HCI Researcher · Design Engineer · PhD
I study how people understand emerging tech — then design and build products for them.
Seven years across web3, healthcare, e-commerce and finance — from peer-reviewed HCI research to shipped AI interfaces, hardware and brand.
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0+awards
Work
Research-informed products — from live AI and marketplace SaaS to phygital hardware and Web3 health data.
Mira
Auditing and rebuilding a live AI resale assistant
A chat-based assistant that searches secondhand marketplaces and judges fair prices.
Spacio
Redesigning an events marketplace for professional hosts
Led product design as the platform shifted from consumer bookings to organizer-facing SaaS — repositioning the experience, a custom design system, and mobile.
CipherPal
Giving users sovereignty over their health data
An encrypted, user-owned health-data companion for an anti-stress device — records on Polygon, shared on your terms.
Vera
Teaching speech AI to hear atypical voices
I ran it end to end: HCI research, patient datasets, model training, cloud inference, and a shipped Android transcription app.
Plotline
Managing projects on a canvas, not a checklist
A visual roadmap tool — map tasks, dependencies, and timelines spatially. Built in 24 hours when flat PM tools couldn't keep up.
InTempo
Turning rhythm into an anti-stress phygital experience
A rhythm-based anti-stress “phygital” game — tap the beat on your phone or a tactile case. Lexus Design Award finalist.
Maya Labs
Making zero-knowledge image provenance usable
Sign, edit and verify image authorship on-chain — an MVP that makes zero-knowledge provenance usable.
Claire Health
Building a unified brand for a diagnostics platform
Brand and product for a diagnostics platform — web + mobile apps, email, and a partner-site redesign under one identity.
Taxi Courses
Teaching drivers safety through illustrated mobile learning
An illustrated mobile learning platform teaching drivers language, safety and traffic rules for a local municipality.
About
I’m Polina — an HCI researcher and design engineer with a PhD and seven years shipping across web3, e-commerce, education, finance and healthcare. I like problems that don’t fit a template: new hardware, on-chain products, AI interfaces, where rigour and craft both matter.
I started in architecture school. That training is still how I look at a product: people first, then the structure that supports them, then the form it takes.
I write papers on whether people will actually use a new tool. Then I sit down and make the interface, the prototype, sometimes the brand around it.
Research
- 10+ peer-reviewed publications
- 30+ citations
Recognition
- InTempo — 10+ awards
- Lexus Design Award finalist
- ACM-W Grant by Google
Selected clients
- Dolce & Gabbana
- UniCredit
- LivePerson
Capabilities
- HCI Research & Evaluation
- AI Product Design & Engineering
- UX / UI & Design Systems
- Service Design & Prototyping
- Web3 · AR/VR · 3D
Architectural past
I studied architecture for five years. There I learned to put what I see, and what I come up with, on paper.
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Skulls Graphite
Drapery Graphite
Nikolskaya Street Marker
Still life Watercolor
Ionic volute Hatching
Historical Museum Marker
Drawings
On paper
Sculpture study Graphite
Research
My research informs what I build; my products test what I study. Peer-reviewed work on human-centred blockchain, wearables and emerging-tech adoption.