Melek Akan
User Experience Research & Product Design
BEING IDEALISTIC.
Design is an act of idealism. As a designer, I take responsibility for imagining better ways to shape everyday life for society. My role is to challenge the status quo—not for the sake of change, but in pursuit of something greater, something better.
My Super Powers
Where my passions begins...
Creative Thinking
I approach challenges with curiosity and an open mind, finding innovative solutions that push boundaries while staying user-centered.
Empathy
Understanding people is at the heart of my work. I dive deep into user needs, behaviors, and emotions to design experiences that truly resonate.
Methadological
With a structured and analytical approach, I blend qualitative and quantitative research to drive clear, data-backed decisions.
Experiences
UX Researcher & Designer
April 2022 - Present
ORTEC
Zoetermeer, The Netherlands
In this role, my work includes:
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Collaborating closely with Product owners to investigate customer needs and design tailored products.
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Working embedded within multidisciplinary agile teams, building digital products that evolve iteratively.
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Conducting user research and usability testing to understand the deeper needs of end-users.
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Being responsible for stakeholder management, aligning the perspectives of clients, end-users, developers, and the product management team.
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Travelling to international end-user locations to investigate and observe their experience and interactions with our products.
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Facilitating workshops to educate ORTEC employees on the importance of user experience and design thinking.
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Advocating for user research and regularly leading workshops on user experience research & design, creative thinking, and design thinking within the company.
UX Researcher
March 2021 - September 2021
Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute)
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
This project aimed to explore the autonomous delivery robots’ specific perception of the world through various factors: their purpose, intent, state, mood, personality, attention, responsiveness, intelligence, and capabilities, and through this understanding, design unique robot emotions that will foster them to communicate their unique needs. Since autonomous delivery robots have different concerns than people, they require different emotions.
UX Researcher & Designer
December 2018 - February 2021
Atmos UAV
Delft, The Netherlands​
At ATMOS UAV, as a UX designer, I have:
• Conducted user research using qualitative and quantitative methods such as in-depth interviews and co-creation sessions to gain a strong understanding of the end-user and their context of use.
• Empowered the team with user-centred design thinking tools and techniques and advocated for user experience research.
• Collaborated closely with cross-functional teams, including software developers, engineers, and product owners.
• Designed wireframes, interactive prototypes, style guides, and user flows using tools such as Photoshop, Sketch, Illustrator, and Figma to communicate interaction ideas effectively.
• Presented and defended design decisions based on design thinking principles and best practices such as colour theory and Gestalt principles.
• Redesigned the MarLynk software application to improve the user interface and intuitiveness, translating user research and design briefs into the app's look and feel.
Teaching Assistant
January 2021 - April 2021
TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering
Delft, The Netherlands
​In this role, my work included:
Assisting in preparing & helping in teaching the MSc elective course Creative Facilitation of industrial design engineering at TU Delft.
UX Designer
August 2018 - March 2019
Adventures of the ValparaÃso
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
As a UX Designer, my role involved the following:
• Creating sustainable community life concepts through conceptual design ideas.
• Communicating design concepts through sketches, drawings, and illustrations.
• Planning and conducting user research activities to identify user needs and inform persona development.
• Synthesizing research insights to define project scope, goals, and deliverables in collaboration with cross-functional teams.
• Generating actionable insights to support ideation and evaluation of product experiences.​
Testimonials
×´Melek is one of the most hard-working colleagues that I have ever had! During my time working with her at Atoms UAV, she demonstrated a great sense of design, supported by her ability to empathize with users. She has improved and upgraded the interface of Marlynk, the in-house built application for mapping, turned it into a much user-friendly tool. Besides her professional skills, Melek is a strong team player and always brings unique ideas to the table. She is also proactive and self-motivated who constantly improves herself!×´
- Wen Hsiu Wang
Creative and innovative Content Creator and Digital Marketing Professional at Ace&Tate
Let’s
Connect!
Thank you for reading so far!
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If you have any questions, feedback, or just want to chat, or if you’d simply like to learn more about my professional projects, feel free to reach out.
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