Origins
Piotr Golczyk, the founder of Empatyzer, is a manager and marketer with close to twenty years of experience leading people. He worked at small and mid-sized companies, then at an international tech company, where he ran a global, distributed marketing team. Its members ranged from backend developers and analysts to creatives and copywriters, and that mix taught him something fast: the same situation can be read completely differently by different people.
Over the years he looked for answers in coaching, mentoring, a year-long soft-skills program, and tools like DISC, MBTI, Big Five, and the Reiss Motivation Profile. Each one offered real insight into himself and others, but that insight fades fast. It's easy to forget once the training ends, and a detailed profile is easier to remember as a label than as something to actually act on.
The real gap is somewhere else: between knowledge and action. Knowing how people differ is one thing. Knowing how to get your intention across in an actual conversation, without it being misread, is something else entirely, especially since even years of experience don't protect you from the instinct to treat others the way you'd want to be treated.
Empatyzer was born from that gap.
Em brings together what it knows about the user, the other person, and the situation. Before a conversation, it suggests how to communicate and what to watch for, so the intention comes through clearly and doesn't get misread. That's how knowledge about people starts working exactly when it's needed, and how every real conversation can become a lesson in better management.
Empatyzer. Before an important conversation.
02 M
M comes from the name Em and also works as a standalone symbol. Its shape flows into a wave, which becomes the basis for the wider visual language of the brand.
LetterLetter from EmStandalone symbolWave
04 People
The characters show real differences between people: temperament, age, working style and perspective. Empatyzer is a system with room for many different people.
05 Photography
Photography tells the story of people who have to get along: different moods, situations and points of view.
06 Tape
Separate photos can be taped symbolically into one team. The pieces stay different, held together by a shared brand language: Em, M and the wave. The tape is a supporting element of the identity and works alongside the wordmark.
07 Pattern and background
Repeating M creates a pattern. At a larger scale, the same wave builds a background. Both applications grow from the same motif and remain supporting elements of the visual system.
The primary version is the “.empatyzer” wordmark in purple on paper. The reverse (light) version works on purple and other dark fields. The wordmark is one whole, and its short forms are the “.em” mark and the M symbol, described below.
The clear space around the wordmark equals the height of the letter M (marked on the diagram). It stays free of text, other marks and the edge of the format. Minimum wordmark width: 120 px on screen, 25 mm in print. Below that, use the “.em” mark or the M symbol.
The mark adapts to the available width. From 120 px the full wordmark is used, from 48 to 119 px the “.em” mark, below 48 px the M symbol. The thresholds follow the minimum sizes: the mark steps down instead of shrinking below its minimum.
The rule in CSS (container queries): three forms in one container, only one visible at a time.
.logo { container-type: inline-size; }
.logo__wordmark, .logo__em, .logo__m { display: none; }
@container (min-width: 120px) { .logo__wordmark { display: block; } }
@container (min-width: 48px) and (max-width: 119.98px) { .logo__em { display: block; } }
@container (max-width: 47.98px) { .logo__m { display: block; } }The short form of the mark: the dot and the name Em. Used where the full wordmark is too long: icons, avatars, small interface markers, the tape and patterns.
The shortest form of the brand, always in the original geometry of the letter from the wordmark. M works as Em’s avatar, favicon, pattern element and the centre of the wave.
On dark and saturated fields the mark is light (paper). On light fields it is purple. The mark has only these two versions, and the field changes around it.
Nine colours, one base. Purple builds the brand environment; lavender, mist and paper give room to breathe; teal, blue and indigo are supporting fields; yellow and pink are accents with a defined meaning.
The same mark, a different field. Purple for services and business, teal for hospitals and medical, yellow for production.
