Who we are!
Researchers
[Masood Masoodian] [Inkeri Aula] [Agnese Bartolucci] [Viktorija Bogdanova] [Nicola Cerioli] [Elena Comincioli] [Juha Juvonen] [Teemu Korpilahti] [Dohee Lee] [ Laureen Mahler] [Lauri Rummukainen] [Teppo Vesikukka] [Heidi Uppa].
Other Staff
[Patrizia Hongisto] [Jason Selvarajan] [Raphael Weidhaas].
Past Memebers and Students
[Ia Ahl] [Mikko Airikka] [Leah Burns] [Lukasz Geratowski] [Jonatan Hildén] [Antti Honka] [Mikko Illi] [Oskari Kallio] [Kimmo Kauria] [Laura Koivunen] [Veera Krouglov] [Janne Kuisma] [Erik Langinkoski] [Anna Mäkelä] [Sunwha Park] [Tania Rodriguez-Kaarto] [Oona Räyhäntausta] [Toom Tragel] [Laura Valojärvi] [Xinran Wang] [Yuzhou Wang] [Samar Zureik].
Masood Masoodian
...visualization, visual design, visual narratives!
I lead the Aalto Visual Communication Design group. I am interested in designing interactive visualizations to provide effective means of understating information by ordinary people, as well as the use of visual narratives in their various forms to communicate and address societal challenges related for instance to ageing populations, public health and well-being, environmental crises and sustainability. I am also interested in better understanding the role of visual thinking and perception in the design process and creativity in general.
My email: masood.masoodian@aalto.fi
My links: Google Scholar
My links: Publications list
My links: Human-Centred Technology for Sustainability
Heidi Uppa
...design thinking, interactive design, storytelling!
I am a doctoral candidate in the Aalto Visual Communication Design group. I want to develop better tools and methods for a design process to create more meaningful and sustainable brands and packaging solutions. I believe that design thinking, reflective approach and utilisation of creative strategies will help us to move towards inclusive, interactive and sustainable future. My doctoral research is focusing on researching narratives and narrative methods particularly in relation to food.
My email: heidi.uppa@aalto.fi
Nicola Cerioli
...data visualization, complexity, interaction design!
I am a doctoral candidate in the Aalto Visual Communication Design group. I'm interested in the visualization of complex data, to further the understanding of multifaceted phenomena. For this purpose, I study the synergies of design methodologies, mathematical methods and philosophical frameworks. I'm also collaborating as a project researcher on the FINNGEN project, exploring new methods to visualise molecular biology and health care data.
My email: nicola.g.cerioli@aalto.fi
Lauri Rummukainen
...situational awareness, user experience design, user interface design!
I am a doctoral candidate in the Aalto Visual Communication Design group. I aim to further the knowledge of how situational awareness emerges in monitoring situations and what elements are needed in order to achieve situational awareness for people with little technical know-how. Previously, I have co-authored and published and few articles on the subject, but I want to deepen my knowledge with a fresh point of view. I am interested both in the psychological/theoretical side of situational awareness as well as its applicability in concrete user interface design.
My email: lauri.h.rummukainen@aalto.fi
Elena Comincioli
...service design, positive emotions, older adults!
I am a doctoral candidate in the Aalto Visual Communication Design group, and a member of SDS in Affective Sciences at the University of Geneva. My research aims at investigating how to improve the way practitioners design digital services targeted at older adults. I am also actively interested in understanding if positive emotions can pose as a pivotal element in the design process.
My email: elena.comincioli@aalto.fi
Dohee Lee
...social design, visual narrative, older adults!
I am a doctoral candidate in the Aalto Visual Communication Design group. I believe in the combination of design narratives and social aspects. My research aims at developing design strategies for social integration and social well-being of the elderly through the power of storytelling. As a critical and playful communication designer, I'm also interested in designing social innovation by multi-method investigation.
My email: dohee.lee@aalto.fi
Inkeri Aula
...creativity, healthy ageing, sensory ethnography!
I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Aalto Visual Communication Design group, working on the INT-ACT project. I am interested in the meaning of imagination and the senses in people’s experiences and narratives of their life, and in the many forms creativity can take in later life. Previously I have researched the sensory relationships young and ageing people have with their daily environments in European cities and how these have been affected by material and digital changes. In my Ph.D in the field of cultural anthropology I analysed communal, ritual and sensory experiences in the Afro-Brazilian dance-fight-art of capoeira with multi-sited ethnography. My versatile research topics include multi-sensory methodologies, ethnography, environmental relationships, relational ontology, cultural and mythical imaginaries, forest beliefs, utopias, sensory atmospheres, and Afro-Brazilian culture. I am also broadly involved in art and research collaborations.
My email: inkeri.aula@aalto.fi
Laureen Mahler
...visual narrative, design thinking, visual design!
I am a doctoral candidate in the Aalto Visual Communication Design group. My doctoral research is funded by the Aalto University Bioinnovation Center as part of the Cellugami spatial origami packaging project. My research focuses on three-dimensional tessellations and their connection to visual narratives, with an emphasis on the Gestalt theory of unseen space. I am a strong believer in the multifaceted role of the designer as visual storyteller, engineer, collaborator, and maker, as well as the ability of design to forge new approaches to sustainability and communication through practical applications.
My email: laureen.mahler@aalto.fi
Teemu Korpilahti
...icon design, visual design, customer journey!
I am a part-time doctoral candidate in the Aalto Visual Communication Design group and a full-time design director at Crasman. My focus is in Human-Computer Interaction and Human-Centric Design methods. In my doctoral thesis, I am exploring how the user journey method and key visual properties can be translated into guidelines for the design of mobile application icons.
My email: teemu.korpilahti@aalto.fi
Viktorija Bogdanova
...narrative mapping, poetics of place, poem-drawing!
I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Aalto Visual Communications Design group, working on the Creativity and Well-Being project. I am devoted to exploring how the intertwinement of literary methods and narrative drawings can cultivate dialogic listening to the voices of the built and natural environment. In my previous doctoral research, architectural and pedagogical practice, I studied the variations of poem-drawings as processual and analytical instruments in architectural and urban research through design. While dwelling within the experience of a poet-architect, I am passionate to learn and understand how the environment becomes meaningful to souls from transdisciplinary grounds. Collaborative visual storytelling is my dearest, immersive kind of encounter, housing the embodied experience of a place and the inner noetic landscapes with the Other: the independent decision of will, creativity, spiritual sensitivity, understanding of values and love.
My email: viktorija.bogdanova@aalto.fi
Juha Juvonen
...creativity, scientific illustrations, artificial intelligence!
I am a doctoral candidate in the Aalto Visual Communication Design group focusing on exploring artificial intelligence and creativity. My aim is to unravel the creativity processes when collaborating with artificial intelligence and explore its significance to scientific illustrations. I believe AI will transform creativity, and it's important to understand and harness this change to cultivate our creative abilities.
My email: juha.juvonen@aalto.fi
Agnese Bartolucci
...critical design, digital archives, intersectional feminism!
I am a doctoral candidate in the Aalto Visual Communication Design group, focusing on rethinking digital archives through an intersectional feminist lens. My research aims to challenge dominant narratives by developing inclusive ontologies and designing user interfaces that prioritize diversity and marginalised voices. I am committed to future collaborations with cultural institutions to bring these ideas into practice – creating archives that empower underrepresented communities and promote equity. I'm passionate about using design to foster inclusivity and shape more just, representative digital spaces.
My email: agnese.bartolucci@aalto.fi
