Jalita Aspelin — Product Design Lead · Head of Design · AI
I design products where the hard part isn't how they look. It's figuring out what needs to happen, why it matters to the business, and how to turn that into something people actually want to use.
Most recently, I was Head of Design at Mailbird, working directly with the CEO and leading product, UX, brand, and growth on a lean design team for a 4.7 million-user SaaS product. I rebuilt the Windows flagship, co-designed the Mac client, led research that identified a major onboarding drop-off, and designed an in-product AI image generator end-to-end.
I bring strategy, commercial thinking, and hands-on craft together. I care about the customer experience, but also conversion, revenue, retention, systems, and what it takes to actually get the work shipped.
And AI is now part of how I work, not a separate "AI project." I use it to research, explore, prototype, and build, and I'm interested in what happens when those workflows become part of the way an entire design team works.
I didn't start out as a designer. I started in marketing at Agence France-Presse in Paris, selling sports media products into international markets. Then came three years of digital project management in London agencies, where I worked with brands like Jamie Oliver, Paul Smith, the Natural History Museum and Harley-Davidson.
Then I moved to Shanghai and launched a US EdTech franchise in China. Looking back, those years probably taught me more about design than I realized. How businesses actually work. How decisions get made. How differently people can see the same thing. And how little use there is in making something beautiful if nobody understands why they need it.
I moved into design full-time at Columbia Road in Finland and never really looked back. Since then I've worked across Europe, the US, South Africa and Asia, in agencies, consulting, startups and in-house teams. Over 100 projects across B2B, enterprise, consumer products, eCommerce, and digital experiences.
Some have been tiny. Some have involved 50 people across four countries. I've designed mobile ordering systems built on 21 microservices, global digital experiences across 32 countries, eCommerce products, brand systems, and most recently AI experiences inside a 4.7 million-user SaaS product.
Outside digital, I make things with my hands. I've run a studio and gallery on South Africa's Garden Route, exhibited a wallpaper collection at Decorex Cape Town, and made murals for high-end interiors. It keeps me close to materials, craft, and the joy of making.
Apparently, I don't know how to stop making things. And I'm happiest when I can create.
I don't think leadership means getting further away from the work. I like setting direction, creating clarity, giving people room to own their work, and getting involved when the problem needs senior craft or a difficult decision.
I've led designers and multidisciplinary teams in agencies and in-house environments, and I've learned that good design teams need more than good taste. They need clear priorities, useful feedback, strong standards, and enough context to make good decisions without waiting for permission.
My job is to make the team better and the work better. Sometimes that means coaching. Sometimes it means challenging the brief. Sometimes it means opening Figma and doing the work myself.
Commercial thinking. Strategic direction. Hands-on craft.
I understand design as part of the business, not something that happens beside it. I've worked on acquisition, conversion, retention, lifecycle, eCommerce and subscription products, and I care about whether the work changes something measurable.
At Mailbird, a product redesign contributed $800K in additional revenue over four months. At Happy Socks, a product-page redesign lifted US conversion by 33%. I also led the creative behind Mailbird's highest-revenue campaign in its 12-year history.
But the numbers aren't the whole story. The job is understanding what is actually driving them, finding the right problem, and making something people want to use.
Fifteen years at the intersection of commercial strategy, brand, and product.
High-level direction. Hands-on craft. Zero lost in translation.
I've designed AI products, but I'm equally interested in AI as part of the design process itself.
I look at how we can use the technology to unleash what designers are actually good at: judgement, taste, curiosity and problem-solving, rather than simply making the existing process faster.
I use AI across research, synthesis, exploration, prototyping and production. The interesting opportunity isn't simply making individual designers faster. It's designing workflows and systems that let an entire team explore more, learn faster and get to better work.
That's where I want to push next.
She's one of those people that everybody took a shine to.
Her feedback was the kind that helps you clarify your own thinking.
A rare ability to bridge the gap between great aesthetics and real business results.
Jalita has a fantastic work ethic and delivers top-quality work across all digital categories.
She doesn't just make things look better — she makes them clearer.
Highly valuable recommendations that transformed our customer journey.
A warm, generous leader who genuinely cares about her people and the quality of the work. I'd recommend her in a heartbeat.
Her strongest skill is combining brand thinking with digital experience.
If you have the chance to work with her, take it.
One of our best case studies — on deadline, on budget, uncompromised creative.
Combined with a killer taste.
Given us completely new ways of working.
Jalita is a lovely person to work with and learn from, and getting her on your team is a win for everyone involved.
Highly experienced in Agile and Kanban, and generous in helping the whole team work better. Calm, supportive and positive under pressure.
A wallpaper and mural collection exhibited at Decorex Cape Town, commissioned by interior designers and private clients along the South African coast.