WCAG values for the most common combinations. Body text needs 4.5:1, large text and graphic elements 3:1.
| Combination | Contrast | Use |
|---|---|---|
| AaPaper on purple | 11.39:1 | Text of any size |
| AaPaper on dark purple | 13.90:1 | Text of any size |
| AaMist on dark purple | 6.01:1 | Secondary text |
| AaPurple on paper | 11.39:1 | Text of any size |
| AaPurple on yellow | 7.87:1 | Text of any size |
| AaPurple on mist | 4.93:1 | Body text (AA threshold) |
| AaPaper on teal | 3.40:1 | Large text and the mark only |
| AaPaper on mist | 2.31:1 | The mark only |
The pattern is the M wave repeated in rows, and the background is the same wave stretched across the full format. Both are shown in use: they fill the frame, and the wordmark stands beside them in a calm zone.
Before an important conversation.
Before an important conversation.
Before an important conversation.
Before an important conversation.
Before an important conversation.
Before an important conversation.
The whole component is described mathematically and generated from parameters. The calm wave: a periodic unit. The excited wave: extrema and Bézier curves with horizontal tangents. The interference: a zig-zag with a power-law envelope. M remains the original letter from the wordmark.
Period P = 155.96 units, amplitude A (peak–trough) = 91.15. Four segments: tall peak → trough → short peak → trough → tall peak. The short peak sits 0.5775·A below the tall one. Control points are given below as fractions of P and A.
| # | c1 (x/P, y/A) | c2 (x/P, y/A) | end (x/P, y/A) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | (0.1295, 0.0000) | (0.1291, 1.0000) | (0.2611, 1.0000) |
| 2 | (0.1271, 0.0000) | (0.0667, -0.5589) | (0.2390, -0.5775) |
| 3 | (0.2000, -0.0216) | (0.1212, 0.5775) | (0.2382, 0.5775) |
| 4 | (0.1220, 0.0000) | (0.1245, -1.0000) | (0.2618, -1.0000) |
y(x)/A ≈ c0 + Σk=1..8 [akcos(2πk·x/P) + bksin(2πk·x/P)]
c0 = 0.5748; a = [-0.1754, -0.4179, -0.0352, 0.0385, -0.0088, 0.0262, 0.0060, -0.0112]; b = [0.0200, -0.0055, 0.0134, -0.0005, -0.0126, 0.0042, -0.0022, -0.0023]
Deviation from the original: max. 0.008% of amplitude (Bézier unit) · eight-harmonic series: max. 1.67%, RMS 0.63%.
Calm wave: deviation from the original max. 0.02% of amplitude. Excited wave: max. 1.58%, RMS 0.58%; the generative rule (half-periods decreasing linearly from 187 to 82 units, peaks and troughs shifting linearly) reproduces its extrema to within ±6 units. Interference: 31 vertices between the junction points, amplitude a₀ + (1 − a₀)·uᵖ, where u grows from 0 at the edge to 1 at the centre. All parameters live in wave-model.json and in the EmWave object.
Both waves breathe: the amplitude changes by a few percent in a 6.5 s rhythm (calm wave) and an 8.2 s rhythm (excited wave), while the junction points with M stay fixed. Without M, the interference trembles. With the system’s reduced-motion setting, the component is static.
The same unit, generated in real time, in the permitted colour combinations. Rows fill the whole field; the current version can be downloaded as SVG or PNG.
One SVG file, one viewBox. The left and right waves are identical in both states. State one: the original M. State two: the interference with its pink gradient. When switching, only the middle changes.
The wordmark is drawn lettering, and typefaces carry the text. Headlines are set in Outfit (300–400), running text in Figtree (400–500). Both typefaces are free (SIL OFL licence), bundled with the page files, and carry a full set of Polish diacritics.
Understand the other person before an important conversation.
Empatyzer helps you understand the other person before an important conversation: their needs, preferences, reactions and perspective. The conversation that follows is deliberate and better attuned. Polish diacritics: ąćęłńóśźż.
Em is the coach inside the product. Her avatar is a circle with the M symbol. The “.em” mark works as a small marker in the interface, and charts take over the palette: teal and indigo on purple, pink for tension.
Twelve characters from one illustration system. Each has a name and appears in one pose. Show them in groups; variety is the point.
Natural light, real workplaces, different moods. Square or near-square crops. Captions below the photo. The .em tape can join photos into a team.
