Brand Systems Creative Concept Narrative Design Brand Scaling AI Creative



Brand Systems My approach starts from foundational logic: structure, consistency, governance, and long-term adaptability.
DeepL DeepL Foundation PAFnow
DeepL
Brand Foundation I joined DeepL in 2022 as its founding brand designer, when the company was at around $10M ARR. I was the sole designer for the first two years, building the brand foundation while the company was scaling rapidly. I developed the visual foundations from the ground up: colour, typography, iconography, illustration, visual assets, templates, and the principles that held them together. I also translated those foundations into the day-to-day needs of a growing company, from marketing and communications to product launches and new markets.

As DeepL expanded into B2B, the needs around the brand changed too. The Creative Studio began to take shape, the team grew, and the work evolved from building the foundations to scaling and extending them across a much larger organisation.

 SKILLS: SYSTEMS THINKING · BRAND STRATEGY · END-TO-END OWNERSHIP
TOOLS: FIGMA, ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE, MICROSOFT OFFICE, CONTENTFUL
TEAM: ELENA BORISOVA (HEAD OF DESIGN), ANA M. RODRIGUES (DESIGN LEAD), ROLAND MAU & TAHA ALAN (MOTION DESIGN)


Being the first brand designer meant working across the full range of brand needs. The work had to be useful immediately, but also create a foundation others could build on later. That included:

  • Modular brand templates and a complete visual system for global scaling
  • 15+ global case studies and 50+ email marketing assets
  • 70+ organic social assets
  • 10+ global language launches and 3 major market launches
  • End-to-end brand ownership, from concept to production




The systems and templates I developed supported the launch of DeepL Write, expansion into LatAm, South Korea, and Indonesia, and 10+ language rollouts including Korean, Arabic, and Turkish. 

This system sustained DeepL's marketing campaigns and brand presence for nearly two years. When the business reached a scale where a more comprehensive evolution was needed, DeepL brought in Pentagram, one of the world's most respected design consultancies, to elevate the brand to the next level.

Design principles for the AI era
The tools change. The thinking doesn't. I use AI to accelerate exploration, production, and iteration, but the system still needs a human point of view. The same principles apply: understand the problem, define the logic, make deliberate choices, and know when consistency helps and when it gets in the way. AI is useful when it strengthens that thinking.
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