My PhD research explores the potential of games as tools for making sense of various actions required to be taken by individuals and collectives to mitigate and adapt to climate change. It focuses on games played in a group set-up where a sense of togetherness enables sharing of personal anecdotes and dilemmas. As a part of the first research study, I designed a roleplaying game called Climate Club through an iterative design and playtesting process while working closely with experts in climate change education, environmental psychology and game design. Currently, the game is being evaluated with young adult players using qualitative research methods.

Designing a serious game that facilitates envisioning future visions of sustainable manufacturing

I worked as a teaching assistant with the School of Arts and Creative Technologies, the Department of Computer Science and the Learning Enhancement Team at the University of York. I assisted in facilitating workshops, delivering demonstrations and marking the User Experience Design (UXD) and Speculative Design Modules for 2nd and 3rd-year Interactive Media Bachelor Degree students. I have worked as a research project mentor for the Design and Research Practice (DARP) Module for Master's Degree students in Computer Science. I assisted in conducting university-wide online Academic Skills Workshops as well. Working as a GTA has helped me in understanding the Higher Education set-up in the UK while honing my learning facilitation skills. During this time, I obtained AdvanceHE certification as an Associate Fellow (AFHEA) (Fellowship reference PR289279)

This extensive project involved designing a set of games that simultaneously function as research tools to gather data and interventions for community-level awareness about HIV AIDS, its understanding, current and upcoming treatments, prevention measures and public perceptions.My responsibility was to understand the research highlights and learning objectives provided by the research team to embody them into game concepts. I also had to ensure that the game concepts complemented the storyline developed by the narrative designers. I followed an iterative design method and produced detailed game design documents that guided the game development process. I also followed up on the development through periodic playtests and feedback. The key audience of this project is located in the rural parts of India and Africa and lacks exposure to smart devices and gaming. Therefore, the game mechanics and interactions had to be simple and easy. The games are expected to be played in online or offline workshops. Hence, they include facilitation features like debriefing and reflection. The major challenge of this project was to produce simple yet fun-to-play games that are scientifically accurate and do not spread any misconceptions. In the initial term, we made 3 games -1) A series of 7 minigames embedded in a shared game world with a metagame motivating and monitoring player progression2) An interactive narrative game (digital and tabletop versions)3) A physical game to play in teams for icebreaking and communicating the importance of participating in research activitiesThis work continued as a small extension project (Sep 2022 - Feb 2023 · 6 mos) for designing and developing a 4th game dealing with the latest updates in the HIV AIDS vaccine research. Working with the same team, I created 5 minigames and one overarching metagame. The project is still operational and different games are at different stages of development, deployment and evaluation.

I have designed and delivered Fundamentals of Game Design, Advanced Game Design and Applied Game Design modules that include essential theory, examples, resources and hands-on exercises for Master's Degree students at the Digital Game Design department. The modules have been conducted in person as well as online.

In this fast-paced project, I led and collaborated with the design team of Treemouse to conceptualise, develop, playtest and finalise 6 tabletop serious games for spreading awareness about the importance of high school education among parents of adolescent girls residing in rural parts of India. The game concepts were centred around the learning objectives drafted in consultation with the subject matter experts from the client side. Low-fidelity game prototypes were created and evaluated with the on-field volunteers. Prototypes were improved based on the feedback received and rolled out for production. The design challenge here was to make games that are similar to traditional games and yet ensure uniqueness, novelty and replayability. The rules of all games were purposefully kept as simple as possible considering the low literacy levels of the key audience. Special attention was given to the elements and materials used for the game such that they do not come across as alien to the audience.

A Bunch of Designers (ABOD) is a team of multidisciplinary designers. Being one of the founding designers, I handle strategic management of design projects and guide the user experience design process. My work with the team ABOD includes the following projects for various clients - Think360.ai, Mumbai, IndiaProject 1: Jan 2021 - Sep 2021 · 9 mos UX design consultation for a web-based B2B product for engineering, marketing and business analyst teams of finance and retail companies to operate on the big data about their customersProject 2: Jul 2020 - Dec 2020 · 6 mosUX design consultation for a web-based B2B product with distinct interfaces for designers, programmers, managers and admins for creating and managing forms, workflows and APIsParticipatory Guarantee System Organic Council (PGSOC), Bangalore, IndiaSep 2019 - May 2020 · 9 mosWeb-based platform design for organic farming collectives for knowledge sharing and communicationGoing to School, Mumbai, India Sep 2019 - Nov 2019 · 3 mos Creation of contextual learning material for high school girl students from rural parts of Bihar, India. Curriculum design for modules of digital literacy and design thinking using LEGO WeDo, BBC Micro:bit and Arduino CTC 101 kits. Design of entrepreneurship exercises based on graphic novels designed by Going to School.Sublime ArtEd: Empowering Creativity, Bangalore, IndiaOct 2018 - Mar 2019 · 6 mos Web-based ed-tech platform design for training art teachers to conduct theatre, painting and music classesSafetipin, Gurugram, India Aug 2018 - Mar 2019 · 8 mosMobile app design for making cities safer using features such as location-related safety scores, suggestions of safe routes, personal location tracking and volunteer-driven safety auditsMagic EdTech, Noida Area, IndiaAug 2019 - Jan 2020 · 6 mos and Apr 2018 - Dec 2018 · 9 mos UX consultation for designing a chat-bot based corporate training platform with learning, authoring, management and admin interfaces

MySafetipin app aims to make cities safer using community-driven audits and contributions. As an extension of ABOD's previous design consultation work with Safetipin, this time, we worked on improving the user experience of the app while introducing new features. One of the new features was a gamification framework to motivate the users to conduct safety audits and add data about the safety of the places they visit to the app. I led this part of the project by using Yu-Kai Chu's Octalysis approach and defining the narrative and score levels of the game system. After this design update, the app was shortlisted as one of the 3 finalists for the World Design Organisation's World Design Impact Award 2021.

