven customer-centricity, quality, growth, technology, aerospace, fintech, science