15+
Years in design
100+
Projects delivered
50+
Design sprints
500+
People taught
Millions
Users reached
I work across disciplines to take teams from early research to launched service
User Research & Validation
I test ideas with real people before teams commit to building. Validation sprints, co-creation workshops, rapid prototyping.
Product Strategy
Helping teams decide what to build and what to skip. I translate business goals into product decisions, help set priorities, and review roadmaps.
Design Leadership
I help scale design teams and organizations to benefit from design without a full-time hire.
Service Design
Mapping how things actually work across an organization, not just how they look on screen. End-to-end journeys, cross-team alignment, simplifying complexity.
Facilitation & Training
I run workshops for executives and hands-on teams alike. Design sprints, accessibility, validation methods.
Startup Advisory
I'm building Vandall as co-founder and CDO, so I know what early-stage feels like from the inside. Happy to talk founder challenges, product-market fit, or pitch prep.
Curious if we'd be a good fit?
Brands I've worked with
"Working with Vitali made me a better product thinker. He doesn't get distracted by noise. He finds the real problem, articulates it clearly and then moves fast. What sets Vitali apart is not only his design capability, but his ability to teach while doing."
Anna-Mari Jääskeläinen
Product Lead, Seppo
"I had the pleasure of working with Vitali for several years, including two user experience renewal projects. Vitali is an inspiring designer whose polished work ensures a strong brand identity and an engaging user experience. He quickly understands design challenges and provides clear, effective solutions."
Eeva Myller
Head of UX, Seppo
"Vitali is one of the most passionate UI/UX Designers I have worked with. Skills are second to none. I love to discuss project issues as it always leads to better understanding and self improvement."
Henri Vesala
Co-founder, Fraktio
"What differentiates Vitali is his strong business orientation. He aligns delivery with clear timeframes and ensures that meetings and workshops create tangible progress. He has exceptional skill in visualizing processes and workflows, translating complexity into clear, structured representations."
Jukka Kymenvirta
Growth Manager, Ceon
"Vitali is a highly motivated versatile professional. He's initiative, relates his work with great passion and is always looking around for more inspiration and new ideas. He's a people person who lifts the spirit and inspires people around him. Every team needs that kind of player."
Jukka-Pekka Erlund
Principal Product Design & CX Consultant, Mavericks
"After having struggled to find suitable providers who would understand our complex needs and be able to deliver them, we discovered Vitali. He immediately understood what we needed and jumped into action. He was driving the process very proactively, which really helped us when we had to juggle several priorities at the same time. He did not let us slow him down. He went above and beyond to ensure successful outcome and really impressed us with new ideas, solutions and issues we did not even know to ask for. 100% recommended!"
Kai Langel
CEO, DEEP Measures
Career highlights
Building and shipping digital products since 1999. Here's the journey so far:
Vandall
CurrentCDO & Co-founder
Infrastructure layer for the music industry — collaboration, metadata, rights management, agreements. Users in 27 countries, strong retention, organic growth from labels and artists. Slush Top 50.
Fraktio
Design Lead
Grew design team from 3 to 9. Led strategic design for Nordic enterprises: Visma Sign (#1 in Nordics), Parliament of Finland, Bosch, PwC, Museovirasto, City of Helsinki.
Conmio
UI/UX Designer
Kauppalehti app (Best in Media 2013, Microsoft). MTV Katsomo streaming app. Bloomberg.com mobile. Maaseudun Tulevaisuus digital newspaper.
Earlier notable work
Various roles
Ran B2B design agency in Barcelona (CRF Health, Spektr). B2B entrepreneur in Tanzania (2011).
100+ projects across startups, scale-ups, and enterprise. Industries: fintech, healthcare, government, media, gaming, e-commerce. Clients include Bosch, PwC, Microsoft, Bloomberg, Tieto, Mehiläinen, CRF Health, Aalto University, Parliament of Finland.
Teaching & Training
I teach validation workshops, accessibility, and service design fundamentals. Topics I keep coming back to: how to test ideas fast, how to run inclusive processes, and how to get cross-functional teams aligned without burning everyone out.
Academic
- KAMK
- LAB University of Applied Sciences
- Laurea
- Metropolia University
Corporate Training
- Combitech
- Hasan & Partners
- Helsinki Marketing
- Kiho
- Mehiläinen
- Pihlajalinna
- Posti
- Terveystalo
- THL
- and others
How I think about design
I started making Windows XP skins and Half-Life mods in the early 2000s. Then webmaster for my mother's newspaper. A Fallout fan site. An e-commerce solution for BabyWorld.
Years later, the tools have changed completely. The fundamentals haven't. You're still making something for people to use.
Design isn't making things pretty. It's figuring out what's worth making. The hardest part isn't pixels. It's the decision about which pixels matter.
Most teams get this backwards. They start building, then figure out if it's right. The two-year mistake. I've seen it so many times.
The fix: validate before you build. Test rough ideas with real users. Get evidence before committing resources. It feels slower at first. Long-term, it's the only thing that works.