Know what to build before you build it.
I help founders and product leaders turn unclear product ideas into clear, testable decisions, using realistic prototypes, process flows, and product logic to reduce rework before engineering starts.
Work spans AI workflows, B2B and enterprise tools, design systems and interaction design, for founders building from scratch and for established products that need to improve and evolve.
The expensive mistakes happen before the first line of code.
Cost explosions in software development rarely come from engineering alone. They usually start earlier, with unclear requirements, weak assumptions, misunderstood workflows, missing edge cases, and decisions that were never made explicit.
of software project effort can go into rework, much of it avoidable when decisions are clarified earlier.
My work helps make those decisions visible while they are still cheap to change.
From vague idea to buildable product.
I help at different moments of product development: when an idea is still rough, when an existing product needs to evolve, or when clearer decisions are needed before implementation. The work moves from understanding the problem, to defining what matters, to testing possible solutions, to preparing something the team can confidently build.
Validate the problem
Test whether the problem is real, relevant, and worth solving before anyone commits too early.
Clarify the direction
Turn scattered input into a sharper product direction, shared priorities, and clearer decision criteria.
Test the solution
Make ideas tangible through prototypes, flows, and scenarios that can be discussed, challenged, and improved.
Hand off to build
Translate the chosen direction into product logic, requirements, and design decisions that are ready to build from.
Independent support to validate an idea, shape a new product, and reach a clear, testable direction before you build a team.
I work alongside product, design, and engineering to clarify workflows, requirements, and product decisions, so implementation starts from a shared source of truth.
Support on complex products, systems, and product logic, improving what already exists and preparing it for further development.
Selected work across enterprise tools, AI products, and design systems.
Different industries, same job: reduce ambiguity before it becomes product, design, or engineering rework.
Gave teams that kept rebuilding the same things one system to build on: faster delivery, fewer inconsistencies.
Made AI-generated answers reviewable and trustworthy, so users could rely on them instead of second-guessing.
Brought MBUX comfort control to rear-seat passengers, with a 32-element study proving which patterns actually work in the car.
“…it wanted a bunch of decisions I wasn’t ready to make, so I closed the tab.”
An AI discovery platform where every claim traces back to the exact words it came from, turning research into conviction a team can stand behind.
Jakob Ehe, Munich
I’m Jakob, an independent product & interaction designer based in Munich.
I work on complex digital products where the interface is only one part of the problem: workflows, roles, states, assumptions, interaction logic, and the system behind the screen. My work combines product thinking, usability, realistic prototyping, and implementation awareness.
I work with product, design and engineering functions inside larger organisations, and with founders and individuals shaping something before that structure exists. When implementation support is needed, I collaborate with trusted freelance developers to take clarified concepts toward build.
The goal isn’t another set of polished screens. It’s the moment everyone can finally see how the product should work.
- +Complex B2B or enterprise products
- +AI workflows, copilots, and decision-heavy interfaces
- +Founders defining a product before build
- +Unclear product logic or workflow complexity
- +Design systems that need product logic, not just UI components
- –Pure visual refreshes
- –Generic marketing websites
- –Execution-only UI production
- –Projects without access to users, stakeholders, or product decisions
Visible work. Better decisions.
I do not treat product definition as a black box. I work with you, your users, and everyone involved through shared artifacts (maps, prototypes, flows, and decision records) so problems surface early and decisions become easy to follow.
Problems surface early
I make the thinking tangible while there is still time to challenge and change it, surfacing weak assumptions and missing edge cases before they become expensive.
Decisions become traceable
The assumptions, risks, constraints, and tradeoffs behind each decision are made explicit and recorded, so the reasoning stays easy to follow.
We solve it together
I co-create with you, your users, and the stakeholders involved, so the product is shaped by the people who have to build and use it, not handed over in isolation.
Ready for implementation
The output is practical: product logic, requirements, prototypes, specs, and decision records that give everyone a shared source of truth before implementation starts.
Start from the product situation you are in.
Some projects start as a rough idea. Others already have requirements, a prototype, or a product in market. I help clarify what needs to be decided next, so the work can move forward without avoidable rework.
Turn a rough idea into a direction worth testing.
I turn early input into a clear product direction: the problem to solve, who it is for, and which assumptions matter, so you know what to test before committing to a build.
Building something complex? Let’s make it clear.
A rough note is enough. Send the product challenge, the decision you are stuck on, or the system that has become hard to reason about.