# Antonija Pek

> Antonija Pek is a Lead Product Designer and design engineer in Helsinki, Finland, who ships production code. She has 15+ years of product design experience at Yousician, Wolt, and AI startups, and she designed, coded, and shipped Vocabbie, an AI language tutor for iOS and Android, on her own.

## Facts

- Name: Antonija Pek
- Title: Lead Product Designer. Also describes herself as a design engineer and a product designer who ships code.
- Location: Helsinki, Finland. Works with startups in Finland, Europe, and worldwide.
- Current role: Lead Product Designer at Yousician, on the GuitarTuna team (2024 to present).
- Experience: 15+ years of product design. Yousician, Wolt, Wudpecker, Epicbrief, Nosto, Singa.
- Code: React, Svelte, SvelteKit, Next.js, TypeScript on the web; React Native and Expo on mobile; Supabase; Figma Plugin API.
- Vocabbie: AI language tutor on iOS and Android that she designed, coded, and shipped alone. React Native, Expo, TypeScript, Supabase, TanStack Query, Reanimated, RevenueCat, PostHog. Speech grading, AI-generated flashcard decks. Opened in 99 countries, 42 languages studied, paying subscribers in Finland, Sweden, Germany, Slovakia and Croatia.
- Dax: her own AI agent, built on the Claude Agent SDK. Reached over Telegram by voice or text. Watches Vocabbie metrics, runs her calendar, adds todos to TickTick, triages her inbox, drafts posts.
- AI Party: podcast about designing with AI, hosted with Vitali Gusatinsky.
- Writing: Substack "Vibe & Ship" at https://antonijapek.substack.com and https://apek.me/blog.
- Contact: hi@apek.me. Book a call at https://apek.me/book.
- Knows about: Product Design, UX Design, Design Engineering, Frontend Development, Mobile App Development, React Native, Expo, React, Svelte, SvelteKit, TypeScript, Supabase, AI-First Design Workflows, AI Agents, Claude Agent SDK, Design Systems, Prototyping, User Research, UX Writing, Data Analysis, Accessibility, Figma Plugins, Brand and Visual Identity.

## Pages

- [Home](https://apek.me/): overview, Vocabbie, Dax, skills, testimonials, latest writing
- [About](https://apek.me/about): plain-language summary and FAQ
- [CV](https://apek.me/cv): print-ready CV
- [Experience](https://apek.me/experience): work history
- [Projects](https://apek.me/projects): apps, tools, plugins
- [Blog](https://apek.me/blog): articles (RSS: https://apek.me/blog/rss.xml)
- [AI Party podcast](https://apek.me/designpartypodcast)
- [Impact stories](https://apek.me/stories)

## Experience

- [Lead Product Designer at Yousician, 2024 - Present](https://apek.me/experience/yousician): GuitarTuna team, the most downloaded tuning app in the world (100M+ downloads)
- [Senior Product Designer at Wudpecker, 2024](https://apek.me/experience/wudpecker): AI meeting summarization tool, now Userlens
- [Senior Product Designer at Epicbrief, 2023 (contract)](https://apek.me/experience/epicbrief): early-stage AI startup for sales
- [Senior Product Designer at Wolt, 2020 - 2023](https://apek.me/experience/wolt): launched Wolt+ subscription, B2B promotions across Europe
- [Product Designer at Nosto, 2018 - 2020](https://apek.me/experience/nosto): enterprise eCommerce personalization
- [Product Designer at Singa, 2017 - 2018](https://apek.me/experience/singa): karaoke apps for iOS, Android and web

## Projects

- [Vocabbie](https://vocabbie.app) (Mobile app): AI language tutor, live on iOS and Android. Designed, coded, and shipped solo. React Native, Expo, TypeScript, Supabase, TanStack Query, Reanimated, RevenueCat, PostHog.
- [AI Party](https://apek.me/designpartypodcast) (Podcast): Podcast about designing with AI, hosted by Antonija Pek and Vitali Gusatinsky.
- [Period Or Not](https://apek.me/projects/period-or-not) (Mobile app): Private, offline-first period tracker for iOS. No accounts, no servers, no analytics.
- [Pooperton](https://apek.me/projects/pooperton) (Mobile app): Digestive health tracker for iOS, SwiftUI.
- [Monoset](https://monoset.design) (Design system): Minimal, monotone design system: tokens and React components.
- [Perfect Cut](https://antonija.lemonsqueezy.com/checkout/buy/8bb61e4f-1455-426c-80d1-1f9abd25114e) (Tool): Podcast editor that cuts filler words (paid app).
- [Icon Grid Maker](https://apek.me/projects/icon-grid-maker) (Figma plugin): Generates icon grids in Figma.
- [Color Scale](https://apek.me/projects/color-scale) (Figma plugin): Generates color scales from a base color.
- [Name Scrambler](https://apek.me/projects/name-scrambler) (Figma plugin): Anonymizes names and personal data in Figma files.
- [Figma + Vue Starter](https://apek.me/projects/figma-vue-starter) (Open source): Starter template for Figma plugins with Vue.js.
- [React Figma Starter](https://apek.me/projects/react-figma-starter) (Open source): Starter template for Figma plugins with React and TypeScript.

