Ameliate

Team

We’re a diverse group of experts in design thinking.

We apply these to create elegant and delightful solutions to real human challenges.

Our core team brings over 10 years of experience working in design. We are highly trained and experienced in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). We are producers and service providers that deliver in an insightful and deeply knowledgeable manner.

Ray Pohjanheimo

Research & Product Management

Ray comes from a background in psychology and human-computer interaction. His knowledge and experience from studying humans, their relationships, and their relationships to technology, is invaluable in creating elegant UX.

ray@ameliate.com | LinkedIn

Zack Wilson

Visual & Interaction Design

Zack is a creative designer with experience in both software engineering and fine art. He loves to build things, especially when it involves imagining new ways for technology to enable people to create better.

LinkedIn

Kate Belakova

Business Development & Interaction Design

Kate is a creativity and design thinking expert. She pulls from her inspiration and skills as a creative writer to imagine and re-imagine our interactions with technology to create more purposeful tools.

kate@ameliate.com | LinkedIn

Michele Romani

Virtual Realities Specialist

Michele is our expert for imagining the virtual, and making it a reality. His talents for software development and interaction design combine to manifest magical, meaningful virtual experiences.

michele@ameliate.com | LinkedIn

Expertise

We are proud to have assembled a team from a diverse collection of backgrounds, who are united through their passion for design, and empathy for user-centered processes.

Design

Design is our primary expertise. From print graphics to multimodal product design, our work spans a wide variety of projects. The one constant is our belief in the power of user centered design, and focusing on the human needs of products and services. Beyond the practical skills of creating mockups in Figma and Illustrator, our team includes specialists in Behaviour Change Design, Co-Design, Dilemma-Based Design, Multisensory Design, Instrumental Interaction, and Serious Game Design, in addition to more traditional design thinking approaches we use.

Computer Science

The whole team knows its way around code, we all have a hacking mindset and a fearless approach to new languages, but we also of course specialize. Our team handles front-end, scripting and markup languages like HTML5/CSS, Javascript, and Python, as well as C, C++, and Java for more serious software engineering work, and C# for virtual reality development. We have experience building apps for mobile, desktop, web, VR, and AR.

Psychology

Our HCI training ensures that we have a fundamental understanding of behaviour, and empathy for humans using technology. In addition, Ray is the resident psychologist, and brings two degrees in Psychology (BSc. MSc.), with a specialisation in consumer, social, and organisational psychology (though of course he has a solid grasp of clinical and health psychology). The behaviour change and intervention mindsets are driving mechanisms in our designs.

Visual Arts

Several team members also have backgrounds in creative technology and fine art. Art has allowed us to work on more experimental design projects to probe the relationships between humans and technology, and explore that psychology in more depth through installations. Of course artists also mean we have a pretty good eye for visuals and practical skills for making things look magnificent.