Namrata Samel

Fourteen years ago, I was chasing hemlines and shipment deadlines across three continents. Today, I chase user pain points with the same relentlessness ,  just with a lot more sticky notes and a lot fewer fabric swatches.

I spent over a decade building categories, managing buyers, and shepherding collections from concept to shipments,  a career that taught me more about human behaviour than any textbook could. Turns out, understanding what a Middle-East buyer actually wants and understanding what a user actually needs aren't so different. Both require listening past what people say to what they mean.

So I went back to college. An M.Des in Experience Design at NIFT Mumbai later, I've traded moodboards for empathy maps, though I'll admit, I still can't resist a good mood board. My research has taken me from redesigning public transport for accessibility, to imagining AR pilgrimages for the elderly, to interrogating what "ethical AI" even means for a student cramming at 2am.

I believe good design should feel inevitable,  like it was always meant to be that way  and that getting there takes equal parts rigor and curiosity. I ask a lot of "why," I sketch on napkins, and I genuinely think usability testing is one of the most honest conversations you can have with a stranger.

Great design isn't just seen, it's felt. I'm here to make sure users feel it right.