Khushboo Vartak Email & Phone Number

Leading a team of UX Designers, UI Designers, Design Researchers for a CPG account at Fractal Experience.

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Mumbai, India

Design Research and InnovationAt GCPL’s global innovation, Khushboo works to bring the user to the centre of all New Product Development (NPD) activities for India and International geographies (Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa). Her role is to empathize with the user, extract insights and deliver implications to product innovation, while being deeply rooted in the business context.She leads a continuous stream of user insighting engagements in various stages of the design and innovation process (empathize/ define/ ideate/ prototype/ test); in collaboration with product managers, designers and R&D teams. To achieve this, she employs various user research and design methods like ethnographies, one-on-one interviews, home visits, focus group discussions, ideation, consumer co-creations etc. She has independently conducted multiple white space exploration studies to evaluate potential acquisitions and business expansion opportunities for GCPL, which included understanding the category & market context, competition landscape, conducting user immersions to empathise with users and identify their needs and evaluating the product at hand and its fitment with GCPL. Her responsibilities also include managing multiple external consultants and developing GCPL Innovation’s user research vertical. She delivers regular monthly reviews to the senior most cross-functional leadership at GCPL. Mentors junior partners from external agencies to enhance research outcomes. She has also set up a unique system for testing product prototypes with African consumers within India, resulting in higher agility (time reduced from several weeks to 2 days) at a fraction of the cost.

Mumbai

Mumbai

I collaborated with startups such as Mondoboard, Fropcorn, Eximius etc. to create business innovation and strategy. I helped entrepreneurs bring a designer's lens , i.e. a user's perspective, to every aspect of their thinking. This translated into breakthrough product offerings, disruptive marketing strategies, simple but impactful communication, beautiful user experiences and sometimes just new ideas!

Mumbai Area, India

Design Thinking led InnovationSupported project lead in planning and executing Design Thinking led Innovation engagements for clients across a broad range of industries, such as Information & Communication Technologies, Foods, TV & Media, FMCG, Telecom etc. My role included drafting proposals for clients, planning projects, conducting user research, co-facilitating analysis and ideation workshops, articulating research outcomes in the form of deliverables etc. Also Co-facilitated a design thinking workshop at ISB Hyderabad.

Bangalore

At CKS, I worked on ethnographic and design research projects for companies creating products and services for their users.

Worked on TV Ads, Promos and Short Films for MTV - from pre to post-production.

Student internee for a research design analysis project based on slum-dwellers around the world. The project focused on the needs, requirements, mindsets and lifestyles of the people living in Dharavi, the biggest slum-area in the world. Survey and data collection was the main mode of research.

Pg, Creative Entrepreneurship

Activities and Societies: The Beehive - A weekly meetup for Creative Entrepreneurs

Bachelors In Design - Communication Design, Design Research, Advertising, Graphic Design, Visual Merchandising, Styling & Photography

Activities and Societies: Cultural Club, Dance Group.- Cultural Secretary @ NIFT, Mumbai (2006- 07) - Cultural President @ NIFT, Mumbai.

Mathematics Hons. (Ba)

Life Sciences And Mathematics