Luke Caporelli

Strategic Designer

Product strategy · Interaction design · Systems thinking

Germany · US Citizen · Open to relocate
Intro

Hello, I'm Luke. I work where systems thinking meets craft. My background is Digital Product Design and Development, so I think in feasibility and structure, not just screens, and I work closely with engineers from concept to shipped detail. Recently: in-car HMI at Mercedes-Benz and a zero-to-one AI product at Paul Bauder. On the side I design and ship my own products end to end, like Gravelwerk, using AI as my build partner. I can take an idea from concept to a live product on my own.

Experience
2025 – now
Paul Bauder GmbH
Working Student UX + Master's Thesis
Drones + AI for automated roof inspection
2024 – 2025
Mercedes-Benz AG
Working Student UX — HMI & in-car interfaces
2024
Mercedes-Benz AG
Intern — UI Design, safety-critical automotive context
2020 – 2021
Camphill Föhrenbühl
Voluntary Social Year — residential care,
young people with developmental needs
Education
2025 – now
M.A. Strategic Design
HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd
2021 – 2025
B.A. Digital Product Design & Development
HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd · Thesis grade: A
Recognition

1st place, CodeTheState hackathon 2026 (Heilbronn), out of 40 builders across four public-sector use cases. Hosted by Komm.ONE, Public Makers, and the IPAI Foundation.

Collaborations

Stiftung Liebenau · Paul Bauder · Festool · Staedtler · Lebenshilfe Österreich

Outside Work

Most of my real thinking happens on a gravel bike, seventy plus kilometres at a time, alone and without a phone. The rest goes into analog photography and into my own side projects. The biggest one is Gravelwerk, a cycling brand I am building from the ground up. It is the place where I get to apply strategy to something I own, instead of advising someone else on theirs.

Contact
hello@lukecaporelli.com
Luke Caporelli