Path · For designers starting out
From laying out pages to designing systems that act on their own.
I'm self-taught in software, from a Fine Arts foundation. My father was a typographic artist. Here's the route, with the one lesson each stage gave me.
- 2003–11
Fine Arts, then graphic design
BFA and MFA in visual communication. Ad agencies in Chennai.
Nothing has taught me more about hierarchy than laying out a page with no interaction to hide behind.
- 2011–14
Web and interface design
Bridge Technologies, Imaginea. Front-end, HTML prototypes, visual design.
A design which can't be built isn't a design. Interfaces have states, and states multiply.
- 2014–15
Enterprise UX
Ellucian, senior UX designer.
In enterprise software the style guide is a coordination mechanism. It's how thirty people who never meet ship one product.
- 2015–20
Design systems
Chargebee, employee #43, lead UI designer.
The hardest B2B design problems are modelling problems. Get the object model wrong and no interface work saves you.
- 2020–21
Building a design function
Yubi (CredAvenue), VP Design.
Make research and UX writing named disciplines. It changes what the company thinks design is for.
- 2022–24
0-to-1 products and a system from zero
Birdeye, principal designer. Sprouts.ai, head of design.
Tokens don't make designs better. They change the conversation from pixel values to intent.
- 2024–now
AI-native products and design orgs
Sprinto, product design leadership.
Most UX problems are information-architecture problems in disguise.
If you're starting out
Three things I'd point any new designer at, all from the stages above.
- Learn hierarchy on paper first. Typography and layout with nothing to click are the fastest teacher of what matters on a screen.
- Own a bigger question every year. Use the ownership ladder: a solution, then a workflow, then a problem, then a business outcome.
- Write your work down with how you know it worked. The case-study template is the one I use on this site.
Craft is a trust signal, not a finishing step. That's as true in your first job as it is in mine.