Jun 2024 – Present · 1 yr 11 mos · India · On-site

Jun 2022 – Jun 2024 · 2 yrs · Bangalore Urban, Karnataka, India

• Niyo provides digital savings accounts and other banking services to travellers in India. It works with banks to help them deliver a more modern and expansive user experience and features. It also operates a wealth management product to help users invest in mutual funds and domestic equities.

May 2022 – Jun 2022 · 1 mo · Karnataka

• Time for self, kids, parents, reading and going slow :-)

Mar 2018 – May 2022 · 4 yrs 2 mos · Bengaluru Area, India

Apr 2017 – Feb 2018 · 10 mos · Bengaluru Area, India

• Consumer UED

Jun 2016 – Apr 2017 · 10 mos · Bangalore

• Drove Engagement, adoption, monetization focussed initiatives for LetsVenture Mobile, Web Applications by Design Centric Methods.

Oct 2015 – Jun 2016 · 8 mos · Bangalore

• Drove User Centered "Discovery Experiences" for Inmobi Commerce platform.

May 2012 – Sep 2015 · 3 yrs 4 mos · Bangalore, Noida

• Designed Vliv-Videofun a video-editing app, that touched top 500 apps in photo/video category in IOS appstore (US) consistently for over two years averaged a monthly organic download of 10,000 users between 2013 to 15. It simplifies video editing on mobile devices and enables fun tools for enhanced expression using videos.
• Designed VOOL, the first social video app to have Video stickers. Vool aims to improvise the way people communicate using mobile videos. Vool’s new set of collaboration tools enables auto stitch of mobile videos on cloud.
• With partners, raised seed round funding at Vliv with Mumbai Angels, other Tech Angels demonstrating Vliv’s potential as a future video platform for connected devices.
• Positioned Vliv’s backend as a flexible video solution, ‘app constellation’ provider by designing B2B solutions for clients like HCL, Yahoo! Verisign, that helped earn key revenue for Vliv.
• Built the discipline of Design at Vliv from ground up, demonstrating its value through Design driven product development process.
• The design work includes Product Strategy, Branding, Interaction Design, UI design, User Research, User experience strategy.

Apr 2012 – Apr 2017 · 5 yrs · Bangalore

• Consulted over 15 companies (60% start ups), helping them create ‘Design driven’ product development. Advised on creating ‘design value’ to shape business strategies and build user centered design capabilities that help the organizations to scale and deliver.
• Provided strategic user experience consulting, mobile application design, product design, interaction design, platform design for Insurance management platforms, Crowd funding web applications, Social networking platforms, Retail experience, Brand development.
• Product strategist for PuzzleDesh, a puzzle brand with a focus on Indian Mythological Visual traditions, Tromke – a map based social network that enables people connect with each other on the go!
• Clients: Reliance, Inube, Tringbee, Tromke, Smartowner, Kham, StudioMotley, Kinetic Glue, Moonwalkr, LetsVenture
• www.tacit.in

Dec 2007 – Apr 2012 · 4 yrs 4 mos · Bangalore

• Built the discipline of Design Research at Yahoo! India, from ground-up, usability lab, demonstrating its value companywide. Drove product road-map decisions by conducting strategic User research including studies for growth initiatives, usability, directing India/Global focused top priority Yahoo! Products like Yahoo! Mail, Registration, Yahoo! Cricket, Search, Local, Maps.
• Promoted from senior researcher to Principal Design Researcher in 2009-10.
• Conducted ethnographic field studies & interviews with Cricket enthusiasts, gaining a greater understanding of the role cricket plays in their lives. Research helped drive design direction for a new online portal, mobile app on Cricket –Yahoo! Cricket, which gained #1 rank for most visited website on Cricket (India) for consecutive 2 years.
• Directed research for India-focused growth initiative called “NextGen” study, spanning across 2 metro cities and 2 towns, conducting field studies, interviews with ‘Teen’ segment, understanding their behaviors, ‘Digital Lives’. Research helped drive design direction of India-focused products like Yahoo! Screen, Yahoo! Movies, Yahoo! Celebrities.
• Awarded with Yahoo! “You Rock” award for pursuing innovation for this initiative
• Recognized for exposing Yahoo! Registration usability problems that triggered multiple studies globally, resulting in 14% improvement in registration process in 2009.
• Evangelized design research by initiating UER101, ID8 workshops for new comers and Product teams to learn and exploit the power of design research in their daily work.
• Skills in setting up, managing UX lab: Conducting end to end qualitative research using Design Ethnography, Usability, persona creation, participatory design, diary studies, paper prototype evaluations, focus groups, eye tracking, surveys. Skills in triangulating qualitative data with analytics, marketing research, segment or audience data to arrive at design, product, experience strategies and actionable insights.

Sep 2004 – Dec 2006 · 2 yrs 3 mos · Mumbai

• Design Education
• Courses taught
• Elements of Design * Studies in Form * Product Interaction Design * Orientation * Design Projects
• Developed a new course on Product Interaction Design focusing on device specific gestures and interaction analysis
• Part of Exam committee for Common Entrance Exam for Design CEED in Question Paper Creation, Valuation process.
• Industry Consultation
• Consulting Industries for Strategic Design, Design Research
• Consulting on Product Design development and execution
• Toy Design
• Game Design
• Product Interaction Design

Jan 2003 – Jan 2004 · 1 yr

• Productizing e-learning solutions