Malte Völkner, portrait

I’m Malte, a Berlin-based product designer.

I focus on personal finance and retail brokerage.

My work combines design, strategy and research to help teams build clear and usable products.

SMARTBROKER+ product visual

Read more about my work

Currently, I lead the product design team at Berlin’s Smartbroker AG.

Smart Mobile Factory branding

About my time at SMF

Before that, I built apps at SMF.

Talks

In these talks, I ramble about design practice from a product perspective.

Talk: Voice of Customer at Smartbroker, Deutsche Bank Technology Talks 2024

Watch on YouTube

How we make user feedback actionable with “Voice of Customer” at Smartbroker

2024 Talk

Deutsche Bank’s Technology Talks, Berlin

Talk: You are not your user, Smart Mobile Factory Berlin 2020

Watch on YouTube

Explaining to product people, devs, and CEOs why you are not your user

2020 Talk

Smart Mobile Factory, Berlin

Talk: Do's and Don'ts of voice user interfaces, Smart Home Conference Cologne 2019

Watch on YouTube

Do’s and Dont’s when designing for voice user interfaces

2019 Talk

Smart Home Conference, Cologne

Projects

They’re quite a few years old, but still catch the core of how I do design. More recent projects are, unfortunately, not publicly available. For a more recent impression, check out my work at Smartbroker AG.

VIA brainstorming tool project

Meet VIA

Use less post-its with VIA

Student project

2019

Finn financial assistant project

Read about Finn

Finn, a financial assistant

Student project

2018

Google Streams table-less calendar project

Look at Streams

Google Streams, a table-less calendar

Student project

2019

Academia

After doing both my Bachelor’s and Master’s at the University of Applied Sciences in Potsdam, I came back as lecturer, starting in 2023. I’d say that most of my way of working stems from there.

Course: From Mockup to Market at FH Potsdam

Read documentations

From Mockup to Market: introducing product design students to real-life working conditions.

Course

Associate Lecturer

Course: AI in UX design at FH Potsdam

Read documentations

My first full-term course, about the practical uses of AI in UX design for and with 18 grad students.

Course

Associate Lecturer

Master's thesis: Trading in the capital casino

Read abstract

“Trading in the capital casino - How design can act as an influencer on the capital market”

Master’s Thesis

Bachelor's thesis: Fake news and friction

Read thesis

“Fake news! Utilizing friction to combat the emerging threat of false information online”

Bachelor’s Thesis

Pet projects

Were you looking for something else? Here’s a few of my non-work projects.

Skatliste – Skat score and list app

Open Grand ohne Vier

My first iOS app: Grand ohne Vier, a modern score tracker for Skat

CABO card game rules project

Open CABO

Rules for CABO, our flowery interpretation of the famous card game

3D printing and published models on Makerworld

Go to Makerworld

My collection of 3D printing models, published on Makerworld

I’m generally available for non-profit projects, depending on the topic.

I’m currently unavailable for any job offers or freelance gigs.