In short: original files, proper contrast, clear space, a calm zone around the mark. Everything else follows from these four rules.
Results, pace, competition. The quarter’s target is what counts.
Relationships, care, consensus. Decisions ripen slowly and are not always spoken.
The lead improvises, the work demands procedures. A contested style.
A machine with a dash of race: procedures, reports and numbers. Decisions are made at the top; news travels down faster than up. Against this background each team has grown its own style.
Relationships, care, loyalty. Risk: decisions dissolve into consensus.
Ideas, trials, freedom. Risk: nothing gets finished or dated.
Results, competition, targets. Risk: people become a means to an end.
Procedures, control, predictability. Risk: news does not travel upward.
Chief executive
control · numbers · distance
Runs the company the way she runs a spreadsheet: everything counted and on time. Orderly to a fault, tough in conversation, unshakeable: afraid of neither decisions nor people. Driven by influence, order and position. Reads people poorly: she sees facts, not states; she treats an evaluation as data and cannot see why anyone would dwell on a sentence that was neutral to her. Grew up in a Polish family business and turned it into a corporation: the boss decides, people speak plainly (by Polish standards), and trust is earned with results.
influence · order · position
poor: sees facts, not states
Poland · the boss decides · speaks plainly · trust earned by results
The position fits the temperament. The cost: she cannot see how her sentences land two floors down.
Chief operating officer
vision · out loud · warmth
Discovers what he thinks by saying it. A head full of new ideas and to-do lists lost somewhere along the way; he draws energy from people, is warm and unshakeable. Driven by curiosity, people and a sense of purpose. Reads people moderately: senses a room brilliantly, the effects of his own words poorly. Grew up in Lagos, studied in London: from home he brought respect for hierarchy and speaking between the lines; he trusts people he knows and treats time flexibly.
curiosity · people · purpose
moderate: senses a room, not the effect of his own words
Nigeria / United Kingdom · the boss decides · between the lines · trusts people he knows
A mismatch: an ideas person in a job made of procedures, between a CEO who wants numbers and teams that take his loose thoughts for orders.
Head of sales
pace · target · loud
Talks fast, decides faster. Full of energy, orderly, tough in conversation; she turns tension into motion. Driven by winning, position and pace. Reads people so-so: understands clients, not quiet people; takes silence for disengagement. Polish, but speaks more plainly than most Poles, goes head-on in a disagreement, and a deadline is a deadline.
winning · position · pace
so-so: understands clients, not quiet people
Poland · speaks plainly · head-on in disagreement · a deadline is a deadline
The position fits. The cost: the team adapts to her pace or disappears from her field of view.
Senior key account manager
results · pressure · specifics
Delivers the numbers and carries the tension in his shoulders. Orderly, tense, tough in conversation, wary of anything new: proven methods, proven people. Driven by position, security and order. Reads people poorly, because he sees other people’s intentions through the lens of threat. A Pole with a head full of hierarchy: never argues upward, explodes downward, usually on the phone.
position · security · order
poor: sees other people’s intentions as threats
Poland · never argues upward · plain-spoken downward · a deadline is a deadline
A good salesman who wants to lead. He competes with Zofia for the same chair and the same right to speak.
Customer success specialist
relationships · direct · attentive
Asks directly and listens to the end. Warm and soft in conversation, open to people and to new things, unshakeable. Driven by people, acceptance and purpose. Reads people well: sees a client’s and a colleague’s perspective equally clearly. American, from Chicago: asks directly and declines without offence, treats the boss as a colleague, and starts trust with the task and quickly moves it to the relationship.
people · acceptance · purpose
good: sees a client’s and a colleague’s perspective
USA · speaks plainly · the boss is a colleague · trust by results, then by knowing you
The role fits. A mismatch with the race in Zofia’s team: the quarter’s target and the client’s good do not always go together, and she absorbs the difference.
