I am a seasoned UX Architect and Product Design Lead with over 15 years of experience in creating exceptional user experiences across diverse digital platforms. I thrive on the intersection of design innovation, usability, and aesthetics, and I’m committed to crafting solutions that resonate with users while driving business success.

Some of my key strengths include leading and mentoring cross-functional design teams, designing and launching user-centric solutions prioritizing usability, accessibility, and aesthetics, defining design strategies, conducting user research, and collaborating with stakeholders, engineers, and designers to ensure seamless integration of design concepts.

My design philosophy is centered around understanding users’ needs, aligning with business goals, and transforming complex ideas into intuitive, visually engaging experiences. I excel in translating technical concepts into user-friendly designs, simplifying data visualization, and fostering design thinking across the product development lifecycle.

I have managed products and designers at companies such as NetApp and Panasonic Avionics. In my current role as UX Lead at NetApp, I have consistently demonstrated my ability to craft end-to-end user experiences, foster design collaboration, and mentor fellow designers to elevate our collective craft.

I came to the US to pursue my Ph.D. in Instructional Media Design with a focus on games for learning. I dropped out of the program with a Master’s degree instead. I also have a Master’s in Design from the Industrial Design Center, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and a Bachelor’s in Architecture from Birla Institute of Technology.

My wife, daughter & I are lucky to live in Sunny California. We read, play, paint, tend our garden, argue, cook, and plan for the future together. One day we want to hike up to Everest Base Camp.

Things I Do

Design & Process

  • Design Sprints
  • Design Discovery
  • Design Systems
  • Design Management
  • Conceptual Design
  • Information Architecture
  • Work Flows
  • Journey Maps
  • Experience Modeling
  • Workshop Facilitation
  • Storytelling, Storyboarding
  • Time, Project Management
  • Lean-Agile UX

UX Design & Evaluation

  • Heuristic Evaluation
  • Cognitive Walkthroughs
  • Competitive Analysis
  • Sketching, Wireframes
  • Think Aloud Protocol
  • Task Analysis
  • Click Through Analysis
  • Navigation Models
  • Interaction Design
  • Visual Design
  • High and Low fidelity Prototyping
  • Responsive design
  • UI frameworks (jQuery, Foundation)

Usability

  • Usability Tests
  • Rapid Reviews
  • Usability Walk-Throughs
  • Usability Audits
  • Usability Mentoring
  • Qualitative and Quantitative Tests
  • Face to Face and Remote Tests
  • Focus Groups
  • Surveys
  • Heat Maps
  • Eye Tracking
  • Tree Testing

User Research

  • Field Studies
  • Contextual Inquiry
  • User Interviews
  • Surveys
  • Card Sorting
  • Personas and Scenarios
  • Use Cases
  • Focus Groups

Tools

  • Figma, Sketch, Axure,
  • Adobe XD, Framer
  • Principle, InVision, Marvel
  • Adobe Suite; Photoshop, Illustrator,
  • Microsoft Suite
  • Keynote
  • InDesign
  • Auto Cad, 3DMax, Maya

Front-End

  • HTML
  • CSS
  • JavaScript

Previously worked for

 

 

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References (via LinkedIn)

“

Saikat is a masterful, multi-disciplinary design leader who is passionate about customer experience.

He designed and prototyped the user experience for numerous features at NetApp under aggressive timelines. He also conducted the research, facilitated discovery, and led several usability testing sessions to improve user experience outcomes. His ability to wear many expert hats, from research to implementation is truly impressive.

Saikat is a strong advocate for the customers with a unique ability to work across teams to deliver great products and experiences. He is a great communicator with a unique ability to distill complex matters into easy to understand concepts. He ingeniously makes impactful analogies, making it easier for others to understand the rationale behind customer experience decisions.

One of the qualities I admire the most in Saikat is his curious mind when dissecting problems and his openness when exploring solutions. He explores the larger, end-to-end picture while also delving deep to understand the details.

Saikat is a pleasure to work with and an asset for any company seeking an experienced design leader. He has a positive outlook on things and a great sense of humor.

Patricia Graca Senior CX/UX Prg. Manager at Netapp
“

Saikat is an outstanding and diligent leader in user experience. He worked as an extension of my team for several years and he continually brought a fresh customer & partner first lens to everything we did and best of all he would follow it up by proactively developing out detailed designs, working extensively with a network of roles across the company and take ownership with a "get things done" drive. I'd love to work with Saikat again, he can increase the impact of any team.

Mike Bruemmer Vice President of Commerce at NetApp
“

Saikat worked for me on various client projects for nearly 8 years. He has excellent design skills and has really honed his craft while working with a variety of clients ranging from startups to multi-billion dollar companies. He has the ability to take complex problems and design creative solutions that are both usable and aesthetically pleasing. He is also an excellent team player doing what's needed to get the job done and always has meshed well with our client teams. In a world where everyone seems to be calling themselves a "UX Designer", Saikat is the real deal with a solid academic underpinning and significant client experience across a variety of industries.

James Hobart President, Classic Systems Solutions inc.
“

Saikat is a top-notch UX designer who is able to take on the toughest assignments and turn around an outstanding product. Highly motivated and inspired, Saikat is versatile as he can work alone or in teams, is comfortable taking direction, and has the remarkable and delightful ability to deliver a well-designed solution. It was a pleasure and privilege to work with Saikat and I hope to have the opportunity to collaborate with him in the future.

Craig NakanoDirector of Product + UX Design at Arbonne International LLC
“

I had the pleasure of working with Saikat on a highly complex project in 2010/11. He is a very bright, motivated, and self-directed individual; showing deep intellectual interest in and understanding of the technology and psychology that makes for a successful user experience. Saikat is detail-oriented, understands the value of team collaboration, and is thus very dependable - always rising to the challenge of delivering complex work on a tight schedule.

Saikat is skilled and knowledgeable; his familiarity with UX software, including Axure enables him to help develop complex interactive prototypes quickly. His formal training as an Architect provides him with a unique perspective in thinking about user experience.

Ezra Schwartz Principal User Experience Architect | Author of Exploring Experience Design
“

I had the pleasure of working side by side with Saikat on various components of an enterprise application. Each piece Saikat was responsible for was always well thought out and well received by stakeholders. He is an Architect by training and degree so Information Architecture comes very naturally to him. Saikat is able to respond to almost any question you can toss at him, and he was an extremely valuable asset to our small 4 man team.

One item that separates Saikat from almost all my other colleagues is that he is well-versed not only as a graphic artist but also as a developer/coder. It's extremely rare to find persons who can use both sides of the brain; I've looked to refer many persons, and he is probably one in a hundred, and usually the first person I refer to projects that need a well-rounded designer. Another item that may not be evident at first glance is his knowledge of software including almost a complete catalog from Autodesk, Adobe, etc.

I recommend him.

Adam NedelmanUser Experience Architect