“Done right Design is Activism, Design is Activism done right!”
Kadambari is an International multi-award-winning Designer and a Design Leader, working as SVP of Design at ValueLabs. She founded the User Experience Group at ValueLabs and is currently leading a Design practice with 75+ designers to create world-class and award-winning products and services to have a positive impact on businesses and society. Her forte lies in building, growing, coaching, and mentoring high-performance design teams from scratch. She creates design culture by infusing design thinking within organizations and businesses to create a holistic strategy and customer experience. Her practice in design allows her to work on intangible and tangible aspects of design breaking the boundaries between physical, digital, and service design and creating a seamless experience across media, devices, touch-points, cultures, and geographies. She has worked for clients across geographies spanning, North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.
She has won many awards (170+) for her work and leadership. these include Creative Executive of the year-Stevie IBA 2021, Good Design Award, Communication Arts, Red Dot awards, German Design Awards, and many others. She has been part of many national and international fellowships and grants such as BMW Doathon, VR storytelling guild, etc. She is an international speaker on design and has given talks at many design conferences such as Interaction 20, and Interaction 18 organized by IxDA, UXindia, and many others. She was a co-chair of the Interaction Awards 2022 by IxDA. She is the founder and host of the Design Inspire Platform. She is also the founder of Sniffing Out the Differences collective, which started with the grant received from the Prince Claus Fund and the British Council to explore storytelling through multi-sensory installation with a focus on smell interactions. It is currently a think tank that pursues rigorous research in the olfactory and allied fields focusing on experience design.
She is an alumna of the National Institute of Design, India, where she did her Post-graduation in New Media Design, which has led her to examine the impact that technologies have on human interactions and culture. She has been curious about the role of design in everyday life and the ways in which human interactions can be mediated, shaped, enhanced, or augmented by technologies.
resume
Education
2010-2012 National Institute of Design, India, Post Graduation in New Media Design2004-2008 U.M.I.T, S.N.D.T University, B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering Employment
Jun 2018-Present: ValueLabs,
SVP of Design, Feb 2020 - Present
VP of Design, June 2019 - Feb 2020
AVP of Design, June 2018 - June 2019
Founded UX practice, grew it from zero to ~50 designers, researchers, and managers in 5 years, and grew UX practice to 75+ designers
Crafted design strategies for global clients, leading 100+ projects across various industries with a client NPS of 90
Built a strong user-centered service design culture focused on whole-journey improvements, collaborated with diverse stakeholders to build delightful experiences
Earned 170+ international awards for various projects, including the Red Dot award, Communication Arts Award, German Design Awards etc.
Conducted design sprints and workshops with 100+ clients across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia; Helped various clients integrate new media technologies like AI and XR/VR/AR in a thoughtful manner and through this, opened new lines of services for the company while helping clients become industry leaders
Mentored and coached UX designers, researchers, and managers at various stages of their careers, resulting in high levels of satisfaction in the group and high retention rates among highly qualified designers, managers, and operations teams
Jun 2016-May 2018: Wavemaker, Pramati Technologies
Led transformative UX overhaul and rebranding, resulting in a 10x increase in signups and significant business growth
Aligned design efforts with business goals through collaboration with cross-functional teams in design, research, development, marketing, and post-purchase experience, leading to a 20% increase in customer satisfaction scores
Jan 2015-Apr 2016: Tata Consultancy Services, Manager/ Designer
Created and managed the New Media Design Lab, spearheading the development of employee-focused apps/games, and launching 3 highly engaging applications
Mar 2013-Jan 2015: Akalpya Imaginations, Co-Founder
Cofounded a studio specializing in UX, Branding, and New media installations and served 20+ clients
Jan 2012-Nov 2012: Charuvi Design Labs, Design Consultant
Worked on award-winning new media design projects, recognized with 10+ awards including Outstanding Indian IP and positive press mentions
Teaching Experience
Course on UX design as part of Apprenticeship Program, Design Inspire Platform 2021
Workshop on Design Thinking for Fast Apps Winners, IIIT Hyderabad, September 2017
Workshop on Augmented Reality, Toy and Game Design, NID, September 2016
Visiting Instructor, Media, and Technology course for Toy and Game Design, NID, August 2015
Course module on Composition with Digital Design, Kalol Institute of Architecture, 2015
Workshop on Augmented Reality, Toy and Game Design, NID, August 2014
Visiting Faculty, U.M.I.T, S.N.D.T. University, June 2009 – June 2010
Visiting Faculty, P.V. Polytechnic, S.N.D.T. University, January 2010 – June 2010
Robotics Instructor, HatTrick Edventure Pvt Ltd, February 2009- April 2009
Fellowships and Grants:
BMW Do-athon fellowship for Designing Future of Work , Berlin, Sep 2017, Issued by BMW and Do School, Berlin
VR Storytelling Guild: Among 25 indians selected, Bengaluru, Feb 2017, VR Storytelling Guild, Nasscom
India Scholarship 2016, Mar 2016, Game Designer Network of India
Featured in publications
Sniffing out the differences wins Red Dot Award 2020, The Hard Copy
170+ awards
Kadambari has won many awards for her work and Leadership. Some of her awards include Red dot, Good design award, German Design Awards, DNA Paris, Vega digital awards, Stevie and many other.
