I am a UX and interaction design researcher and strategist working in the area of human-centred design. I currently work as UX Lead at the Centre for systems, Danish Department of Economics, where I lead the UX research and design of the Danish state economic and HR systems. I develop the UX strategy and implement relevant UX methods, processes and principles. Moreover, I establish the UX Lab, mentor UX Juniors and supervise UX processes and development.
I hold a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and have previously worked as a researcher (NTNU, ITU), design lead (Hybrid Play and Games II ApS), CEO (Space on Earth ApS), external lecturer (ITU) and consultant (SDU) and appointed examiner (KU, RUC, SDU, ITU). In addition, I have an early career as a musician and music teacher. This work is also showcased on this website.
I am a designing researcher, meaning that I primarily research and study user behaviour and use cases of designs and technologies. However, because my research aims to produce design knowledge, I find much value in exploring and communicating research results and findings through sketching and prototyping design ideas. As part of this work, I have also created commercial designs, focusing mainly on research. That is why research and design are intertwined in some of the projects presented at this site.
As a researcher, my foci are user experiences, sensory and perceptual systems, and playful interactions. I am keen on bridging the digital and physical worlds with a focus on bodily interactions, physical, perceptual, and intercorporeal. I thrive by exploring new grounds, researching opportunities for products and business concepts, and refining existing products. My research methods include qualitative and quantitative, and my approach is experimental and playful while being highly structured and focused, meaning that I follow the rules for excellent research and design while, at the same time, challenging them to break new ground and make creative leaps.
My research is positioned within the human-centred design and research tradition with an emphasis on developing design strategies for enhanced user/player experience, while I also do exploratory user research defining user needs, problems and requirements. I use qualitative methods to dive deep into issues, such as observations, interviews, co-design workshops and probes. At the same time, I get a broader picture of the scope and problem at hand using quantitative methods, such as surveys, statistics and user metrics, e.g., time to completion, leaves, moves, etc. And, of course, user testing in the lab and the wild.
Because the user/player experience is central to my research and design practice, I am grounded theoretically in phenomenology (the study of perception and experience) and neuroscience. While these are two different fields, they draw heavily on each other, as is evidenced in Dan Zahavi’s work and the Enactive Approach community. I have written several articles grounded in these theories – check out my research publications.
Personal Background
My interest in digital media was evoked more than 15+ years ago when I started designing websites for my bands. I programmed my first website using Macromedia Flash (those were the days ;)) – and HTML and CSS. After teaching myself to programme and make animations and websites, I discarded my musical career and started my UX research journey commencing my studies at the IT University. At ITU, I developed my passion for UX, embodied systems, pervasive games and ubiquitous computing. From that time, my interests have expanded from then to now also cover VR and AR, including, for instance, binaural sound technologies and bodily extensions/human-machine integration.
I love rollerskating and renovating my house, and I am a devoted cultural spirit who always wants to understand other cultures, their people and rituals. Because what would our world be without its great diversity and the people creating it?
I hope you enjoy exploring my work.