About ol' Vit
I care deeply about human-centric design and the business strategy around it. Understanding what's worth building, then making complex things feel approachable. My career has been equal parts teaching and learning. Running workshops, mentoring designers, and constantly picking up new skills along the way.
Outside of work I photograph, tinker with music, explore new places, and get into conversations about things I know nothing about. Always up for new connections.
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. Our meetings weren't just design sessions, they were learning sessions."
Anna-Mari Jääskeläinen
Product Lead, Seppo
"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 has an uncanny ability to spot what's next before it becomes obvious to everyone else. I've never seen anyone iterate and ship design work as fast as he does, without sacrificing quality. He's the kind of person who makes everyone around him better."
Lauri Lännenmäki
UX Engineer, Fraktio
"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. He is open to feedback and generously shares his knowledge."
Eeva Myller
Product Owner, Seppo
Career highlights
Building and shipping digital products since 1999. Here's the journey so far:
Vandall
CurrentCDO & Co-founder
Collaboration platform for musicians. Users in 27 countries, 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
CRF Health clinical trial interfaces (Barcelona, 2010). Entrepreneur in Tanzania (2011). Ran my own design agency, Sweetness Designed, in Barcelona. Web design, branding, photography across USA, Germany, Spain, Finland.
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
Metropolia University, LAB University of Applied Sciences
Corporate Training
Hasan & Partners, Posti, Mehiläinen, Terveystalo, THL, Combitech, Pihlajalinna, Helsinki Marketing, Kiho
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.
Working style
Location
Based in Helsinki. Work remotely with teams across Europe. On-site for workshops when being in the room matters.
Communication
Direct. Practical. Low-drama. I'll tell you what I think, not what you want to hear.
Availability
Split time between Vandall and consulting. Selective about projects. Typically book 2-4 weeks out.
Tools
Figma for design. Modern AI workflows for research synthesis, rapid prototyping, and accelerated delivery. Methods over tools.