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Karri Ojanen - Finnformation. Toronto, ON, CA

Karri Ojanen

UX and Interaction Design Lead, Strategist, Speaker | Finnformation

Toronto, ON, CANADA

UX and Interaction Design Lead, Strategist, Speaker

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Biography

It takes a combination of strategic, tactical, and engineering skills to create truly exceptional services, products, and marketing. I’m an interaction designer, information architect, strategist and creative lead, multi-skilled and versed in creative, strategy and technology. I'm particularly excited about making sense of emerging technologies and creating seamless connections between the digital and physical worlds.

I earned my experience as art director, concept designer and creative director in Scandinavia, praised for its award-hoarding digital agencies, then went on to work in the Middle East, the United States, and Canada. I'm now based in Toronto, working as an independent user experience consultant, designer, speaker, and strategist.

My work has been awarded nationally and internationally. I've spoken and presented at large conferences as well as smaller design community events, including Slush 2012 in Helsinki, Finland, the UXLx conference in Lisbon, Portugal in 2010, and IxDA events in Toronto, Canada.

Industry Expertise (3)

Design

Media - Online

Social Media

Areas of Expertise (3)

User Experience Design

Design Strategy

Startups and Design

Education (5)

Rastor/Tietomies: College Degree in Audiovisual Arts, Audiovisual arts (Multimedia and Web Design) 2002

College Degree in Audiovisual Arts (Multimedia and Web Design), including Web and multimedia production, visual design, programming, and copyright law.

Metropolia Polytechnic University: Bachelor of Arts, Audiovisual Production 2007

Bachelor of Arts in Audiovisual Production (film, TV, and radio) incl. storyboarding, copyright law, video and sound editing, camera work and directing. I wrote my thesis on the development of IPTV.

DIAK - Diaconia University of Applied Sciences: Bachelor of Arts, audiovisual production 2000

Bachelor of Arts (started) in audiovisual production (film, TV and radio) incl. storyboarding, copyright law, video and sound editing, camera work and directing.

University of Cambridge: CPE, Certificate of Proficiency in English 2004

CPE is the highest level Cambridge ESOL exam, at level C2 of the Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The certificate proves my ability to function effectively in almost any English-speaking context and that my language skills are close or similar to an educated native speaker.

Canadian Marketing Association: E-marketing Certificate, Search engine marketing, e-mail marketing, social media 2008

Affiliations (2)

  • Information Architecture Institute
  • Interaction Design Association (IxDA)

Event Appearances (2)

Design for Startups

Slush 2012  Helsinki, Finland

2012-11-22

User Experience Design in Advertising

UxLX  Lisbon, Portugal

2010-05-05

Sample Talks (1)

Developing an Effective Design Process for a Startup Company

Designer-co-founded startups such as Path,Kickstarter and Airbnb are taking center stage. There is much talk in the business world about companies led by effective, simple, and beautiful design turn out to be more successful than others. At the same time, startup leaders don't really know what design means and how to incorporate design into their MVP / Lean Startup culture. In this talk, I explain the most important areas of design that every startup leader needs to understand and focus on.

Style

Availability

  • Keynote
  • Panelist
  • Workshop Leader
  • Corporate Training

Fees

500 to 3500 *Will consider certain engagements for no fee