About me

With Finnish citizenship and deep roots in the Nordic design community, I bring 17+ years of experience leading product design and UX strategy for prominent Finnish technology companies.
My career highlights include increasing ROI by 50% at F-Secure (Helsinki), creating experience-driven design for Wisdom Health's bestselling products, and developing innovative user interfaces for Nokia.
I specialize in:
- Design system architecture that improves team productivity
- User research methodologies adapted for Nordic markets
- Design sprint facilitation (gained during my time at F-Secure)
- Converting user insights into measurable business results
- Leading design teams in Finnish and international contexts
My work combines Finnish design sensibilities—clarity, functionality, and user-centricity—with global design excellence.
Patents and publications developed during my time in Finland:
- Patent: Locating of locating-incapable devices (GB GB2521668)
- Patent: User Interface Feature Generation (US US2013069953)
- Publication: "SUOMALAISIA" - Educational Material (2008)
Let's connect to discuss how my Finnish design perspective can benefit your next project.
Recommendations for Igor Polyakov
Artashes Mkrtchyan
Founder & CEO at VECTO.DIGITAL | Software Development | Product Design | Digital Transformation | IT Outstaffing
October 1, 2018
Igor was Artashes’ client

"Our company worked with Igor Polyakov and Hot Snow Design for more than a year. During that working period, I was extremely satisfied to work with them. All processes were smooth and predictable. Hot Snow Design and Igor Polyakov proved that they have huge experience in the creative field, user experience, and user interface design. I strongly recommend Hot Snow and Igor Polyakov for any digital and offline creative projects."
Susanna Luhtala
SuunnittelijaSusa
January 26, 2012
Susanna worked with Igor on the same team

"Igor is a very talented GUI Designer! We worked on the same graphic design team, and Igor has lots of creative ideas. He can draw very quickly different kinds of graphic elements and has talent in flash animations."
Hannu Kilpelainen
Business-oriented tech-savvy market insight and competitive strategist in cyber security
September 6, 2007
Hannu managed Igor directly

"Igor is a 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 talent was a Flash animation reaching a large public in an international event."
Vesa Härkönen
Director, Consulting Delivery | ICE Design
July 21, 2007
Vesa was senior to Igor but didn't manage Igor directly

"Igor is a multi-talented visual design professional, and it is easy to work with him."
Timo Ruohomäki
Analytics, BI, and data products
July 16, 2007
Timo was Igor’s client

"I 'found' Igor originally because I needed a graphical designer capable of creating icons for user interfaces, a skill that is surprisingly hard to find. We were so impressed by his work that we decided to finally get the whole corporate identity from him. He can provide great results in a very short time and also provide good input on the visual side of marketing strategies."
Stefan Engeseth
Creative Futurist | Guest Professor | Keynote Speaker 🌏 3 x TEDx Speaker | Shark Diver | Author of 4 📕 Sharkonomics.com | AI Business Developer - go-to-market strategy, opportunity discovery, and conversion, coaching
July 10, 2007
Stefan worked with Igor but they were at different companies

"Design is not only design; it is creativity and business opportunities. That is what Igor is for me, business in design."
Mikko Nurminen
Angel Investor, Serial Entrepreneur, Co-Founder of Hostaway & Nubacom family office
July 7, 2007
Igor was Mikko’s client

"Hyvää jälkeä ja aina aikataulussa."
Matt Raible
Web Developer and Java Champion
June 7, 2006
Matt worked with Igor but they were at different companies

"Igor does awesome design work - winning the logo contest for the AppFuse open source project."
Tal Katzav
Manager, Machine Learning & Advanced Analytics at Wärtsilä
May 25, 2006
Tal was Igor’s client

"While working with Igor in my project, I’ve witnessed a remarkable degree of know-how and ability. His design work is highly professional, and the end product truly added value to my solution."
Jack Yan
CEO, Jack Yan & Associates; founder and publisher, Lucire and Autocade; co-chair, Medinge Group
May 23, 2006
Jack worked with Igor but they were at different companies

"Igor is one of the most visionary designers I know, and he balances this with a passion for his industry (indeed, all creative endeavors). 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." 
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