Head of product
care · hint · patience
Builds the team with tea and “how are you feeling”. Soft, orderly, quiet, sometimes tense. Driven by caring for others, peace and a good name. Reads people well, but knows what others feel and does not say what she wants herself. Polish: speaks between the lines, wraps criticism in courtesy, trusts people she knows, and values consensus over pace.
care · peace · a good name
good: knows what others feel, does not say what she wants
Poland · between the lines · criticism wrapped · trusts people she knows
A partial fit: she leads people well and decisions less well. Her requests get lost on literal listeners, and her “maybe sometime” is, to her, an order for today.
Product designer
precision · plan · decision
Speaks when she has finished thinking and treats spoken words as decisions. Orderly to a fault, quiet, open to new forms but not to chaos. Driven by order, curiosity and independence. Reads people moderately: understands users better than colleagues. From Cairo, studied in Warsaw: at home people speak between the lines; at work she deliberately chose to speak plainly, to survive between two worlds; the boss’s words are orders to her.
order · curiosity · independence
moderate: understands users better than colleagues
Egypt / Poland · the boss decides · plain-spoken by choice · a deadline is a deadline
The position fits. She needs explicit decisions; Samuel’s loose thoughts become forty screens of mockups.
UX writer
words · sensitivity · tone
Hears the tone before she hears the content. Soft, sensitive, tense, quiet, open to new things. Driven by acceptance, purpose and peace. Reads people well, sometimes too well: she adds intentions where there were none. Polish: speaks between the lines, avoids disagreement, wraps criticism in three paragraphs so as not to hurt anyone.
acceptance · purpose · peace
good, sometimes too good: adds intentions
Poland · between the lines · criticism wrapped · avoids disagreement
The role fits perfectly. A mismatch with direct people: she carries one of Jonas’s sentences around for a week.
Product analyst
literal · data · calm
Words mean to him exactly what they mean. Orderly, unshakeable, quiet, neither tough nor soft in conversation. Driven by order, independence and curiosity. Reads people poorly, not out of ill will but out of literalness: he does not pick up hints because he does not see them. A Pole who by nature speaks and hears plainly; he takes politeness as content, not as tone.
order · independence · curiosity
poor: does not see hints
Poland · hears plainly, by nature · a deadline is a deadline
Excellent at analysis, loses to hints. He takes “when you have a minute” literally and is honestly surprised by the grievance.
Delivery lead
ease · people · improvisation
Brings pastries and solves problems in corridor conversations. Soft, sociable, open to new things, easy-going with plans and unshakeable. Driven by people, a shared table and independence. Reads people well: knows who needs what before they say it. Moroccan, from Lyon: speaks between the lines, trusts people he knows, treats time flexibly and the boss as a colleague.
people · a shared table · independence
good: knows who needs what before they say it
Morocco / France · between the lines · trusts people he knows · flexible time
A mismatch: an improviser leading a team that lives on procedures and deadlines. The team likes him; the processes do not.
Implementation engineer
direct · structure · quality
Says “this doesn’t work” and considers it a compliment to the listener. Orderly, unshakeable, tough in conversation, neither quiet nor loud in company. Driven by order, rules (they exist to be followed) and independence. Reads people so-so: understands arguments, not tones. Dutch, from Rotterdam: delivers criticism plainly, treats the boss as a colleague, sees disagreement as normal work, and a deadline is a deadline.
order · rules · independence
so-so: understands arguments, not tones
Netherlands · criticism plainly · the boss is a colleague · disagreement is work
Technically a perfect fit. His honesty sounds like an attack in Poland, and Polish softness sounds to him like having no opinion.
Front-end developer
energy · idea · tomorrow
Three ideas a minute and no deadline in the calendar. A head full of new things, easy-going with plans, sociable, soft, sometimes tense. Driven by curiosity, motion and independence. Reads people moderately: understands them when he stops, and he rarely stops; in conflict he goes quiet so as not to say something he will regret. A Pole from Generation Z: speaks plainly, treats the boss as a colleague, time flexibly, and “why?” is a question to him, not rebellion.
curiosity · motion · independence
moderate: understands people when he stops
Poland (Gen Z) · speaks plainly · the boss is a colleague · flexible time
A creative fit. Plans and deadlines hurt him, which makes conversations with Amira hard and with Karim too easy.