Recognition:
Co-Chair, Interaction Awards 2022, IxDA
Jury panel, Vega Students awards, 2021
Jury member, Comm Arts Interactive annual awards, 2021
Jury Panelist, 2021 Vega Digital Awards Season 1 and Season 2
Jury member, 2021 Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards, Corporate Marketing, Live Events, Websites & App Awards Awards Judging Committee
Jury committee member, Stevie Women in Business Awards, New Product & Service (Developed for/by Women) Judging Committee, October 2020
Jury Member IBDA, 2020
Founder and Host of the Design Inspire Web Series and Committee member, conferring the Inspiring young designers seal
Member of IXDD world committee,
Member of Invision Design Leadership Forum
Exhibitions :
The Time Machine, ValueLabs Inspire, The Landmark, London, UK, Nov 2022
The Time Machine, ValueLabs Inspire, The Venetian, Las Vegas, USA, Oct 2022
Design Inspire, Good Design Show, European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design & Urban Studies, Greece, June 2022
Demo Sniffing out the differences, HCI India, November 2021
Jallianwala Bagh, Design in an Age of Crisis, London Design Biennale, Somerset House, UK, July 2021
Identity Stories, London Design Biennale, Somerset House UK, July 2021
The Digital Flywheel Exhibition, October 2019, The Venetian, Las Vegas, Inspire event, ValueLabs.
The Digital Flywheel Exhibition, November 2019, Dorchester, London, Inspire event, ValueLabs.
Reimagining otherness, September 2019 at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York
Identity Exhibition, July 2019, at ValueLabs, Experience Centre, Hyderabad
Sniffing out the Differences, December 2018 at State Gallery of Art, Hyderabad, India
Conferences:
Organized Design Inspire Conference, International Virtual Conference, 28 November 2020, ValueLabs.
Organized IxDD, World Interaction Design Day Hyderabad chapter, 24 September 2019 in partnership with ValueLabs, IxDA, and Adobe.
Talks, Panels, Posters presentations
Yours Flavorfully, EFood 2022, Experiencing and Envisioning Food: Designing for Change 28 - 30 Apr 2022,
Food Perceptions, EFood 2022, Experiencing and Envisioning Food: Designing for Change 28 - 30 Apr 2022
IoT Cutlery, EFood 2022, Experiencing and Envisioning Food: Designing for Change 28 - 30 Apr 2022
Talk, Challenging Stereotypes, World-Class Designer Conference, February 2021
Talk, Green Recovery, 8th PRME International Conference IILM UN Global Compact, February 2021
Talk, Suggestions to Young Designers, IIT Hyderabad, November 2020
Panel member, Fight Back, Design India, 2020
Panel member, Disrupted-II, 2020
Talk, Recreating Jallianwala Bagh massacre into a memorial, Feb 2020, Interaction 20 Conference, Milan, Italy. IXDA.
Talk, Design Maturity, at Inspire 2019, October, November 2019, Las Vegas, London, ValueLabs
Panel Discussion, the Poolside Chat, September 2019, The Pool magazine, Pune, India
Poster, Experience Centre as a Tool to boost learning and to increase Industry-Academia engagement, September 2019, World Design Organization, Hyderabad
Talk, Designing for social change and awareness narratives with the smell, 25 September 2019, IxDD 19 Conference, Hyderabad, India
Talk, Designing for social change and awareness narratives with the smell, 9-11 September 2019, UX India, Hyderabad, India
Talk, X factor in your CX, 14 August 2018-Sydney, 18 September 2018-Toronto, 2 October 2018-Las Vegas, 25 October 2018-London as part of Inspire 2018
Talk, Sniffing out the differences, Feb 2018, Interaction 18 Conference, Lyon, France. Organized by IXDA. https://vimeo.com/255707394
Poster, Divine Response: Augmented Reality Installations, Nov 2017, Culture Design Cognition National Conference by IGNCA and NID
Technical Paper Presentation, 1st prize winner, Electronic Stimulation of the brain, Rezonance’07, SNDT University, Mumbai
Conferences:
Organized Design Inspire Conference, International Virtual Conference, 28 November 2020, ValueLabs.
Organized IxDD, World Interaction Design Day Hyderabad chapter, 24 September 2019 in partnership with ValueLabs, IxDA, and Adobe.