Chris Hinz

Based in HamburgWorking globally

Senior product designerleading projects fromstrategy toexecution for morethan a decade.

Work stories

A few projects I've been part of, where design, strategy, and collaboration created real impact.

Health tech · B2C App

Designing therapy apps with proven mental health impact for thousands of patients.

I bridged psychology, regulatory and technology by design to turn requirements into user-friendly, clinically effective digital therapy apps that enable significant behavioral change.

B2E Platform · Design System

Rebuilding the platform a whole care operation runs on, until the design was the thing moving the numbers.

I ran the research, designed across three user groups and hard external rules, and built the prioritisation framework the roadmap decisions were argued with.

VR · Illustration · Audio · Video

Directing every immersive medium in a prescribed anxiety therapy - and shipping the formats that were worse on paper.

I led the creation of audio, video, virtual reality, and illustrated content for digital therapy products validated by randomized controlled studies.

Chris Hinz, black and white portrait with motion blur

Hello, I'm Chris.

For the past 7 years, I’ve designed B2C apps, B2E healthcare platforms, design frameworks and processes to support crazy busy therapists and patients (sometimes mid-panic attack) while leading designers and collaborating across teams through the everyday rollercoaster of startup life.

Along the way, I’ve also spent 10 years founding, building, and occasionally burying my own companies, brands, and products. I’ve learned a ton from it and keep on creating things for people and myself.

Even as a kid, if I wanted something I didn’t have, I made it myself - which might have led to a badly hand-sewn Pikachu made of yellow kitchen towel. That mix of vision keeping and hands-on execution is why I love to collaborate and create. My wife still laughs about the Pikachu though.

10+
years design experience
7
years lead designer in health tech
2
years co-founding design engineer
3
years directing my design agency
Head of Design at Sympatient
I'm leading the strategic development and execution of design processes at Sympatient, a Hamburg based health-tech start-up/scale-up building prescribed digital therapeutic apps, therapy services and software-enabled care infrastructure for modern psychotherapy within regulated healthcare systems.
Co-founder of DIKOIN Institute
At DIKOIN Institute, I’m a co-founder and design engineer. That mostly means leading design strategy while actively building our brand, media, digital products and specialized learning platforms.
Academic background
B.A. Design, University of Applied Sciences Münster, Germany. Graduate teaching assistant & tutor for design principles, Gestaltungslehre and storytelling.

Things without deadlines.

Outside of my profession and entrepreneurial endeavors, I usually take my camera everywhere, shoot travels and everyday life, still do digital illustration (sometimes for clients), playtest my video or board game designs with friends, or mess around with genuinely mediocre music production.

I love connecting with new people. Seriously. No matter if you're a designer, developer, or AR-boardgame visionary. A founder, client, mentor or mentee. You never know where a good conversation might lead. Want to have a coffee together?

Let's connect.