Designed the curriculum and delivered the 'Design Thinking' module for Bachelor and Master degree design students online as part of NIFT's General Electives. The module consisted of group-based activities and design projects based on the resources from IDEO and Interaction Design Foundation.

Indian Institute of Sciences' SPIRE Lab specialises in the research and development of speech-related technologies and produces innovative real-world applications. As a member of the team of design consultants from A Bunch of Designers, I have worked on 2 major projects with the lab:1) NeuroCompanion mobile platform - It is a platform that digitises the speech pathology tests that patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease need to perform periodically to monitor the progression of their disease. The patient side of the platform consists of a mobile app that showcases a set of minigames that are to be played using speech and voice. Whilst the doctor side of the app provides visualisations of the data recorded from the patient's play sessions. My role in this project was to conduct research with the doctors and technicians who perform the speech tests manually and to reimagine them in the form of simple yet rejuvenating voice-based play activities. The design process of this project was particularly challenging as it recognised the constraints of the available speech recognition technology, prioritised limited capacities and low levels of the physical energy of the players (patients) and accounted for the involvement of caregivers in the play experience.2) English Gyani mobile app - A voice-first interface-based English language learning app for people who wish to improve their spoken English skills and pronunciation. I worked on designing the user experience of the app, interfaces for various exercises created by the subject matter experts and the motivation model for the learners by employing gamification elements. Apart from these projects, ABOD has been associated with the lab in designing webpages for 'Speech Recognition in Agriculture and Finance for the Poor in India' and 'SYnthesizing SPeech in INdian languages' projects.

8infinity was designing an ecosystem of products and services for budding entrepreneurs. While working as a design consultant with team ABOD on products like a chat-bot based entrepreneurship skill development app and a platform for sharing founder's stories, I also was involved in designing a simulation game about how to start, sustain and scale a startup. The game was rooted in the anecdotal insights articulated by the 8infinity team and underwent multiple cycles of iterative playtests. It was developed for tabletop and mobile platforms.

I collaborated with game designer Girish Krishnan to work on this consultation project. Openhouse wanted us to design games as fun and go-to learning resources for their students. The project started with in-depth semi-structured interviews with all stakeholders (Openhouse team, teachers, students and parents) to identify opportunity areas. We conducted a participatory workshop with students for initial conceptualisation. Game concepts were fleshed out in detail while referring to Bloom's taxonomy and Positive Behaviour Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework. We delivered 2 collaborative hybrid games that help students in learning, revising and mastering topics taught in the classroom while evoking curiosity and instilling proactiveness.

EkStep Foundation works with the mission of providing 'access to learning opportunities for every child' in India. I joined the team when it was crafting an end-to-end ed-tech platform comprising a web-based tool for interactive learning content creation, an online community space for teachers and mobile apps for in-schools as well as at-home learning. I set up distributed design teams and devised customised processes of design to development execution cycles. I also created a system to manage and handle design debt in the production cycle. Thorough user research and user testing were central to these processes as most stakeholders of this platform were first-time smartphone users and directed our design decisions.Being a thriving not-for-profit startup, EkStep soon expanded its vision from developing a platform to constructing the infrastructure for the creation of ed-tech products meeting multiple contexts. To achieve this updated goal, I guided the creation of fundamental design principles and framework for designing various ed-tech products specifically catering to primary and high school education in rural parts of India. It is now known as Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA), an initiative of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (Ministry of Education, Govt of India).At EkStep, I learnt how to deal with the challenges of designing for scale, how to be comfortable with the complexities at the grassroots level and how to communicate effectively across multiple stakeholders. I also understood the importance and intricacies of working with open-source software development and the legalities of creative commons design.

Although it was a relatively shorter run, this work placement was an opportunity for me to upgrade from being a design practitioner to being a design thinker and leader. I led teams of designers while working in sync with engineering and management teams to create interactive learning content, educational games and apps for clients including Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Pearson, and Oxford University Press. Among several in-house projects, I also worked on improving the user experience of the MagicBox Learning Management System (LMS).

This was my Master's Thesis / Graduation Project titled 'Digital Games on Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Platform for Visually Impaired'. The design journey started with extensive qualitative research about the lives of people with visual impairment living in Mumbai, their exposure to technology and their perception of entertainment. The project also dealt with the study of sound semantics and the role of the Mind's Eye in wayfinding. It delivered a user-centred interface for an IVR-based gaming platform and 2 accessible games that visually impaired and sighted people could play together -1) Kapuskondyachi Goshta (Gibberish Stories) - a collaborative story-building game to be played using a random set of sounds and speech2) Mission Mumbai - an audio map-based explorative game to improve wayfinding and navigational skills around the local train stations of Mumbai(PS: I got serious about designing and developing research-based serious games due to this project :-))

As a part of this summer internship, I worked on 2 projects -1) Research and design of FacePals, a toy for toddlers that also helps parents to track developmental milestones - The project involved working with child psychology experts and developing concepts while exploring child-safe materials. 2) Instruction and packaging design for Traditional Indian Boardgames - This project consisted of a variety of tasks ranging from drafting easy-to-understand rules to making 'how-to-play' videos using stop motion animation and designing innovative packaging using papier mâché.

This year-long industrial training was a part of the final year of my bachelor's degree. It involved studying the LPC2148 ARM 7 and designing a Handheld Data Logging System using the same. It was an insightful experience to understand how a research lab functions while applying the learnings from engineering studies to solve real-life problems.