Telekom Career App
Reimagining Student Recruitment Through Augmented Reality
The Telekom Career App began as a personal initiative: I independently prototyped an AR-powered career exploration concept aimed at modernizing student outreach for Deutsche Telekom. After pitching the prototype to the Magenta Campus team, the project was greenlit for full development. I led the product design, UX strategy, and interdisciplinary collaboration throughout the entire lifecycle from concept to App Store release.
This AR app merges gamification, career navigation, and brand storytelling into a playful yet informative tool that transforms how students engage with Telekom as an employer, both on-campus and remotely.
Date:
Dec 2023
Timeline:
11 months
Role:
Product Designer & Founder
Team:
Sebastian Ternes, Tobias Wedel,
Elina Shirinyan
Sebastian Ternes,
Tobias Wedel,
Elina Shirinyan
Project Goal
To replace outdated recruiting materials like flyers and posters with a digitally-native, interactive experience that resonates with students and early-career talent. The aim was to connect Telekom’s innovation-driven culture with a generation of users that expects real-time, immersive, and self-directed interactions.
Core Concept
The app allows students to explore Telekom’s job opportunities through Augmented Reality objects placed in their environment, similar to how Pokémon GO popularized geospatial interaction. Whether on a university campus or in a dorm room, students can:
View floating AR menus that introduce internships, direct entry jobs, and trainee programs
Collect virtual coins and win attractive prizes through a gamification feature
Use the Career Matcher to discover roles aligned with their skills and interests
Seamlessly access Telekom’s Talent Club to upload their CV and get matched with job openings
The app also features the “Window of Opportunity”, a physical frame installed at partner universities like TU Berlin, designed to activate awareness and foot traffic through physical-to-digital storytelling (explored further in the social strategy below).
Product & Experience Design
My core contributions as Product Founder and Lead Designer encompassed the full product journey, from initial vision to post-launch iteration. I began by independently prototyping the original concept and securing stakeholder buy-in from Deutsche Telekom. I led the end-to-end design of user flows, covering everything from onboarding and AR logic to spatial interactions and navigation architecture. In close collaboration with Matteo Ottani, from CODE University and Telekom’s innovation team, I developed the behavior logic that governed the AR experience in Unity and directed the creation and optimization of 3D assets to ensure they were visually polished and technically compliant with platform requirements.
Strategic Collaboration
Throughout the project, I worked closely with the Magenta Campus team, HR strategists, and T-Labs to ensure the app aligned with Telekom’s broader employer branding and talent acquisition goals. I facilitated workshops, feedback cycles, and live user testing sessions, including a dedicated beta test event at TU Berlin, where the app was tested and refined directly with its target users. My role required uniting multiple departments under a cohesive product roadmap while consistently advocating for design integrity and user-centered decision-making.
Brand & Storytelling Integration
A key focus of the design process was embedding Telekom’s brand identity and innovation narrative directly into the AR experience. I ensured the app didn’t just convey information, it inspired curiosity and engagement, helping students see themselves as part of Telekom’s forward-thinking vision. Every interaction, from floating menus to collectible photo moments, was designed to reflect Telekom’s tone and ethos while keeping the experience intuitive, inclusive, and socially shareable.
A central part of the design journey involved embedding Telekom’s brand identity into the AR experience. Working within Telekom’s established corporate design system, Scale, I faced the challenge of translating a desktop-focused design language into a mobile-native, spatial interaction context. I selectively adapted brand assets, such as typography, iconography, and color treatments, while reimagining UI behaviors to meet the app’s mobile and AR-specific needs, ensuring brand consistency without sacrificing usability.
Beyond visual styling, I also led the integration of the product into Telekom’s wider app ecosystem. This included the conception and final design of the app logo, version 3A was ultimately chosen as the final mark. The goal was to create a visual identity that not only reflected the product’s playful and innovative tone but also held its own alongside Telekom’s suite of digital products, ensuring immediate recognizability and cohesion across platforms.
Lastly, I helped align the app with Telekom Career’s broader social media strategy through the integration of the “Window of Opportunity” initiative. These physical touchpoints were placed at major university campuses like TU Berlin, prompting students to engage with the app by taking creative photos with the physical/augmented frames. To encourage organic engagement and visibility, students were invited to share their photos on social media for a chance to win prizes, seamlessly linking the physical, digital, and social dimensions of the product experience.
The Final Outcome
The Telekom Career App was successfully launched on the Apple App Store and quickly integrated into Deutsche Telekom’s recruitment strategy across Germany and Europe. It became a core asset in career fair activations and university partnerships, offering students a playful yet informative way to explore job opportunities. The app also enabled direct application through Telekom’s Talent Club, streamlining the path from engagement to action. Featured installations at universities like TU Berlin elevated visibility, while its modular design allowed it to scale internationally, ultimately becoming a standout example of student-led innovation backed by enterprise support.
What I Learned
This project taught me the power of initiating product innovation from the ground up. By identifying a problem, prototyping a vision, and driving the full execution, I was able to transform an abstract idea into a functional, high-impact product in just two months.
I gained deep insight into:
Designing for AR across physical and digital touchpoints
Navigating multi-stakeholder collaboration inside a major enterprise
Balancing neutral, flexible design systems with brand-specific storytelling
As a testament to its innovation and impact, the Telekom Career App was nominated for the DPOK (Deutscher Preis für Onlinekommunikation)—one of Germany’s most prestigious awards for digital communication. This recognition highlights the project’s success in merging cutting-edge technology with meaningful user engagement in the employer branding space.
