Your product shipped faster than its design

It works. It looks finished. It doesn’t feel solid yet.

I design what comes next, fix what is already live, and leave a standard the rest of the product can build on.

Send What You Have

What I Do

Principal-level design ownershipwithout committing to a full-time hire

For teams whose product works, but the experience still undersells it.

  • Design what comes next

    New features and flows designed clean from the start, on a system that grows with your product.

  • Fix what is already live

    Turning fast-built, inconsistent interfaces into something people can navigate without being told how.

  • Build systems and standards

    Components, tokens and the rules behind them. The foundation every new feature builds on.

  • Design engineering

    Taking design systems through implementation, so design and code stay aligned as the product evolves.

Why It Matters

AI made it easier to create screensIt didn’t make it easier to build trust

Fast product work creates visible progress.
The debt usually shows up later.

What you see this week

What it turns into

  • A feature that needs explanation

    A product that can’t carry its own story

  • Onboarding that feels almost right

    Users leaving before they feel the value

  • Another “we’ll fix it later”

    More cleanup, more rework, less confidence

  • Edge cases left for later

    A product that breaks one click off the happy path

  • UI that feels “good enough”

    A product people take less seriously

At first, it doesn’t look broken.
It looks like momentum.

That’s how good products start feeling
harder than they should.

Who It’s For

You are likely in one of two situations

Different starting points. The same gap.

01

Your team built something real with AI.

It works. People can use it. But it still feels early.

02

Engineering isn’t waiting for design.

Features ship faster than design decisions settle.

It usually looks like this:

Your product is hard to explain

The idea is strong. The product needs too much talking.

The product undersells the company

The ambition is serious. The interface doesn’t show it yet.

Your demo needs narration

The story is there. The flow doesn’t make it obvious yet.

The same issues keep coming back

The team moves fast. Unresolved decisions create rework.

AI feels powerful but unclear

The capability is real. People can’t tell what it can do or when to trust it.

I read everything myself. No call required, no commitment.

Experience

Who’s behind it

I’m Christopher Koziol, a product designer with 20+ years of experience across early products, complex systems, and fast-moving roadmaps.

I turn that complexity into clear product decisions and design that teams can ship and build on.

Earlier in my career, I spent years inside a startup studio in Central Europe. I joined when it was still small and grew with it through product launches, pivots, exits, and failures.

Over time, I built a venture within the group and led the team that shipped white-label web products end to end, from product design and development through conversion and ongoing support.

That experience shaped standardLayer: keep shipping fast, while making each product decision strengthen what comes next.

You work directly with me, from first look onward.

  • Acquired by Databricks

    A product that needed explaining.

    A complex model made clear, on a foundation that held through three shifts without rebuilding.

    See What Changed
  • Consumer social

    The team scaled, the product didn’t.

    Replaced ad-hoc UI with one shared system across iOS, Android, and Web. One decision. Three platforms.

    See What Changed
  • iF Design Award 2026

    Foundations for a calm browser.

    Design system and token architecture behind Opera Air, an iF Design Award 2026 winner.

    See the IF Award (opens in a new tab)

Pricing

Send what you haveContinue only if it makes sense

  • Product Review

    Free. No commitment

    No call required.

    I review what you have and tell you honestly whether I can help.

    Best when

    You need clarity on what is worth fixing now and what can wait.

  • Product Sprint

    $2,000

    Credited toward ongoing work if we continue.

    I redesign one critical area and set a standard the product can follow.

    Best when

    A critical product area needs to be ready for customers or launch.

  • Design Partner

    $6,000/mo

    Month to month. Pause or cancel anytime.

    I own product design across the roadmap as the product evolves.

    Best when

    The product is growing and needs ongoing design ownership.

FAQ

Questionsanswered

From first look to next steps.

Set the standardbefore it gets expensive

Keep shipping fast. The only question is whether each feature builds on what’s there or becomes one more thing to patch.

Send What You Have

Find the most useful next step.