Senior Product Designer, UX Lead & Creative Director
I design clear, credible digital products for complex industries. Across 17+ years, I have worked in product design, UX strategy, design systems, service design, brand identity and creative leadership for teams in health-tech, cybersecurity, fintech, e-commerce, retail and emerging technology.
How I work
My strongest work happens where structure and visual judgment matter equally: turning complicated requirements into understandable journeys, building scalable interface systems, aligning stakeholders and helping teams move from early concepts to polished, buildable products.
I have led UX and product-design work for healthcare platforms, investment and cryptocurrency products, cybersecurity tools, e-commerce experiences and cross-disciplinary creative projects. My process combines research, information architecture, prototyping, usability thinking and refined visual execution—always connected to a real user or business outcome.
Selected results
Selected results reported across my roles include reducing usability issues by 40% during the Reinvest24 redesign, contributing to a 35% improvement in user retention at CoinMetro, supporting a 15% sales increase through health-tech UX improvements and A/B testing, and contributing to a 30% ROI increase after product launch at F-Secure.
Location & availability
I am based in Nicosia, Cyprus, hold Finnish citizenship and am open to remote or hybrid roles, consulting engagements and selected freelance projects across Europe and international teams.
Recommendations
From clients and professional collaborators
Recommendations received on LinkedIn, 2006–2018. Some older recommendations refer to me as Igor Polyakov. Original wording is retained.
Artashes Mkrtchyan
1 October 2018 · Igor was Artashes’s client.
“Our company worked with Igor Polyakov and Hot Snow Design more than 1 year. During that working period i was extremely satisfied to work with them. All processes was smooth and predictable. Hot Snow Design and Igor Polyakov proved that they have huge experience in creative filed, user experience and user interface design.
I strongly recommend Hot Snow and Igor Polyakov for any digital and offline creative projects.”
I strongly recommend Hot Snow and Igor Polyakov for any digital and offline creative projects.”
Susanna Luhtala
26 January 2012 · Susanna worked with Igor on the same team.
“Igor is very talented GUI Designer! We worked at the same graphic design team and Igor have a lots of creative ideas. Igor can draw very quickly different kinds of graphic elements and have talent to flash animations.”
Hannu Kilpelainen
6 September 2007 · Hannu managed Igor directly.
“Igor is very exceptional and innovative designer I was pleased to create a web publishing product for Flash animations and other high end graphical designs. One example of his great design tallent was a Flash animation reaching large public in international event.”
Vesa Härkönen
21 July 2007 · Vesa was senior to Igor but didn’t manage Igor directly.
“Igor is multi-talented visual design professional and it is easy to work with him.”
Timo Ruohomäki
16 July 2007 · Timo was Igor’s client.
“I "found" Igor originally because I needed a graphical designer who is capable of creating icons for user interfaces, a skill that is surprisingly hard to find. We were so impressed by his work that decided to finally get the whole corporate identity from him. He can provide great results in a very short time and also can provide good input on the visual side of marketing strategies.”
Stefan Engeseth
10 July 2007 · Stefan worked with Igor at a different company.
“Design are not only design, it is creativity and business opportunities. That is what Igor is for me, business in design.”
Mikko Nurminen
8 July 2007 · Igor was Mikko’s client.
“Hyvää jälkeä ja aina aikataulussa.”
English translation: “Good work, always on schedule.”
Matt Raible
7 June 2006 · Matt worked with Igor at a different company.
“Igor does awesome design work - winning the logo contest for the AppFuse open source project.”
Tal Katzav
25 May 2006 · Tal was Igor’s client.
“While working with Igor in my project, I’ve witnessed a remarkable degree of now-how and ability. His design work is highly professional and the end product truly added value to my solution.”
Jack Yan
23 May 2006 · Jack worked with Igor at a different company.
“Igor is one of the most visionary designers I know, and he balances this with a passion for his industry (indeed, all creative endeavours). This is evidenced by his blog, on which he has regularly kept the world abreast of Scandinavian design—an effort that is to be commended. In addition, Igor has a strong ethical awareness which complements his “day job” and his blogging particularly well.”