About – Johanna Klaus

I am Johanna a Product Design Leader with a passion for design thinking, technology and adventure.

I have over 15 years of experience in Digital Product Design and Brand Identity, applying a Human Centred Design approach to help companies create scalable digital products and accelerate business value for the start-up market and corporate clients.

In my current leadership role at Digital Creators (DC), an innovation and venture studio, I am part of the team responsible for growing and envisioning the future of DC. In my role leading the product design team, it is important for me to foster close collaboration, consistent quality of work, and personal growth and wellbeing built on shared values of respect and having fun.

The products under my remit include a range of briefs from a complex sport management platform to an iOS and Android app for mindfulness and wellbeing. For these projects I worked within a small team leading Product Design for a diverse range of products. Together we worked through early research and ideation in close consultation with the engineering team for feasibility and finding solutions to complex problems.

In my leadership role at basiq.io, a local Manly-based startup providing a data aggregation platform, I led the UX / UI of new and existing product initiatives and the company’s brand refresh. The team was an incredible mix of talents and personalities spread across Australia and Serbia where the product and engineering team is based. Managing the UX / UI design team. encouraged me to go deep into drawing out individual and collective creativity and innovation to nurture and develop our people.

Prior to this I worked in global teams as part of the Product team, gaining insight into different motivations, goals, and ways of working with a diversity of people and data across the business. This piqued my interest to pursue opportunities that inspire collaboration and facilitate growth within teams and across an organisation. I seek to add value by providing deeper insight and understanding through a design lens.

When I founded my studio in 2010 - 4xample Design in Sydney – I worked across a breadth of industries in the public and private sector. This sparked my passion for user research, combining data-informed insights with my creative intuition which feeds innovation required for meeting complex design needs.

My Thinking
Curiosity fuels my thinking. I strive for freedom of creativity and open communication through design, leading and inspiring people to have a vision – to build products and services for a positive future. I seek purpose and meaning in achieving something better than before, be it a small change or strategic shift. I believe diversity of experience, collaboration, and continuous learning are at the core of innovation with UX embedded in process and thinking.