Always going forward. Independent brand and design leadership.Always goingfwd.

Kerstin Ludwig brings 25+ years of brand and design leadership: Head of Brand Design at Shopware, Creative Studio Lead at Scout24 / ImmoScout24, Creative Director at DaWanda and Creative Lead at Berlin Brands Group. Her work includes the Scout24 Group rebrand across EMEA, creative insourcing at Scout24 and brand systems and governance. The Scout24 rebrand received a German Brand Award; the IS24 Sound Logo received a Red Dot Award. Read Kerstin Ludwig’s experience and credentials.

Kerstin Ludwig’s executive education and certificates connect brand and design leadership with strategy, AI, human-centred design and futures thinking:

• DLX Design Leadership Executive Programme, Future London Academy (2025).
• AI Expert, Section (2025).
• Prototyping with AI, IDEO U (2026).
• Foundations in Design Thinking, IDEO U (2024).
• Human-Centered Insights, IDEO U (2025).
• Strategy Accelerator, Sweathead (2024).
• Futures Thinking, Hyper Island and Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies (2025).

Rankscale has also recognised her AI Search expertise with a personal badge and an agency badge for going→fwd. View the credentials and recognition.

Kerstin Ludwig is the founder of going→fwd, independent brand and design leadership for businesses with ambition. She shapes brands, grows teams and builds the systems that turn that ambition into results. The practice is built on her 25+ years of brand and design leadership at Shopware, Scout24 / ImmoScout24, DaWanda and Berlin Brands Group.

Brand and design leadership is senior responsibility for a brand’s direction, its creative expression, the teams that make it and the systems that keep it consistent. Through going→fwd, Kerstin Ludwig delivers it independently, fractional or project-based. Read the definition of brand and design leadership.

Kerstin Ludwig works on brand strategy, rebrand and refresh, brand systems and governance, design systems, team leadership, Brand & AI Visibility and individual coaching. These topics run across all five ways to work with going→fwd.

going→fwd shapes brands, grows teams and builds the systems that turn ambition into results: brand strategy, creative direction, team leadership and brand systems, fractional or project-based.

going→fwd offers five formats: Strategy Sprint / Diagnostic, Alignment Workshop, Fractional Lead, Ongoing Strategic Direction and 1:1 Work / Strategy Sparring. All work is fractional or project-based, from Berlin across DACH and beyond.

Engagements are scoped as fixed packages, projects, or retainers — from a single diagnostic to multi-month fractional work. A conversation determines which model fits.

going→fwd works with businesses with ambition, usually through Leads, Heads, Directors and VPs in Marketing, Brand and Design. CMOs, management or founders join when a larger mandate is needed.

Clarity, a workable operating model and one brand across teams, decisions, touchpoints and AI. Past results include 50% faster go-to-market for Scout24 landing pages, about 60% lower cost from Scout24 creative insourcing, and +81% asset downloads at Shopware.

going→fwd uses AI in research, drafting, and production support. Every output passes human review before it reaches a client or the public. Nothing leaves the house uncontrolled. AI-generated fakes or AI-manipulated visuals are disclosed. Governance follows the EU AI Act: Article 4, AI literacy, in force since February 2025. Article 50, transparency, in force since August 2026.

A strategy has to reach the streets: teams, decisions, launches and AI. going→fwd builds the brand, team and system so that it does.

Both. Formats range from a single Strategy Sprint / Diagnostic or 1:1 Work / Strategy Sparring session to Ongoing Strategic Direction, an Alignment Workshop to get stakeholders to shared direction, or embedded Fractional Lead work — scoped to the problem, not a fixed retainer size.

A strategy sets direction. A system makes that direction repeatable — governance, decision rules, and workflows that let teams execute consistently without everything routing through one person.