Making product experiences feel human & simple.

I’ve spent my career working alongside ambitious teams, from startups to some of the world’s most recognized companies, shaping new ideas and helping established products evolve.

Curiosity led me from my Stockholm roots to Honolulu, back and forth between New York and Stockholm, and now Los Angeles. My work spans finance, technology, healthcare, and entertainment.

I’ve worked as a designer, design leader, and head of design, bringing together product, brand, and the systems behind them. Each role has given me a different view of how good work happens.

Today, I enjoy being a player-coach, helping teams find direction and grow while staying close to the design work myself. I like moving between the bigger picture and the details that make it real.

My perspective is that we’re living in a world of growing complexity and possibility. There’s more to make sense of, but also more room to explore what things could become.

As AI changes how we create and build, I believe design matters more than ever. It’s an exciting time to be a curious designer, learning new ways to bring ideas to life.

I’m drawn to work that makes everyday experiences better. Making complicated things easier to understand, helping people move forward, and bringing care to the details.

I connect strategy and craft, moving from the bigger picture to the details of the experience. I want to understand what matters to people and what the product needs to do.

Sketches and prototypes help me make ideas tangible. Sharing work early helps me test assumptions, learn from people, and discover questions I hadn’t thought to ask.

Every day, I design, prototype, and build, learning from how things work in practice. I keep refining the experience, from how it fits together to the details that make it easy to use.

A clear direction, ownership and guidance give people the foundation to do their best work. That starts with understanding their aspirations matched with the business vision.

I encourage teams to explore further and care about the details. I want to create room for ambitious ideas, honest feedback, and the time it takes to make the work better.

Staying close to the work means solving problems alongside the team. I enjoy helping designers build their judgment and confidence, giving them room to make decisions and learn.

These are companies I’ve worked at and with, through in-house roles, studios, and Pure. They include employers, clients, and collaborators from different parts of my career.

Through Pure, I join teams as an embedded design partner, often for six months to several years. The work ranges from shaping new products to evolving what already exists.

Some relationships last years, others focus on a particular challenge. What I value is working closely with people who care about what they’re making and learning along the way.

My tools help me move between thinking, designing, and building. I like to explore an idea, make it tangible, and keep refining it in the context of a real product.

AI is part of my daily practice. I use it to explore and learn as I build, with experience, curiosity, and judgment guiding what I pursue and how I shape the work.

I work with Figma, Paper, and MagicPath, alongside Cursor, Claude, and Codex. My current favorite stack for building and shipping is React, Next.js, and Tailwind, with GitHub and Vercel.

My work spans product, brand, and systems, bringing together strategy, design, and hands-on craft. From early ideas to established products, I help teams turn complex challenges into clear, useful experiences.

Much of this work is confidential, so I keep my full portfolio private. Get in touch and I can share relevant projects and talk through the thinking, craft, and collaboration behind them.

Through Pure, I join teams as an embedded design partner, from shaping new products to evolving what already exists. Selected public work is available on the Pure Research & Design site.

Visit the Pure site, which is being built in public and is currently 44% complete. Or reach out to mattias@wikman.co to chat and see the portfolio.

If you’re building something that matters, I might be a good fit as a designer, design partner, or advisor.

I enjoy complex design challenges and finding a clear way forward. Let’s talk, you can reach me at mattias@wikman.co