About Alisan Atvur

Since 2007, Alisan Atvur has partnered with Fortune 100 companies, universities, non-profits and start-ups where he lead strategic innovation programs, service design initiatives, and NPD (new product development) projects.

 

Work History

Alisan began his professional career in 2007 as an information architect & web designer for US clients. Two years later, he joined Apple where he taught educational workshops to consumers and small businesses in the Atlanta area.

After becoming a certified Apple product professional (as well as participating in the rollout of retail customer services), Alisan joined InReality (an experience design consultancy) in 2009 as the company’s first interaction designer. In 2010, he was promoted to director of strategy where he helped the consultancy establish one of the US’s first service design practices. His work with clients such as Tempur-Pedic and The Home Depot pioneered new forms of user experience and service design frameworks, influencing the customer’s experience and the company’s business goals.

In 2011, Alisan joined the San Francisco studio of Frog, the award-winning design and innovation consultancy. As a senior interaction designer, he lead the user experience vision and work for clients in various industries.

In 2013, he joined the global service design consultancy Propelland as the executive director of design research. His work with groups such as Kaiser Permanente, The Coca-Cola Company, and BBVA resulted in international attention and recognition from groups such as Core 77.

In 2014, Alisan joined the R&D team at Novo Nordisk A/S as a senior user research lead where he directs design research and innovation initiatives for new products and services.

In 2020, Alisan was promoted to the role of principal UX researcher, marking the first UX research specialist scientist in Novo Nordisk’s history. Later that year, he and his colleagues were awarded with 2nd and 3rd place Design Value Awards from the Design Management Institute.

In 2022, he was awarded with the “Outstanding Leadership in Healthcare” Award at the Fall 2022 Health 2.0 Conference in Dubai.

Teaching Experience

Since 2009, Alisan has shared professional lectures and lead workshops in eight countries and numerous universities including MIT , the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the California College of the Arts.

Alisan was an adjunct professor at The Creative Circus from 2011-2012 where he taught graduate students the fundamentals of user experience design and strategy. His relocation to San Francisco prevented him from continuing his work with the university.

Public Service

Alisan regularly contributes to the design community as a volunteer, a mentor, and an advisor. Currently, he is an associate editor of Touchpoint: A Service Design Journal and an advising researcher at the Copenhagen Institute of NeuroCreativity.

Previously, he was a professional mentor who supported startups at Mozilla, graduate students at Danish Technical University, and junior professionals in the Information Architecture Institute.

Education

Alisan holds a master’s degree in philology and a bachelors degree in interdiscplinary studies. His academic research focus areas include artificial intelligence, instructional design, education, and psychology. Alisan graduated first in his class at from the University of Georgia.

Additionally, Alisan’s education includes post-graduate work at the University of Oxford where studied anthropological user research methods. He also attended New York University where he was trained in professional methods in counselling vocational psychology, and the ethics in psychology.

Previous Speaking Engagements

Guest Lectures at Universities

Current Employers & Affiliations

Alisan Atvur is a principal UX researcher and design catalyst at Novo Nordisk A/S.

Former Employers & Affiliations

Personal

Alisan lives in Denmark with his family. He enjoys making coffee, reading lyric poetry, sharing chocolate, watching English & American comedies, and learning about men’s fashion.