Summary
Product and UX design leader with 15+ years of experience across media, SaaS, and AI/ML, I combine my journalism background with hands-on skills to help teams validate ideas, prototype quickly, and implement AI-driven workflows.
Work Experience
Product Designer and Strategist
Romil / Design + Journalism, Oct 2023 – Present
💼 CONSULTANCY:
• Led the design and implementation of the JVS TV Portal – integrating multimedia content and creating publishing workflows, instrumental in increasing audience size to 28.8K
• Built a digital publication module for the in-house media team with information architecture, localisation and UX considerations, transforming the print initiative into a digital one
• Conceptualised, validated the idea and designed the brand for a data-first development focus newsletter called JharWatch (Work in progress)
🛠️ BUILDING :
• The Charvaka: Building a media literacy-focused initiative tackling the issues of misinformation, irrationalism and information imperialism
• Misinformation.in: An extension of my Master’s thesis, now turned into an annual report: Misinformation, Disinformation and ‘Fake News’ – The Indian perspective
Design Lead
Bondle, Sep 2017 – Mar 2022
Founding designer for a leading SaaS business communication app built for small businesses.
- Led the UI/UX effort using Agile to develop product design sprints, heuristic evaluation and SUS metrics working with internal stakeholders and customers to incorporate feedback into the system
- Increased conversion rate by 28% for the new users by improving onboarding using qualitative interviews and secondary research
- Delivered 35 prioritized UX recommendations to the executive team using heuristic evaluation, perception tests and interviews
- Shipped 3 builds across Web, iOS and Android in a timeframe of 2.5 months working closely with the Founder (CEO) & Engineering Lead using rapid prototyping and UX design patterns
Founding Designer
Einsights, Aug 2012 – Mar 2018
Co-founded an intuitive Business Intelligence tool powered by AI + NLP.
- Developed a proof-of-concept with my colleagues and presented it to VCs which led to a cumulative seed funding of $1M
- Brought design thinking into Product strategy, Customer acquisition strategy, and Go-to-Market and felicitated ideation workshops
Co-founder & Principal Designer
Media Craft, May 2007 – Dec 2013
Launched a boutique full-service design agency that created innovative digital experiences. Worked with leading clients in India and south-east Asia.
- Led the design and web development team working on websites and branding, website traffic growth and digital advertisement
- Collaborated with digital film crews and created storyboards for corporate and brand videos for brands like Apollo Hospitals, CII, Godfrey Phillips et al.
Associate, Web Services
IBM, Sep 2001 – Oct 2005
A web customer associate with the Global Process Services team at IBM.
- Was recognized by the leadership for supporting premier customers of Amazon.com with 100% quality during the holiday season
- Participated in the COPC CX certification of the organization learning key quality metrics along the way
- Trained and helped onboard the new joiners for 2 years as a subject-matter expert
Education
Masters, Journalism & Mass Communication
Ranchi University, India, 2018 – 2020
- Thesis work and research findings on how UX Design interventions can help counter ‘Fake news’ and misinformation
MOOC, Technology Entrepreneurship
Stanford University, Online, 2012
- Part of a cohort that validated and incubated a Data Analytics idea to launch an innovative Business intelligence app in the market