Sushmita Vavilala

About

Good design explains. Great design convinces. I’ve always believed great design doesn’t just look visually appealing —it makes the product make sense. I’m Sushmita, a product designer with a builder mindset and a bias for clarity, speed, and impact. I’ve worked across messy, meaningful problem spaces—rural fintech, insurtech for low-tech users, research-backed social design—and in each, my role stayed the same: make it matter, make it intuitive, strategic, and human. I want to build with a team that moves fast, thinks deeply, and sees design as a core part of the product brain—not just the skin. A team that needs a product designer who can hold the product vision and ship work that speaks for itself. Every startup needs a product brain and a design soul. I build both. If you’re building something bold in the AI or product-led space, let’s talk!

Experience

• UX Design Engineer · Digivriddhi Technologies Private Limited2023-10-01 – 2024-12-01

  Working as a UX Design Engineer for India’s first dairy neo-banking platform.

• Student UX Researcher · Melange Research Lab2022-05-01 – 2023-05-01

  Worked directly under the lab professor and Dean of Academic Affairs to explore Indian women's user attitudes towards the design of health trackers. Conducted thorough competitor analysis with 7 different Indian fitness apps. Evaluated existing health tracking apps using design heuristics and provided re-design suggestions. Conducted 2 extensive participatory workshops, and qualitative interviews with 15+ participants. Analyzed the data into themes and wrote an academic paper and poster that was published in IndiaHCI 2022. For my thesis, conducted a survey with users and 7 interviews to gather and analyze data on using ethnography to explore how AI biases are understood.

• UX Research Intern · Northumbria University2022-06-01 – 2022-12-01

  Worked under Dr Strohmayer, an assistant professor in the School of Design, on a speculative UX project closely aligned with the EPSRC-funded REPHRAIN Key2Kindness (K2K) project. Conducted a data analysis of 3 participatory workshops to map 6 user personas. Designed a visual zine for the speculative UX scenarios. Showcased a poster at the REPHRAIN Showcase in January 2023.

• Visiting Member - DFRG · Northumbria University2022-06-01 – 2022-12-01

  Visiting Member at the Design Feminisms Research group

• Student UX Researcher · Living Lab IIITD2021-05-01 – 2022-12-01

  Worked under the lab's head professor Dr Eden and a postdoctoral researcher, Dr Sharma from Oulu, Finland for a project using participatory design in AI. Designed and created workshop material (including a booklet) for children that has since been used in Oulu, Delhi and Japan in over 3 workshops, has been featured in UNESCO's State of the education report for India, 2022. Conducted participatory workshops and analyzed the data to write an academic paper.

• Design Research Lead · HedgeCo App2022-03-01 – 2022-05-01

  Worked in an opinion exchange startup to research the 100+ user database. Provided mid-fi and high-fidelity deliverables for their website, application. Introduced a design branding document as the team's primary designer. Assisted with design changes of the application and website during and after MVP launch which boosted website usage.

• Teaching Assistant · Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi2022-01-01 – 2022-05-01

  Co-guided a class of 83 students for the course Design of Interactive Systems. Assisted the professor in creating assessment rubrics and grading. Individually assisted 25 students with their projects and queries.

• UI/UX Design Intern · ScrapUncle (formerly Swapeco)2021-05-01 – 2021-07-01

  Conducted competitor analysis with 10+ companies and heuristic evaluation for the previous website and application. Helped analyze the user experience and redesign both website and application. Delivered low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes for the website’s design. Assisted the branding design for the team's switch from Swapeco to ScrapUncle.

Education

• Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, DelhiBachelor of Technology, Computer Science and Design
• JSS Private School, Dubai

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