I am a young User Experience and Service Designer with a keen interest in how Human entities behave around Non-human entities. I have a masters degree in Design Strategy and Innovation Management and a bachelors degree in User Experience Design.
Key Skills
Strategic Design Management
- use UCD and design thinking to get competitive advantage
Gamification of user behaviour
- use carefully carfted and sequenced incentives to guide users behaviour and align it with business recquirements
Product Service Systems Design
- craft and plan out a service which spans all the touch points and optimize it for maximum effciency
Big Data Strategy
- use aggregated numbers for many many users to understand trends and optimize strategy to meet objectives
User Centered Design Methodologies
- championing user needs and empathy driven evaluation and creation of interfaces
Rapid and Hi-Fidelity Prototyping
- the entire gamut of prototyping techniques from quick and dirty whiteboarding and paper prototypes to high fidelity complex protoypes with animation in Axure
Design Driven Innovation
- use design thinking to innovate and disrupt positively in any domain
Mobile UXD
- Design interfaces for all major mobile and tablet platforms
Visual Design
- creating pixel perfect visual comps for different media
Ethnography
- in situ and remote observation of users interacting with interfaces to understand their comprehension of an interface and subsequent behaviour around it
HTML / CSS
- I understand the medium used most often to create interfaces and it helps me bend the rules to make things better
User Research & Testing
- understanding user recquirements through research and then testing our products with real people by observing them finish specific tasks in a controlled environment
Education
Bachelors in Communication Design
Major : User Experience Design
2007 - 2011
Symbiosis Institute of Design, Pune
Symbiosis International University.
Masters in Design Strategy
Major : Service Design
2012 - 2013
POLIDESIGN , Consorzio di Politecnico di Milano , Milan
Politecnico di Milano.
Experience
Sr Product Designer - Zipline Inc
April 2021 - Current
Part of a very nascent design department, I was hired as the first product designer and led the platform redesign. I built the design system and facilitated the migration from a base bootstrap UI to the new designs. Helped expand the team to 6 people, actively participating in recruiting and setting up processes for the design team.
Head of Design - Common Wealth Retirement
September 2020 - April 2021
I was the first design hire for the startup and took over the reins from a studio. Removed inconsistencies and severe interaction design problems from the product to bring it to market. Collaborated with the Product, Tech, and Marketing leadership to facilitate MVP roll-out by balancing out the desired ease-of-use and development efforts; while navigating changes due to market forces and changes in product direction.
Design Strategy Lead - TELUS Digital
August 2017 - September 2020
I lead the design team for the My Telus experience at Telus Digital, one of Canada’s largest telecom services providers. The My Telus team comprises 13 designers across 6 squads working on areas like usage reporting, billing, plans, and devices, etc. I led the redesign of the My Telus redesign and unified the experience for business and consumers and also launched several self-serve projects for business saving 3Million+ in OPEX for business support teams. I am also part of the governing body that maintains the Telus design system and design direction team that works on the guidelines and processes followed by the design teams in Telus Digital.
Owner / Principal Design Consultant at Squareviking Inc
April 2017 - Current
After my last job I decided to enter the consulting arena and setup Squareviking Inc. and work as a freelance User Experience and Strategy Consultant. About Squareviking :
Squareviking Inc, is a design and innovation consultancy that reimagines people’s relationships with the digital and physical world around them. We use the power of design to create services people love. By combining a human-centered approach with robust technology, we work with startups and SME’s to make complex systems simple and elegant. Founded in 2017, Squareviking is based out of Toronto, Canada and works with companies around the world.
Sr. UX Designer at Uberflip Inc
August 2016 - March 2017
Facilitating the process of establishing the company as a Content Experience Platform, conducted user research
and usability studies for the various parts of the "backend" systems i.e. the part of the app that marketers use to manage their content. I also designed and helped oversee thedevelopment of the sales enablement endeavors called "Uberflip Extensions" for Chrome as well as Outlook. Started auditing the design flaws and creating a unified design language across the different pages removing inconsistencies and flaws.
UX Designer at Qubole Inc
December 2015 - July 2016
I worked on the redesign of Qubole's key product offerings, trying to make it more conducive to use by Data Analysts and other non-technical users. Created a unified product language and distill it into a Design Guideline so that the entire UI team can create coherent software across the product. I also set up a user research practise through remote testing and observation methods.
Sr. Interaction Designer at 24[7] Inc
March 2014 - November 2015
I worked on several facets of 24-7’s software suite used by voice agents and the management to provide assistance through web chat, phone and IVR channels. Most prominently I contributed to several reporting workflows ( static reports and dashboards). I also worked with the Data Sciences Group here on several pilots to improve the system design and agent workflows.
Freelance User Experience Designer
July 2011 - Current
I have been working on several projects spanning mobile platforms, branding, usability consulting, Information architecture etc.
User Experience Designer at Ameya Infocom
August 2013 - February 2014
I was working on several projects as the sole UX Designer in the company. One of the projects is “addabol” a social app which focusses on SoLoMo aspects of bringing friends together, another app I was working on is “Fatafat” a news app that brings you quick bites of customized news.
Lead UX Designer at Sprinklr.com
March 2013 - June 2013
I was working on Sprinklr’s Social Media Management System which helps large corporations manage their myriad social media channels and multitude of accounts for various silos inside the companies and geographies.
Innovation Management Intern at Barilla SpA, Parma, Italy
August 2012 - February 2013
I was working on pilot projects which aren’t yet part of barilla main business, the project involve company’s efforts to turn from a products company to a products plus service company. I work primarily as service design and innovation consultant.
User Experience Intern at Infinitely Beta
April 2011 - June 2011
I worked on a new platform which would help user get online support in a new and improved manner, incorporating social media and semantic data components. ( Currently operating as Helpshift.com)
Mobile User Experience Intern at Fortune Cookie Pvt Ltd
January 2011 - March 2011
I worked on about 10 mobile apps targeted at Indian consumers with middle level (embedded OS)
and high level (android) cell phones
User Experience Intern at Social Web Factory
July 2010 - December 2010
I worked on the entire concept building, IA, visual design and branding for the site which has just recently been launched as "Viralmint.com" after a pivot.
User Experience Intern at Truesparrow Systems (Fab.com)
April 2010 - June 2010
I worked on a lot of different components for the website as well as on the iphone app for fabulis.com which was a social networking site for the LGBT community.
Awards and Recognition
Most impactful talk
24 [7] Design Summit 2014
- I was awarded the most impactful talk where I talked about the importance of high fidelity prototypes to improve communication between designers and programmers
Most innovative Degree Project
B.Des batch of 2011
- I was awarded the most innovative degree thesis in my graduation year at the Symbiosis Institute of Design
Best in Category
TLABs Designathon 2013
- recognized as the best designathon entry from my problem category at the designathon.