Layani Khoza

Headed UX and digital design projects across our brand portfolio, elevating the overall look and feel of our pages, developing engagement tactics, and creating digital components for our mega-platforms that let users connect with our brands directly on their websites.

• Designed the award-winning campaign pages for Corona Cero and Castle Lite.
• Refreshed brand emailers not just to make them look better, but to make them work smarter for Stella Artois, Brutal Fruit, and Castle Lite. The goal was to create emails that feel effortless to navigate, look visually appealing, and genuinely engage the audience with design that connects.
• Guided designers from beginner to student level, helping them sharpen their skills, tackle real projects, and gain the confidence to own their work.
• Overhauled our website strategy to make updates faster. Home pages for Corona and Castle Double Malt now give a clear overview and highlight new campaigns, letting the team focus on creating engaging campaign pages while meeting deadlines.

Delivered user-focused interface designs that improved usability, streamlined digital experiences, and enhanced efficiency across clients including ABSA, Barloworld (CAT) and Old Mutual.

• Drove faster design cycles by developing high-fidelity prototypes and MVPs that reduced iteration time and improved decision-making across client teams.
• Led the UI process with real user insights, shaping products that felt easier to use and helped more people complete tasks successfully.
• Delivered measurable gains in user satisfaction by standardizing interface design systems across digital ecosystems for clients like ABSA, Barloworld (CAT), and Old Mutual.

Designed and tested digital products that improved usability and reduced friction for brands including SAVA, G.Fox, ALX, and The Room (ALA)

• Secured new business opportunities by documenting UX case studies that demonstrated measurable impact on product outcomes.
• Increased adoption and engagement by turning insights into actionable design recommendations that shaped product roadmaps.
• Accelerated development and collaboration through wireframes and prototypes that clarified requirements and reduced iteration time.
• Improved product effectiveness by conducting UX research that identified critical user needs and pain points.

Managed TBWA’s Disruption Live hub, helping brands like MTN, Nissan, and Standard Bank stay culturally relevant and quick to act. Turned real time cultural moments into brand opportunities that boosted engagement and visibility. Worked closely with strategy and creative teams to shape integrated digital campaigns, while helping internal teams build the skills to spot trends, move fast, and think in real time.

• Drove real time brand relevance by identifying cultural moments and turning them into actionable creative opportunities for brands like MTN, Nissan, and Standard Bank.
• Worked on the Disruption Live strategy for the Joburg Ballet, "Breaking Ballet" campaign, which won a D&AD award.
• Contributed to major new business success as part of the pitch team that won the MTN account, helping shape the strategic and digital approach.
• Boosted engagement and visibility through agile campaigns built around live cultural insights and audience behavior.
• Collaborated with creative, strategy, and social teams to translate insights into integrated brand actions that connected with audiences in the moment.

Led community-driven innovation projects that turned cultural insight into meaningful brand and product ideas. Built and managed diverse youth and creative networks to help brands like Castle Lite, Old Mutual, and IDEO stay connected to real people and real culture. Played a key role in developing products and solutions shaped by genuine human behaviour.

• Recruited and managed the community team that co-created the Castle Lite Cooler Box, blending cultural insight with functional design to deepen brand relevance among urban audiences.
• Collaborated with IDEO on a social innovation project developing reusable sanitary solutions for underprivileged women, merging empathy-driven design with practical sustainability.
• Contributed to the product team behind 22Seven (Old Mutual), helping translate complex financial behaviour into a simple, user-friendly digital experience that encouraged smarter money habits.
• Led grassroots insight sessions and co-creation workshops, turning qualitative data into actionable recommendations for brands.
• Hosted regular social events to keep the community engaged, strengthen connections, and maintain an active feedback network for brand and product development.