Quick Summary (TL;DR)
➡️ Problem: LinkedIn’s UED team needed skilled support to handle overlapping executive presentations, brand graphics, and product launches under tight timelines.
➡️ Problem: LinkedIn’s UED team needed skilled support to handle overlapping executive presentations, brand graphics, and product launches under tight timelines.
➡️ Role: I led creative direction and presentation design for executive keynotes and brand visuals.
➡️ Solution: Produced visually dynamic keynotes with motion and animation, expanded illustration/icon libraries, and established new presentation and brand design standards across deliverables.
➡️ Impact: My reliable delivery and quality earned compliments and trust from executives — enhancing the UED team’s reputation and enabling broader design engagement beyond the initial scope.
Keep reading for the full story behind my process and approach.
Intro/Background
LinkedIn’s User Experience Design (UED) team has a broad charter, spanning flagship B2B and B2C products as well as internal tools. The team also owns all keynote-level presentations for executives (C-level and VP). Their approach to presentations mirrors their approach to product design: product-centered, storytelling-driven, and focused on creating clarity, alignment, and bold thinking through design.
LinkedIn’s User Experience Design (UED) team has a broad charter, spanning flagship B2B and B2C products as well as internal tools. The team also owns all keynote-level presentations for executives (C-level and VP). Their approach to presentations mirrors their approach to product design: product-centered, storytelling-driven, and focused on creating clarity, alignment, and bold thinking through design.
During a period of overlapping product launches and executive keynotes, the team was shorthanded and needed extra design support. I was brought in to help design high-profile presentations for LinkedIn executives while also contributing across UED projects where additional design help was needed.
This presentation case study examines a key question: How can thoughtful design bridge executive storytelling, brand consistency, and audience engagement — all under tight deadlines?
The Problem
At LinkedIn, presentations aren’t an afterthought. They’re a core storytelling tool used by executives to share strategy, launch products, and inspire employees and customers. But when multiple high-stakes events collide, even a team as large as LinkedIn’s UED group can’t absorb every urgent request. And unlike standard decks, executive keynotes demand a higher level of craft, brand fluency, and polish.
At LinkedIn, presentations aren’t an afterthought. They’re a core storytelling tool used by executives to share strategy, launch products, and inspire employees and customers. But when multiple high-stakes events collide, even a team as large as LinkedIn’s UED group can’t absorb every urgent request. And unlike standard decks, executive keynotes demand a higher level of craft, brand fluency, and polish.
In practice, the challenges showed up in a few consistent ways:
❌ Overflow demand: The UED team couldn’t keep pace with simultaneous launches, summits, and executive keynotes.
❌ High stakes: Presentations had to land with senior leaders and global audiences, leaving no room for missteps.
❌ Brand consistency: Every deck needed to reflect LinkedIn’s evolving design system and maintain a professional, trustworthy tone.
❌ Compressed timelines: Fast-moving events meant there was often little time for iteration or refinement.
This wasn’t just about slides looking good. The presentations needed to convey clarity, persuasion, and brand consistency at the executive level, often under tight timelines and constant rounds of feedback.
My Role
➡ Designed executive-level presentations for product launches, keynotes, and summits
➡ Partnered with executives and C-level leaders to shape content and visual storytelling
➡ Expanded illustration and icon libraries to support broader UED initiatives
➡ Strengthened brand consistency across presentations, events, and internal tools
➡ Adapted quickly to high-volume, fast-turnaround requests under tight deadlines
➡ Tools used: Photoshop, Illustrator, Word, PowerPoint, Teams
➡ Designed executive-level presentations for product launches, keynotes, and summits
➡ Partnered with executives and C-level leaders to shape content and visual storytelling
➡ Expanded illustration and icon libraries to support broader UED initiatives
➡ Strengthened brand consistency across presentations, events, and internal tools
➡ Adapted quickly to high-volume, fast-turnaround requests under tight deadlines
➡ Tools used: Photoshop, Illustrator, Word, PowerPoint, Teams
Extended contributions beyond presentations at LinkedIn spanned motion design, illustration, iconography, infographics, and internal web app UI audit and strategy.
For executive keynotes, I leaned into animation and motion effects to elevate the storytelling. This example is from Christina Hall’s (SVP, Global Talent) keynote, where smooth transitions and dynamic pacing kept the audience engaged throughout.
This presentation was created for LinkedIn’s Engineering Leadership Summit (ELS) in Bangalore, India. It ran longer than the Global Leadership Summit keynote but used similar design principles. It relies on an even heavier focus on motion and animation to captivate a large live audience.
Challenges + Learnings
One challenge was working directly with senior executives and C-level leaders, each with strong personalities, tight schedules, and evolving feedback. Navigating this required confidence, flexibility, and the ability to balance design integrity with stakeholder expectations.
Another challenge was adapting to constant context-switching. While presentations were my main focus, I was often pulled into side projects that expanded from illustration/icon libraries to shaping brand consistency across internal apps and event collateral. These moments reminded me that adaptability, design thinking, and a wide skillset are invaluable assets in fast-paced environments.
However, probably the biggest challenge was adapting to LinkedIn’s updated brand system, which had just launched around the time I joined. Not only was it new to me as an outside contractor, but it was still new to many on the internal team as well.
Questions like “What does a chapter slide look like?” or “How should we apply the new color palette consistently across decks?” were still being figured out as we went. Since there weren’t many existing presentation examples to reference, I had to help create a new presentation design kit (or template) and set of patterns on the fly. That meant iterating a lot over time and balancing consistency with creativity.
This experience reinforced for me that working with newly created systems can be less about rigidly following rules and more about shaping them in practice. It taught me to be flexible, collaborative, and proactive in proposing standards that could scale across the team.
Result/Impact
✅ Delivered multiple high-profile executive presentations for launches and keynotes under extremely tight deadlines.
✅ Delivered multiple high-profile executive presentations for launches and keynotes under extremely tight deadlines.
✅ Elevated visual storytelling to improve clarity and persuasion in executive messaging.
✅ Expanded LinkedIn’s illustration and icon libraries, reducing future design debt.
✅ Helped reinforce LinkedIn’s brand guidelines across presentations and internal platforms.
✅ Earned positive feedback from executives and the UED team for both quality and speed.
