Hi! I'm Ruchin Shah
I've worked with teams at frog, IKEA, Atlassian, Google, IBM, and others to make technology consumable and experiences humane.
I draw from my experience of running complex, large scale programmes across the globe for clients in various industry domains.
Many of my projects involve designing experiences that disrupt markets and influence future user behavior, therefore they remain confidential; while some of them have won international awards and have been featured in the news. Happy to share more when you get in touch!
Leading by Design
human-centered • designops • strategy • sensemaking • visioning • prototyping • UX • systemdesign • servicedesign • branding • user-research • visualisation • information-design
Consulting
I was a Principal Designer at frog and a Lead UX Designer at Globant. I also advise the Office of the
Principal Scientific Advisor to the Govt. of India, through iSpirt.
Affiliations & Fellowships
I am a member of the Association of Designers of India (ADI); lead IITBAA Bangalore's Design Track and I was a Designer-in-residence at ownpath.
Public Speaking, Teaching & Media
My work and ideas have featured in international conferences and exhibitions like UX-India, World Information Architecture Day, IndiaHCI, Cumulus, Icograda, Typography Day, Tech-Fest and media like Design Drives, Times of India, Kyoorius Design Magazine, DNA and others.
In 2021-2022, I hosted a series of design talks with design leaders on topics related to industry best practices and careers. I sometimes visit Design colleges as an adjunct faculty and for juries. Most recently, I conducted a 2 week course on Design research at MIT ID, Pune.
Writing & Books
I am pretty shy but I've started expressing my thoughts on Design and experiences on my blog and elsewhere. I've also designed experiential books for heritage walks and temple experiences.
Belief
"Design makes futures. Designing that does not Speculate, Criticise, Provoke, Discourse, Interrogate, Probe, Play is inadequate designing." Cameron Tonkenwise
Thinking that all these things are additional or optional to the process of design reinforces the mistaken belief that Design is just an instrumental technical task — styling.
By extrapolation, organisations have to acknowledge that designing is a collective enterprise that involves many hours of many people in messy debates, asking hard questions, making iterations to product and process to deliver value.
Inspiration
I get fascinated by a lot of things around me but here are some that have influenced me a bit more:
Monocle, Diablo 2, Semiology of Graphics, Westworld, Cuckold, Death Note, Italy, Tromsø, Aperol Spritz, Travelman, The Art of Looking Sideways, Coldplay, Baraka, Gregorian, Black Mirror, E.H. Gombrich, Indian Mythology, Rebecca, Joe Hisaishi, Shakespeare, Sandalwood Incense Sticks, The Economist, Thesis, Kashmir, Strawberries, Lord of the Rings, Rajasthan, Wallpaper, FKJ, W+K, Bhutan, Braid, Hugh Jackman, Hans Zimmer, Ramin Djawadi, Nicole Kidman, Hampi, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Mumbai, Gujarati Thali, Godel-Escher-Bach, Age of Empires, Ferrero Rocher, The Weeknd, Frutiger, The Fall, Domus, Rotis, Old Fashioned, Kohei Sugiura, DragonAge Origins, Kumbakonam, QAF, The Last Samurai, Inception, Ulhas Moses, Edward Maya, Pune, Shankar Tucker, Dario's, Gorgonzola Cheese, IDC, Candies, Ittar...