Interview
Kadambari Sahu
ValueLabs, India
Kadambari creates design cultures by infusing design thinking within organizations and businesses to create a holistic strategy and marketing experience.
1 Please give us a brief bio of yourself and your background.
I am a Design Leader, working as Senior VP-Design at ValueLabs. I founded the award-winning design team, User Experience Group at ValueLabs, and is currently leading 40+ members to create world-class and award-winning products and services to have a positive impact on businesses. My forte lies in building, growing, coaching, and mentoring high-performance design teams from scratch. I create design culture by infusing design thinking within organizations and businesses to create a holistic strategy and customer experience. My practice in design allows me 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, touchpoints, cultures, and geographies. I have worked with clients across geographies spanning, North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. I have won many awards in my career. The latest include Red Dot awards 2020, Vega Digital Award 2020, DNA Paris 20 awards, India’s Best Design Project 2019, India’s Best in-house design team, and many others. I have been part of many national and international fellowships such as BMW Doathon, VR storytelling guild, etc. and International grants and exhibitions. I am an international speaker on design and have given talks on many design conferences such as Interaction 20, Interaction 18, organized by IxDA, UXindia, and many others. I am also on the international committee of World interaction design day and I organized and hosed the same in Hyderabad. I am 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 multisensory installation with a focus on smell interactions. I am an alumna of the National Institute of Design, India, where I did my Post-graduation in New Media Design, which has led me to examine the impact that technologies have on human interactions and culture. I have 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.
2 What made you become/why did you choose to become a digital designer/artist?
I was looking for an opportunity, a career where I could connect all my talents together without leaving out anything. At that point of time I was an engineering graduate in Electronics and Communication engineering. During this search, I was introduced to design, and New Media Design was something which fused art, technology, and culture and felt like a perfect fit for somebody who had an engineering background but was inclined not to be limited in one domain.
3 Tell us more about your business/company, job profile, and what you do.
I was looking for an opportunity, a career where I could connect all my talents together without leaving out anything. At that point of time I was an engineering graduate in Electronics and Communication engineering. During this search, I was introduced to design, and New Media Design was something which fused art, technology, and culture and felt like a perfect fit for somebody who had an engineering background but was inclined not to be limited in one domain.
4 What’s your favorite kind of digital design and why?
New media design. As it is an amalgamation of Art, technology, and culture. It falls under the domain where I am interested in understanding how our everyday experiences can be shaped, enhanced, or augmented through the design of media technologies. In recent times we have undergone many digital disruptions which have enabled us to see possibilities and also sometimes problems and thus I find this area extremely interesting to understand implications of design with utmost care.
5 To you, what makes a “good” design?
The design which is functional has emotional value and is ethical in its conduct for all its ecosystem of people it serves.
6 Describe your design style and its main characteristics.
I create designs that are experiential in nature and always consider transdisciplinary approaches to create them. I believe in designs that tell powerful stories through innovative use of the medium. I am also a big proponent of minimalism.
7 Tell us about your design process.
It depends and varies widely based on the project at hand but the commonality is that I use various methods of research and am keen to understand before I design which might also mean experimenting a lot to understand the medium before I use them.
8 Where do you draw inspiration from?
From many things but mainly through stories and people. I am much inspired by the teachings and words of my mentor Dr. Jignesh Khakhar. He has been a constant support and inspiration for me.
9 What current trends in digital design (or really anything digital related) are you most excited about?
I believe digital design is a continuous pursuit as it keeps changing and evolving. With its fast pace disruptions, I love that it lets us imagine new possibilities and futures.
10 Congratulations! As the winner of the 2020 Vega Awards, what does it mean to you and your company and team to receive this award distinction?
We are much honored and humbled to receive this distinction. Vega awards are very prestigious and it has given us a boost to strive for bigger dreams. This has set our bar high and we hope to continue in this vein and keep producing high-quality designs and constantly raising the bar.
11 Can you explain a bit about the winning work you entered into the 2020 Vega Awards, and why you chose to enter this project?
We won 3 awards. I will elaborate about the Canopus award for the ValueLabs. We did a rebranding exercise and the Website was part of it. Every aspect of the Website was carefully designed. We did secondary and Primary research and had taken many interviews. It was a difficult endeavor as we had to represent the multifacet company on a single website. Representing without making it complicated but emotional and with relevant information was our priority. We wanted to portray the website as elegantly intelligent. To this endeavor we had to make sure that we are scrupulously designing.
12 What was the biggest challenge with this project?
While we had many stakeholders we wanted to make it consistent without sacrificing any needs of our diverse stakeholders in terms of disciplines and departments that we represent at ValueLabs.
13 How has winning an Award developed your practice/career?
It has made me confident in my abilities to create daringly modern and unconventional designs which are new ways to interact while are functional and user friendly. It has also given me recognition and visibility.
14 What are your top three (3) favorite things about the digital industry?
Always changing. Always evolving. Always experimenting for better futures.
15 What makes your country specifically, unique in the digital industry?
My country is famous for digital savvy people and with the renewed interest in digital design it is a unique opportunity to design for the next billion people.
16 Where do you see the evolution of digital industry going over the next 5-10 years?
Well I see interdisciplinarity in approach becoming an absolute need. There will be no barriers between physical, digital and services and everything will be a smooth experience.
17 If you were a student entering this industry or an aspiring Vega Award submitter, what advice would you give them?
Learn from others but experiment and create new ways of telling story. Being original is the best way to represent your work.
18 What resources would you recommend to someone who wants to improve their skills in the digital industry?
Design Inspire web series on Youtube. It features young inspiring designers from diverse backgrounds and the topic will help young designers to gather many insights to understand how to enhance their skills.
19 Tell us something you have never told anyone else.
Well, I think there is nothing like that
20 Who has inspired you in your life and why?
Dr. Jignesh Khakhar, my mentor has been my biggest inspiration. For one he through the new media design course was able to change my thoughts and made me resilient and made my thought process much critical. He made me aware in a short time how attitudes and beliefs change. His teaching methods sparked imaginations and opened up for me a world of wonder and adventure. But most importantly he cultivated joy in working and gave purpose to enjoy the journey of creation than just the creation itself.
21 What is your key to success? Any parting words of wisdom?
It takes time to grow anything valuable. Have patience but keep trying and doing things.
22 Do you have anything else you would like to add to the interview?
nopes.
