Product Designer · Copenhagen, DK

I've been in the tiny chair.
Now I want to design for it.

Hej. Hallå. Hi. Hullo. I'm Andrea, a finlandssvensk Product Designer and a parent who has toured nurseries across Edinburgh and Copenhagen. Ten-plus years across product design, UX and research, and a lot of curiosity about the humans on both ends of the screen.

Download my CV ↓

Shipped complex digital products for

Shelter ScotlandNHS ScotlandCarbon TrustScottish GovernmentVisitScotland
Why hire me

Six things I bring to a team

UX strategy & product design

Translating complex business and user needs into clear, scalable digital solutions.

User research & testing

Planning and running moderated and unmoderated testing, and turning insight into action.

Product discovery

Shaping foundational concepts and core flows, informed by a long-standing curiosity about human behaviour.

Accessibility & inclusive design

Embedding WCAG-aligned practices so products are usable by everyone, not just the average user.

Design leadership

Mentoring designers and researchers, and leading multidisciplinary teams from discovery to delivery.

Stakeholder management

Aligning senior leadership, delivery teams, and external partners around one roadmap.

In numbers

A few things worth knowing before the call

6 moUX Designer → Product Lead at Shelter Scotland
8person multidisciplinary team led end to end
40+interviews run for NHS Scotland's cervical screening project
10+years across product design, UX and research
Experience

Where I've done this before

Product Designer · Freelance

Jan 2025 — Present
Copenhagen, DK (Remote)
  • Designed and improved end-to-end product experiences for clients including Tabatwo and Boxmove, from discovery through prototyping and testing.
  • Redesigned Tabatwo's payment flow, balancing usability with customer trust and security requirements ahead of launch.
  • Mapped end-to-end journeys across multiple user types to simplify the experience and surface dependencies.
  • Helped Tabatwo achieve Apple App Store approval during a three-month product design engagement.

Product Lead · Shelter Scotland

Jul 2019 — Oct 2024
Edinburgh, UK
  • Promoted within 6 months from UX Designer to Senior UX Designer, working up to Product Lead.
  • Led an eight-person multidisciplinary team of UX designers, content designers, developers and researchers.
  • Owned and evolved Shelter Scotland's design system, improving consistency and accessibility across services.
  • Championed WCAG accessibility, embedding inclusive design practice into every digital product.
  • Led the digital roadmap, prioritising user and organisational needs across housing advice, fundraising and campaigns.

Senior User Researcher · NHS National Services Scotland

Aug 2021 — Sep 2022
Edinburgh, UK
  • Led user research and prototyping to improve access to cervical screening, focusing on minority groups.
  • Prototyped a design solution to address cervical screening health inequalities in West Lothian.
  • Navigated a large, complex organisation to gain access to key stakeholders and healthcare professionals.

Design & Digital Coordinator · The Carbon Trust

Jun 2015 — Dec 2017
London, UK
  • Began as an intern for the Web Manager before taking on the role as the first in-house Design & Digital Coordinator.
  • Managed CMS (Umbraco) and maintained microsites.
  • Designed print materials, online marketing content and HTML emails.
  • Analysed web performance and recommended improvements.
Earlier: UX Designer at Dentsu Creative (Whitespace) working with Scottish Government, Sustrans, Business Gateway and VisitScotland — plus roles at Designit and The Index Project. Full history in the CV.
Why Famly

From both sides of the tiny chair

I spent my own early years sitting in a tiny chair in California. And now I have a nearly 3 year old daughter who sits in a tiny Artek chair at home in Copenhagen. What draws me to Famly is the opportunity to design a product where better digital experiences can create more time and space for human connection.

As a parent myself, I understand how much communication, coordination and admin surrounds childcare and how valuable it is when technology quietly makes that easier. I believe in Famly's values of bringing joy, play, connection and kindness to this world.

So there is time for what matters.
How I work now

AI changed what I consider my job to be

I started designing when Sketch was still the main tool, and much of the craft was in producing the design itself. That's shifting further towards design direction: understanding the problem, finding the solutions, then using AI to explore and build faster. It creates more room to test, learn and play instead of getting attached to the first idea. It also frees up my time to focus on what matters: human experience.

Faster production makes design judgement matter more, not less. I still need to understand the behaviour behind an interaction, keep it consistent with the design system, consider accessibility, and decide what feels clear, useful and human. This mockup, for one, went from concept to clickable with Claude rather than starting in Figma.

"
I had the pleasure of working with Andrea Dahlén during a critical phase of product development at Tabatwo. What stood out most was Andrea's ability to balance user experience thinking with practical execution. She ran comprehensive user testing, identified actionable improvements, and worked collaboratively with our development team to ensure designs were technically feasible. Andrea also helped us clarify fundamental product concepts that became central to our platform's direction. She approaches design work methodically, focusing on user flows and requirements before diving into visual polish. This made collaboration efficient and kept the team aligned on what mattered most. I would gladly work with Andrea again and recommend her to any team building user-centered products.
Mariano AlesandroCo-Founder & CTO, Tabatwo
Toolkit

Where I'm strongest

UX Strategy & Product Design User Research & Testing Product Discovery Accessibility & WCAG Design Systems Enterprise & Healthcare UX Design Leadership & Mentoring Stakeholder Management Agile & Lean UX Cross-functional Collaboration

Education

  • Professional Certificate in UI Design — UX Design Institute
  • UX Design, Lean Methodology — LCC, UAL
  • MA Design & Environment — Goldsmiths, University of London
  • BA Design & Business — KEA Copenhagen

Languages

  • English — Native
  • Danish — Fluent
  • Swedish — Fluent

Off the clock

  • Foraging at my Finnish summerhouse, writing, running, gigs, and time with my daughter.