Hi! I’m Kauri Salonen. I grew up in the little county of Tuusula and later on in the city of Hyvinkää before I ended up staying, working in the military in Valkeala—before moving to Helsinki to start leading my life independently as a young adult. Afterward, I had the opportunity to experience life living abroad as an expat in Spain and Germany—a six-year-long chapter of my life.
I’m a peculiarly curious—creative futurist, digital strategist, and team coach who focuses on humane technology-enabled and machine-assisted collaboration & innovation.
Digital-first strategies, market research, user experience & service design, venture development, and management consulting are my core expertise.
An imagination facilitator who aims to make sense of these exponentially disruptive situation landscapes, clarify what to act on, and coach teams on how to make digital-first business operations happen.
What thrives me, like it has been the same for over a decade now: is the successes of the people I care for and the impacts that our endeavours make.
By the way, I get my best ideas in the shower in the mornings.
Doing, directing, and enabling co-creation is what I love to do as a profession.
For a vast part of my professional career, I've been involved in one way or another with the restaurant/bar/club and entertainment industry—working on the experience of the guests (E.g. Maybe, if you've been to Helsinki, Finland and you've walked past the Apollo Live Club—the concept of the logo—author writing here). After deciding to have a kind of refresher on which direction I was leading my life to back in the early 2000s, I've been now for roughly fifteen years shaping and co-creating digital products and services.
With more than 10 years of experience in data-driven user-centric " DESIGN " and growth building, I have a strong foundation in digital innovation. I've been helping organisations of a wide variety to grow through cultural & operational transformation—to benefit from upgraded brand experience standards and more fluid operations.
I’ve been professionally affecting UX design activities in-house for product/service vendors, as a co-founding startup entrepreneur, and as a consultant to help & enable clients, especially to progress on their digital transformation journeys.
Before joining our community here at Liini Agency, I was very focused on the world of open data products and the emerging data economy for a while there.
My private life is vividly toned by arts, culture, and sports—and hän does consider himself also a " SOMEWHAT " yogi. I write, spin records, climb rocks, and run long distances. A few years ago I realised that what has inspired and stayed with me the longest when it comes to what I am utterly passionate about is music. I love sound and messaging, and I've always been amazed by great entertainers and other kinds of performers.
I want to create nostalgic, magical, and even hypnotic journeys into an elevated state of consciousness, while also being soulful and loving toward music-filled high-end curation. Also highlighting some of my favorite, timeless microhouse classics.
Reading (both in written word, printed to book back in the olden days or digital, from any kinda device) and writing also consume a big chunk of my free time. As an aspiring book author, a debut novel is in the works.
I am passionate and intrigued about the design & usability of high-quality products, and predominantly interested in great interactive experiences that are made together, for and from people with machines assisting us.
Ever since I was just a mere " YOUNG BOI ", I’ve been fascinated by great user experiences, the usability of best-in-class tools, and best-known practices.
Throughout my years, I’ve had the pleasure of talking publicly about digital innovation & the craft of design operations. E.g. how design impacts operations in high-performing organisations and the teams within them and how organisations can travel towards a more holistic design approach.
In conclusion—to me, experience design is—a vision of the future: I believe that when we learn together, we teach each other — so let’s share and build the future as one.
–end of log: HoD, @KauriZio—to be continued, stay tuned. #AdventureTimes
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