Namaste! I'm
Rohit Arun Rao
... a UX Designer by profession, but also enjoys watercolour painting, D.I.Y projects, creating mandalas and zentangles, acrylic pouring, mentoring other designers, leading art sessions, giving design talks, singing, watching movies, and even practising a bit of water divining.
Meet Nature
Nature! It has always fascinated me! It's a Design guru.
All what we learn in academics, the nature puts it to shame. It teaches us everything from colors to experiences. I'm always inspired by the clouds, it's shape and form and the beauty of it.
I take inspiration from all the design forms it provides!
Design, 1st Love! Sorry Wify!
I love creating. Period.
I love colors. Majorly Blue and Green. Ignition. The joy of creation is such that once you know you have materialized your thought out, it gives you peace! I hold a Bachelor Of Fine Art degree and from there on I’m into colors, design and creations.
My designs just dont stop at the digital space. My home, My work space, my art space; all of it is a place where i design. Can be how i place my pen stand to which position of tablet i pluck from the strip! Everything needs to be aesthetically balanced!
It's kinda crazy. But we designers are a bit crazy, aren't we?
20
of design in Print, Video & Digital space.
+
years
2004, I passed by Bachelor Of Fine Arts in India, Applied Arts stream.
Started off with print, the spider bit me by chance in 2005, Fell in love. Helping the spider creating delightful wed and experiences since then.
No Creativity
In these years of work, i realised there is no creativity. It's just a overused and probably a fancy term. Think about it. All that we create now, is just a refined version of what exists. We only take inspiration, improve on it by making it suit the user's needs and give it the name of "Creativity"!
Silly UX
It's like this. User Experience is actually very simple when you understand it, but when you understand the need of the User Experience, it becomes complicated! That's where the fun begins!
Human Behaviour
I mean, why do I always have to show my wrist and ask for time? Why should I scissor gesture my hair to the barber for a hair cut? Why? Right? It's funny & interesting. For every thing we say, talk or communicate, we have gestures. Cognitive! I like observing, then and then love to study and understand them!
Destined to Design!
The support & the understanding!
My whole family are a bunch of creators and artists. My genes come from there. Since childhood, i always was good at Art & Crafts more than anything else. The worst was Maths!
All I ever dreamed was to just draw, draw and just draw. All my school books' last pages were filled with drawings, colors and creations of Batman. I wasn't good at academics. I passed my 10th, now that's a whole different story how i passed. However, my father (my hero) got me this brochure of an Arts college in 1999 and said "You're going here"! That was a moment when i realised that "Dreams, do come true". No! Really! I never knew such a thing exists. Arts college? You kidding me pops?
Well. I got in, I got out! From then on, i've been delighting my clients and their users with design!
The important part of this story is "You need that support & understanding". The belief my parents had for me, took me to where i am today. Designing was my destiny, always!
The terms block it!
Although I have worked on numerous projects, the majority of them are restricted by terms and non-disclosure agreements prevent me from sharing them publicly.
I'm willing to share them during a video call.
I have some things to show you about where I started early in my career. Please check them out!
Old. Very old! Like 15+ yrs old!
Like 7+ yrs old!
For a detailed work talk or portfolio view. Get in touch!
Est. 2004
I started from a Ad Agency. When UX did not exist. Ventured into Digital design in 2009 and Video editing later. I'm still in touch with my first boss from the Ad Agency!
11. Thoughtworks
May 2019 - Present
India Design Lead
I do a lot of things besides just work. Evangelise on design, Design Initiatives, facilitate events, conduct workshops and talks on design! Life of a designer!
09. TCS
February 2014 - March 2018
UX Lead
I worked for Microsoft as a vendor from TCS. Worked on a lot of FTE products. Managed a team of 5.
07. Gameshastra
June 2010 - December 2012
Sr. UX Designer
Worked for this Gaming company on launch of gaming websites, Marketing collaterals, Gamification EdTech work for iOS and Android.
05. Catalytic Software
April 2006 - August 2009
Sr. Web Designer
The company no longer exists. Here i deep dived into web design besides development. Cross connected with the emerging UI & UX terminology.
03. Creative Network
June 2004 - March 2005
Graphic Designer
This is where my actual gig as a designer started with print. Small team, brilliant brains. Life lessons learnt. Undoubtedly one of the best bosses i worked under.
December 1999 - May 2004 - BFA
Applied Arts Stream
My 5 years of base on design learning. 1st two years was all hand work, slowly progress into digital space, Photoshop 5, while entering info the 3rd year.
10. ProKarma
March 2018 - May 2019
UX Lead
It's now Concentrix Catalyst. Was the solo designer here providing design services for various accounts. Lot of IoT and Voice design POCs work done here.
08. CSSI
December 2012 - January 2014
UX Lead
Worked for this cool product company. VUE Software was a SaaS product. Worked on making it refined and user-friendly on Onboarding, Finance and a lot more of it.
06. Palletones
September 2009 - June 2010
Art Director
Wanted to go solo into freelance. Worked with clients from UK, Australia and local. Didn't get paid on time. However learnt a lot. Went back to get a job.
June 2005 - April 2006
Web Designer
It's now Brightcom. I started my web journey from here. Learnt HTML & CSS. Worked on landing pages, GIF animations, Flash banners & websites. Lots of failures.
02. S.S.C&B Lintas
January 2004 - March 2004
Design Intern
My first experience ever. Was here for 3 months from college as an intern before i could do my final year project. Tiring and loads of learnings experience.
Landed on Earth
5
th
June '83
He has a niche of good taste and good things. An extremely meticulous eye for design. He is a great mentor, patient, fun, and has a wonderful sense of humour.
Govind Mehta
UX Lead | TCS
My Analogue World