Telekom Career App
Reimagining Student Recruitment Through Augmented Reality
The Telekom Career App began as a personal initiative: I independently prototyped an AR-powered career exploration concept aimed at modernizing student outreach for Deutsche Telekom. After pitching the prototype to the Magenta Campus team, the project was greenlit for full development. I led the product design, UX strategy, and interdisciplinary collaboration throughout the entire lifecycle from concept to App Store release.
This AR app merges gamification, career navigation, and brand storytelling into a playful yet informative tool that transforms how students engage with Telekom as an employer, both on-campus and remotely.
Project Goal
To replace outdated recruiting materials like flyers and posters with a digitally-native, interactive experience that resonates with students and early-career talent. The aim was to connect Telekom’s innovation-driven culture with a generation of users that expects real-time, immersive, and self-directed interactions.
Core Concept
The app allows students to explore Telekom’s job opportunities through Augmented Reality objects placed in their environment, similar to how Pokémon GO popularized geospatial interaction. Whether on a university campus or in a dorm room, students can:
View floating AR menus that introduce internships, direct entry jobs, and trainee programs
Collect virtual coins and win attractive prizes through a gamification feature
Use the Career Matcher to discover roles aligned with their skills and interests
Seamlessly access Telekom’s Talent Club to upload their CV and get matched with job openings
The app also features the “Window of Opportunity”, a physical frame installed at partner universities like TU Berlin, designed to activate awareness and foot traffic through physical-to-digital storytelling (explored further in the social strategy below).
Product & Experience Design
My core contributions as Product Founder and Lead Designer encompassed the full product journey, from initial vision to post-launch iteration. I began by independently prototyping the original concept and securing stakeholder buy-in from Deutsche Telekom. I led the end-to-end design of user flows, covering everything from onboarding and AR logic to spatial interactions and navigation architecture. In close collaboration with Matteo Ottani, from CODE University and Telekom’s innovation team, I developed the behavior logic that governed the AR experience in Unity and directed the creation and optimization of 3D assets to ensure they were visually polished and technically compliant with platform requirements.
Strategic Collaboration
Throughout the project, I worked closely with the Magenta Campus team, HR strategists, and T-Labs to ensure the app aligned with Telekom’s broader employer branding and talent acquisition goals. I facilitated workshops, feedback cycles, and live user testing sessions, including a dedicated beta test event at TU Berlin, where the app was tested and refined directly with its target users. My role required uniting multiple departments under a cohesive product roadmap while consistently advocating for design integrity and user-centered decision-making.
Brand & Storytelling Integration
A key focus of the design process was embedding Telekom’s brand identity and innovation narrative directly into the AR experience. I ensured the app didn’t just convey information, it inspired curiosity and engagement, helping students see themselves as part of Telekom’s forward-thinking vision. Every interaction, from floating menus to collectible photo moments, was designed to reflect Telekom’s tone and ethos while keeping the experience intuitive, inclusive, and socially shareable.
A central part of the design journey involved embedding Telekom’s brand identity into the AR experience. Working within Telekom’s established corporate design system, Scale, I faced the challenge of translating a desktop-focused design language into a mobile-native, spatial interaction context. I selectively adapted brand assets, such as typography, iconography, and color treatments, while reimagining UI behaviors to meet the app’s mobile and AR-specific needs, ensuring brand consistency without sacrificing usability.
Beyond visual styling, I also led the integration of the product into Telekom’s wider app ecosystem. This included the conception and final design of the app logo, version 3A was ultimately chosen as the final mark. The goal was to create a visual identity that not only reflected the product’s playful and innovative tone but also held its own alongside Telekom’s suite of digital products, ensuring immediate recognizability and cohesion across platforms.
Lastly, I helped align the app with Telekom Career’s broader social media strategy through the integration of the “Window of Opportunity” initiative. These physical touchpoints were placed at major university campuses like TU Berlin, prompting students to engage with the app by taking creative photos with the physical/augmented frames. To encourage organic engagement and visibility, students were invited to share their photos on social media for a chance to win prizes, seamlessly linking the physical, digital, and social dimensions of the product experience.
The Final Outcome
The Telekom Career App was successfully launched on the Apple App Store and quickly integrated into Deutsche Telekom’s recruitment strategy across Germany and Europe. It became a core asset in career fair activations and university partnerships, offering students a playful yet informative way to explore job opportunities. The app also enabled direct application through Telekom’s Talent Club, streamlining the path from engagement to action. Featured installations at universities like TU Berlin elevated visibility, while its modular design allowed it to scale internationally, ultimately becoming a standout example of student-led innovation backed by enterprise support.
What I Learned
This project taught me the power of initiating product innovation from the ground up. By identifying a problem, prototyping a vision, and driving the full execution, I was able to transform an abstract idea into a functional, high-impact product in just two months.
I gained deep insight into:
Designing for AR across physical and digital touchpoints
Navigating multi-stakeholder collaboration inside a major enterprise
Balancing neutral, flexible design systems with brand-specific storytelling
As a testament to its innovation and impact, the Telekom Career App was nominated for the DPOK (Deutscher Preis für Onlinekommunikation)—one of Germany’s most prestigious awards for digital communication. This recognition highlights the project’s success in merging cutting-edge technology with meaningful user engagement in the employer branding space.
© Selected Works / Fynn Langnau
Your brand deserves the best. Let me help you achieve it with a human-centered mindset.
Available for work
Let's Work Together.
© Selected Works / Fynn Langnau
Your brand deserves the best. Let me help you achieve it with a human-centered mindset.
Available for work
Let's Work Together.
© Selected Works / Fynn Langnau
Your brand deserves the best. Let me help you achieve it with a human-centered mindset.
Available for work
Let's Work Together.