In the early stages of my career, every project felt like a self-contained story.

A website was a website. A logo lived in its brand book. A product ended when it shipped.

That was my world — a series of creative bursts, each with a beginning, middle, and clean finish.

But with time — and especially through my experience with IxDF — I realized how limiting that view was.

 Design isn’t a sequence of isolated productions. It’s a web of connections. Every output touches another input, and every decision ripples outward—through teams, products, and even human behavior.

That was my turning point. Systemic thinking wasn’t just a framework for scalable products — it became a new lens through which I saw design as sustainable, connected, and deeply human.

Through courses like Design for the 21st Century and Design for a Better World by Don Norman, I began to see that systems are not only technical—they are social, ecological, and ethical.

 IxDF didn’t just sharpen my product design skills — it helped me reframe the role of design itself.

And once I saw that, I couldn’t go back.

A Designer Shaped by Instinct

I’ve been working as a designer and illustrator for over a decade, weaving between digital interfaces, branding, storytelling, and motion. I’ve always been driven by intuition, visual rhythm, and symbolism. Design was something I felt as much as I executed.

But as I moved into more product-driven spaces — especially within agile environments — my instincts alone weren’t enough. There was a growing need for coherence. For repeatability. For systems that worked whether or not I was in the room.

That shift made me uneasy at first. 

Would structure kill creativity? 

Would design systems flatten the richness of my work?

The System Behind the Surface

Studying with IxDF helped me move through that resistance. Courses on Design Systems, UX Management, and Don Norman’s explorations into design ethics gave me something more valuable than tools: they gave me perspective.

I started seeing design systems not just as reusable components — but as shared languages.

They weren’t about limiting expression. They were about enabling collaboration. About freeing up headspace by solving repeatable problems in consistent ways.

More than that, I started to understand systems as living organisms — embedded in teams, influenced by culture, and powered by values.

My profile and certifications in the Interaction Design Foundation

When Theory Meets Practice

This wasn’t just a mindset shift. I applied this thinking directly in my recent projects.

While working on ShelfSense, a mobile-first tool for sales reps, I led the UX design with a focus on usability in the field — often in environments with unreliable internet and varied tech literacy.

 Systemic thinking helped me design flexible, modular components that adapted to context. It was no longer about creating the perfect flow — it was about designing an ecosystem that could support many imperfect, real-world journeys.

Later, in a redesign of Carlsberg’s internal ordering module, I conducted field interviews to understand how sales reps placed orders on the ground.

 Instead of isolating the module as a standalone task, I embedded it into the broader system — integrating it seamlessly with the company’s global design system while maintaining its regional usability.

Without a systemic lens, I might’ve focused only on UI. With it, I focused on relationships — between interfaces, processes, teams, and outcomes.

Connecting Design, Business, and Humanity

What surprised me most in my learning journey wasn’t just the technical insight — but the philosophical grounding.

IxDF offered courses that made me pause and ask bigger questions:

• Who is this system serving?

• What values are embedded in its structure?

• How does design influence — not just users — but culture, behavior, and sustainability?

Design is not neutral. That’s one of the key messages in Don Norman’s teachings. Whether we acknowledge it or not, every system we build carries intent — and we, as designers, have a responsibility to align that intent with more human, ethical, and sustainable outcomes.

From Intuition to Intention

Today, I don’t feel like I’ve abandoned my artistic roots. I feel like I’ve expanded them.

IxDF helped me channel my creative energy through systems that scale, align with business realities, and support human needs.

I still design with feeling—but now that feeling is grounded in intention.

And most importantly, I now see design as something continuous. Ongoing. Connected.

Final Thoughts

If you’re a designer who’s always relied on intuition, creativity, and craft — good. Don’t lose that.

But if you’re also ready to think more systematically, more sustainably, and more ethically — I can’t recommend the IxDF community and courses enough. They meet you where you are, and help you grow in unexpected ways.

Design isn’t just about interfaces. It 's about impact. 



Systemic thinking helped me see that — and IxDF helped me get there.