## Blog posts

- [A 50 euro lesson in prerendering](https://apek.me/blog/a-50-euro-vercel-invoice) (2026-08-18): My website is not a one-pager anymore and my hosting bill noticed first
- [New in Vocabbie: think in the language, and merge your decks](https://apek.me/blog/new-in-vocabbie-think-in-the-language) (2026-08-06): Two features that came straight from user emails
- [Summer is supposed to be the slow season](https://apek.me/blog/summer-is-supposed-to-be-the-slow-season) (2026-07-27): Instead I shipped the biggest Vocabbie update so far
- [Design Party is now AI Party](https://apek.me/blog/design-party-is-now-ai-party) (2026-07-03): The podcast is back, with a new name and a narrower focus
- [Good builder, bad marketer](https://apek.me/blog/good-builder-bad-marketer) (2026-06-09): My own AI agent said it to my face. It was right.
- [My AI agent kept forgetting everything. So I gave him a brain](https://apek.me/blog/my-ai-agent-kept-forgetting-everything) (2026-03-27): Adding long-term semantic memory to an open-source agent using Pinecone and local embeddings for exactly $0.
- [I built a 'digital CMO' to escape Meta's UI hell](https://apek.me/blog/i-built-a-digital-cmo-to-escape-metas) (2026-03-11): Why I replaced my marketing dashboard with a CLI script and accidentally offended my human consultant in the process.
- [Designers are shipping code now](https://apek.me/blog/designers-are-shipping-code-now) (2026-02-16): The tools changed, and the handoff is next
- [Vibe coders, set up a local environment](https://apek.me/blog/vibe-coders-set-up-a-local-environment) (2026-02-16): The five-minute setup that separates pros from hobbyists

## Elsewhere

- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/antonijapek
- GitHub: https://github.com/antonijap
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@antonijapek
- Substack: https://antonijapek.substack.com
- X: https://x.com/antonijapek
- Vocabbie: https://vocabbie.app (App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vocabbie-language-learning/id6751135436, Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.apek.vocabbie)
- Dax: https://daxfox.cc
- Monoset: https://monoset.design
- AI Party on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5fsndQmvi4Hl9ababIuqMR
- AI Party on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/fi/podcast/design-party/id1506946568

## FAQ

### Who is Antonija Pek?

I am a Lead Product Designer and design engineer in Helsinki, Finland. I have 15+ years of product design experience at Yousician, Wolt, and AI startups, and I ship production code, not just Figma files. My latest product is Vocabbie, an AI language tutor for iOS and Android that I designed, coded, and shipped on my own.

### Are you a designer or a developer?

Both. I am a product designer who writes and ships production code: React, Svelte, and Next.js on the web, React Native and Expo on mobile. I design in code rather than handing off Figma files.

### Where are you based?

Helsinki, Finland. I work with startups in Finland, across Europe, and worldwide.

### Who built Vocabbie?

I did, alone: brand, interaction design, the React Native code, speech grading, and the release pipeline. Vocabbie is an AI language tutor on iOS and Android, built with React Native, Expo, TypeScript, and Supabase.

### What is Dax?

Dax is the AI agent I built for myself on the Claude Agent SDK. I talk to it over Telegram by voice or text. It watches Vocabbie metrics, runs my calendar, adds todos to TickTick, triages my inbox, and drafts posts in my voice.

### What is the AI Party podcast?

AI Party is a podcast about designing with AI that I host with Vitali Gusatinsky. It is on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and at apek.me/designpartypodcast.

### Where do you write?

On Substack at antonijapek.substack.com (Vibe & Ship) and at apek.me/blog. Topics: designers shipping code, AI agents, and building products solo.

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