From Legal to UX: An Interview with Karina Mang

Few UX designers can claim a résumé that spans Hong Kong's legal sector, pharmaceutical marketing, and Berlin's startup scene. Karina Mang has worn them all! Working as a freelance-plus-founder lifestyle that blends user-first product design. We talked to Karina about her transition into UX, the AI tools she is using in her workflow, and her outlook on where the profession is headed.

At a glance

  • Role: Freelance product designer and founder, based in Berlin
  • Background: Intellectual property law in Hong Kong, then account management and marketing
  • Toolkit: Figma, FigJam / Miro, Notion, plus Claude, Perplexity, and Otter.ai
  • Philosophy: Less is more; master a few tools and guard the human layer

From Innovation Defense to Customer Journeys

Karina's career began in intellectual property (IP), shifted into account management and marketing, and finally found here base in UX after she relocated to Germany.

"I realised I'd been doing UX all along, just without the official vocabulary or design files," she recalls. A scholarship in interaction design at CODE University of Applied Sciences sealed the deal, and freelance gigs with AI-centric startups soon followed.

The UX Toolkit: Less Is More

Core Design Stack

🎨 Figma → wireframes, high-fidelity UI, and quick idea sharing ↓ 🧠 FigJam / Miro → workshop boards and sticky-note clustering ↓ 📝 Notion → interview synthesis and lightweight research repos ↓ 💬 Google Workspace → lightweight meeting stack (Meet + Docs)

AI Sidekicks

  • Claude - "a brainstorming partner that explains its thinking"
  • Perplexity - lightning-fast competitor research & screenshots
  • Otter.ai - automatic meeting transcription

    • "AI chopped my transcription and note-sorting time in half, but I'm the gatekeeper. I still fact-check every summary."

    How AI Is Reshaping the UX Workflow

    Karina estimates she saves 30 to 40 percent of project time by pushing routine tasks, transcription, competitor audits, and first-draft summaries, to AI. Yet she's quick to add a caveat.

    "AI hallucinations mean designers have to double-check everything. Think of it like a junior intern who works fast but still needs supervision."

    Career Advice in an AI-Heavy Market

    "Don't make UX your first degree without gaining practical experience through live projects" Karina says. She emphasizes that while academic training provides a strong foundation, real-world application is paramount. "using your current job, be it HR, finance, or retail"to fix a real internal tool, for example, offers invaluable live experience that hypothetical redesigns simply can't replicate."

    Staying Sane in the Firehose of News

    Early in her career, Karina followed every UX podcast and LinkedIn thought-leader. Now she limits inputs to a few AI newsletters and selects conference keynotes.

    Karina

  • Transition with transferrable empathy. Legal and marketing stood in for UX basics long before Karina knew the term.
  • Adopt a focused AI toolkit. Master two or three tools deeply rather than sampling every shiny new app.
  • Guard the human layer. AI accelerates, but designers must validate outputs and uphold ethical standards.
  • Invest in communication. Mid-level growth hinges on storytelling and stakeholder alignment, not just pixel perfection.

    • Karina's transition from the legal field to UX, along with her pragmatic approach to integrating AI, positions her strongly in today's competitive market.

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