Amit Gaikwad

About

Hello, I'm an Engineer turned Product Designer with 4+ years in front-end, creative tech, brand-identity design, and more! M.Sc. in Human-Computer Interaction B.E. in Computer Engineering I'll help you: ‍ - Rapidly improve usability, while thoughtfully designing for emotion. - Use a cross-disciplinary lens to frame problems and articulate insights. - Explore new domains, spark design discussions, and break ground. - Supercharge solutions through effective co-design facilitation. - Validate innovation with UX research: ensuring creativity without compromising accessibility and inclusion.

Experience

• Product Designer, TerpGIS (Graduate Capstone Project) · College of Information Studies (INFO), University of Maryland10-01-2023 – 05-01-2024

  Led the product design and concept testing of a geo-data collection platform for low technical and domain knowledge users which achieved an 83.5 SUS and 87+ NPS score and enhanced the client’s B2B SaaS service catalog. • Formulated UX strategy by conducting competitive analysis, business model canvassing, and mix-method research with 12+ stakeholders (users and Subject Matter Experts) to maximize value innovation and achieve market differentiation. • Organized 3 co-design sprints for a cross-functional team of stakeholders with researchers, engineers, and managers. • Contributed to 4+ high-impact features and 100+ prototyped wireframes that met both user and business objectives. • Developed a custom WCAG 2.2 (AA) compliant design system with design specs, to ensure seamless developer handoff.

• Graduate Teaching Assistant - Visual Design · College of Information Studies (INFO), University of Maryland08-01-2023 – 05-01-2024

  • Contributed to curriculum development and instruction for 100+ students, achieving a 36% increase in course eval scores. • Conducted hands-on design sessions topics ranged from basic form, layout, color theory, typography to advanced visual

• UX/UI Design Intern (Games) · The Verse07-01-2023 – 08-01-2023

  Conceptualized a minimal, immersive user interface and interaction system for the WalkXR Project, aligning with the game's intended aesthetic and ensuring overall user 'engage-ability'. Established early heuristics and design guidelines for onboarding, affordances, UI prompts, mechanics, level, and sound design. Contributed to the creation of a Minimum Viable Product for submission to the Epic Megagrant program.

• UX Designer and Developer · Ronin Labs06-01-2019 – 04-01-2022

  • Designed, developed and shipped 20+ global projects at an early-stage startup, across platforms like responsive mobilefirst web applications, CMS, and AR/XR, propelling engagement by 5M+ impressions and company revenue by 70%. • Conducted rapid design audits, UI design, code-based prototypes, and usability testing within a fast-paced, high-volume work environment to drive successful project outcomes and increased client satisfaction and repeat rates. • Proactively oversaw design organization, communication and raised UX awareness within cross-functional agile team of engineers, design leads, marketing, project managers, to facilitate collaboration and design-forward culture.

• Creative Lead · The Mark Foundry06-01-2018 – 04-01-2019

  • Founded design agency and helped deliver comprehensive graphic design and web solutions for 7 clients within 12 months.

• UX Designer · Crux Analytics09-01-2024 – 09-01-2024

  Designed comprehensive UX/UI solutions for a business analytics MVP. Created scalable components, dashboard boilerplate, and high-fidelity interactive prototypes for core screens, validated with regular design audits with management and engineering.

Education

• University of MarylandMaster of Science - MS, Human Computer Interaction
• Bhartiya Vidya Bhavans Sardar Patel Institute of Technology Munshi Nagar Andheri MumbaiBachelor of Engineering, Computer Engineering

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