About
Hi! I'm Katja — a frontend developer based in Finland, specialising in design systems and accessibility. I care about the small details that make interfaces feel right.
Outside of work I hang out with my cats (Keskus, Lilith, and Makima), read too many books, and occasionally make things just to see if I can. I also speak 4 languages: English, Russian, Finnish, and Chinese, and I cannot decide which one is my favorite. If I'm not at home, you can probably find me at a K-Pop concert or playing Dota 2.
Katja
Keskus
Lilith
Makima
catsExperience
Software Developer
Posti, Finland
Solo developer for Posti’s design system, used by multiple teams across countries for both customer-facing and internal products. I build and maintain reusable React components, co-owned the migration to a more scalable architecture, and translate Figma patterns into polished, accessible UI. My work helps teams ship faster while keeping interfaces consistent, responsive, WCAG-aware, and aligned with Posti’s evolving brand.
Research & Teaching Assistant
Aalto University, Finland
Worked in a cross-functional research team on design-engineering projects focused on accessibility, usability, and color systems. I developed full-stack tools that helped designers evaluate Figma layouts against accessibility guidelines, and contributed to applied research with industry partners including Huawei. Alongside research work, I supported students and users through lectures, workshops, and one-on-one guidance, and co-authored peer-reviewed publications on accessible interaction design.
Teaching Assistant & Junior Researcher
National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russia
Supported students as a teaching assistant and junior researcher, helping them understand course material through seminars, consultations, and practical assignments. Contributed to course development by preparing learning materials and improving class structure, while also supporting research projects through data analysis, literature review, and academic reporting.
Projects
Posti Design System
A React component library helping teams across Posti ship consistent, accessible, brand-aligned interfaces faster.
Mura Journal
A digital personal diary with emotional tracking features.
Lilkus
A fun and interactive app that translates cat sounds into human language.
Publications
CoColor: Interactive exploration of color designs
Proceedings of the 28th International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces, 2023
An intelligent Figma-based color design tool that helps designers explore, assign, and refine colors while considering harmony, saliency, and accessibility.
Designing Harmonic Colour Schemes for Visual Components
Master Thesis, 2022
A designer-controlled recolouring tool for posters and UI layouts, created in collaboration with Huawei, that generates harmonious color schemes from product imagery while preserving the original visual direction.
Personal Brands of ESports Athletes: An Exploration of Evaluation Mechanisms
Higher School of Economics Research Paper No. WP BRP, 2019
A computational research project analyzing how esports organizations and athletes are discussed, compared, and valued by spectators across platforms like Twitch and Reddit.
Media metrics in eSports: the case of dota 2
Extended Abstracts of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play Companion Extended Abstracts, 2019
A computational research project exploring how spectators’ discussions shape the brand value of esports players and teams, including topic patterns, transfer effects, and the relationship between personal and team brands.
Analysis of players transfers in esports. The case of dota 2
Proceedings of the 22nd international academic mindtrek conference, 2018
A mixed-methods research project analyzing Dota 2 player transfers through social network analysis and machine learning, revealing patterns in regional homophily, player mobility, team composition, and role-based transfer dynamics.
Network Analysis of Players Transfers in eSports: The Case of Dota 2
International Conference on Digital Transformation and Global Society, 2018
A network analysis project mapping Dota 2 player transfers between professional teams, revealing how regional structures, team performance, and mobility patterns shape the esports transfer market.