Hello, I’m Kalpitha. A Product Designer skilled in research and front-end development. I place digital inclusion at the forefront of my work and take a systems thinking approach to design.

Throughout my career over the past six years, I have helped large corporations, startups, non-profits, and agencies craft designs that are both deeply functional and aesthetic. I am currently working as a UX Designer with Costco's Design Systems team looking into the modernization of their existing design system.

Previously, I’ve worked across industries to enable high-growth startups scale credit-based digital financial services in emerging markets, bridge the empathy gap for product developers building gender intelligent financial products, created a scalable open innovation platform for social entrepreneurs, designed digital interfaces in the IoT space to interact with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Devices, and developed technological interventions for first-time smartphone users. With a background in architectural design, I went on to broaden my design practice beyond the built environment and found my way to the Pacific North West (PNW). I recently graduated with a Master’s degree in Human-Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Alongside professional and academic engagements, I also dedicate time towards initiatives that help bridge the gap between academia and the UX design industry. I am a strong proponent of designing culturally embedded solutions. Currently delving into localization in UX to get a better grasp of the interrelations between cultural contexts and design. I believe that a user’s experiential reality should be the primary focus and not an afterthought and this is the driving force behind how I go about design.

When not designing, you can find me learning how to make the ceramics I admire 🫖, getting lost in podcasts 🎧, trying to recreate healthy alternatives of foods that I enjoy 🥙, dabbling in activities that are considered PNW clichés ⛵.