Taru Muhonen
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Bristol, United Kingdom
Toptal member since March 22, 2019
Taru has over 10 years of experience as a designer in startups and digital agencies. She can take a design from initial stakeholder interviews to high-fidelity production-level applications. During the last nine years, Taru has focused on virtual and augmented reality design, working in a game engine to produce high-quality immersive experiences for both consumers and businesses.
Portfolio
Green Mountain VR Tour
Teatime Showrooms
Work Experience
Senior Designer | Lead Designer
Ultraleap
- Led and mentored design for cutting-edge hand-tracking interactions and demo experiences.
- Analyzed the UX of the products and led the production of testing applications, creating user-centered metrics for machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI).
- Informed C-level stakeholders and the ML research team on the current and future use cases of hand tracking and gestural interactions.
Lead Designer
Realworld One
- Led a team of XR designers (four direct reports, six designers).
- Coordinated the creation of a virtual reality design system from scratch—from zero to company-wide adoption.
- Contributed as a senior IC while managing a team, leading design for XR training experiences.
AR Guidelines Designer
Lenovo
- Acted as a lead author of augmented reality (AR) design guidelines.
- Managed UI/UX design for technically complex wearable AR headset features (SLAM and spatial mapping).
- Planned and conducted user research on AR developer experience - creating a research plan, interviewing partner developers (ISVs), collecting insights, and creating stakeholder reports.
Interaction Designer, Co-founder
Teatime Research
- Created a wide range of different types of immersive experiences mainly for B2B customers.
- Involved in over 20+ VR and AR projects, using devices ranging from HTC Vive to AR-enabled smartphones.
- Created low-fidelity mockups, prototypes, and final assets in a game engine (Unity).
- Held customer interviews and was involved in projects in various different industries, such as architecture and engineering.
- Traveled abroad to showcase virtual reality experiences (Taipei, Taiwan).
UX Designer
Futurice
- Led UX, UI, and service design for mobile and web applications for customers ranging from local startups to multinational companies.
- Acted as CTO for Futulabs for 1 month for the internal initiative for emerging technologies.
- Converted UI of an existing Android and iPhone application to Windows Phone, following the platform user interface guidelines.
- Used Futurice's Lean Service Creation framework to advance the Spice program - the internal initiative for promoting open source development and contributions.
- Designed a smart transit pilot application that was published for iOS and Android.
UX Designer, Co-founder
Coniel
- Led the design of a learning management system for students and teachers.
- Held workshops together with the stakeholders to gather feedback.
- Designed the information architecture of the platform.
- Created support materials such as video recordings.
Education
Master's Degree in Human-technology Interaction
University of Tampere - Tampere, Finland
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
University of Tampere - Tampere, Finland
Skills
Tools
Adobe Photoshop, Sketch, HoloLens, Blender, Substance Designer, Git, InVision, Adobe Experience Design (XD), Manufacturing, Arch Viz, Google Analytics, MeshLab, Unreal Engine, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Power BI
Platforms
Windows, Oculus Rift, PC, Android, iOS, WordPress, Windows Phone, Microsoft, Figma
Languages
HTML, SCSS, CSS, C#
Industry Expertise
Real Estate, Architecture, Education, Transportation & Shipping
Other
App UI, Web UX, App UX, Human-computer Interaction (HCI), Virtual Reality (VR), Virtual Reality App Design, Augmented Reality (AR), User Flows, HTC Vive, Mixed Reality (MR), Interaction Design (IxD), App Design, UI Design, UX Design, User Experience (UX), Foundation CSS, MVP Design, Wireframing, Prototyping, Immersive Experiences, 3D, Emerging Technologies, Real Estate UI, VR Interfaces, AR Interfaces, Product Design, Digital Product Design, Unity, Unity3D, Game Assets, Information Architecture (IA), Storyboarding, Workshop Facilitation, UX Workshops, Design Workshops, Production Management, Visual Design, Microsoft HoloLens, Startups, Personas, Public Speaking, Agile UX, 3D Lighting, Unity Game Assets, Responsive, Responsive Web Apps, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Product Strategy, User Interviews, Stakeholder Interviews, Bootstrap UI, FoundationPress, Web App Design, Data Visualization, UX Prototyping, UI Prototyping, ZURB Foundation, ARCore, Project Leadership, 360-degree Media, Data Centers, Virtual Tours, 3D Mockups, BIM for AEC, Building Information Modeling (BIM), Science, Point Clouds, Mesh Optimization, Engineering, SaaS Design, Web UI Design, User Onboarding, Screencasting, Print Design, Educational Portals, Software as a Service (SaaS), Mobile UI Design, Public Transportation, Mobility, Mobile UI, Hybrid Apps, Mobile UX Design, Architectural Visualization, Photogrammetry, Business Design, Shaders, Unity Shaders, Particle Systems, Particle Effects, Android UI Design, iOS UI Design, Drone Piloting, Drones, Haptic Feedback, Android Design Guidelines, ShapesXR, Meta Quest, Spatial Design, Development, Usability Testing, Programming
Experience
- Virtual Reality (VR) - 9 years
- Virtual Reality App Design - 9 years
- UI Design - 7 years
- UX Design - 6 years
- Augmented Reality (AR) - 4 years
- Human-computer Interaction (HCI) - 4 years
- Unity Game Assets - 3 years
- Unity - 3 years
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