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Speaking

I occasionally leave my desk to talk about design things in front of other cool designy people.

Config 2025
Config 2025 And cut! The design process behind animation tools · May 2025
Disney UX Summit
Disney UX Summit Behind the Frames, How we design for expert artists · August 2025
Design Nation
Design Nation Spoke at Design Nation 2026 · April 2026
Figma Community Event
Figma Community Event Figma in the design loop · December 2025
Switch Community Fireside Chat
Switch Community Fireside Chat Career chat · November 2025
Ruchita Lodha

Designer & Engineer

Ruchita

I'm a product designer with an engineering background, working at the intersection of AI, craft, and systems thinking. Currently at Pixar Animation Studios, designing tools that help artists bring stories to life.

When I'm not deep in a design system or prototyping an interaction, you'll find me hunting for good light in a new city, deep in a stack of novels, or talking on stage about the futures we're designing toward.

Speaking

Recent talks and panels.

Disney UX Summit

August 2025

Behind the Frames, How we design for expert artists

Disney UX Summit
Design Nation

April 2026

Spoke at Design Nation 2026

Design Nation
Figma Community Event

December 2025

Figma in the design loop

Figma Community Event
Switch Community Fireside Chat

November 2025

Career chat

Switch Community Fireside Chat

Where I've been

A decade of building at the intersection of engineering and design, from writing code to leading systems.

2022 — Present

Pixar Animation Studios

Sr. Product Designer

Designing AI-powered creative tools and internal systems that help artists work faster and more expressively across film production.

Animation & AI

2021 — 2022

Blizzard Entertainment

Product Designer II

Shaped cross-platform design systems and player-facing experiences for one of the world's largest gaming ecosystems.

Gaming

2017 — 2019

Instamojo

Lead UX Engineer

Led UX engineering for fintech products serving small businesses, bridging design and front-end development to drive growth.

Fintech

2016 — 2017

Zopsmart

Full Stack Software Engineer

Built full-stack e-commerce infrastructure, APIs, pipelines, and tooling as a founding engineer at an early-stage startup.

Engineering

Beyond work

Travel, reading, and everything in between that feeds the work without looking like work.

Reading

I like to read books that sit at the edge of two disciplines, where technology meets humanity, where science meets storytelling. The best ones change how I see my own work.

Empire of AI
Tiny Experiments
The Worlds I See
Creative Selection
Book cover

Train Dreams

Film

Train Dreams

Denis Villeneuve, 2025

Quietly devastating. An elegy for a kind of America that no longer exists.

★★★★★

No Other Choice

Film

No Other Choice

2025

Tense, darkly funny, and impossible to look away from, leaving me laughing and on edge at the same time.

★★★★★

Marty Supreme

Film

Marty Supreme

Josh Safdie, 2025

Classic Safdie. Chaotic, immersive, and emotionally exhausting in the best way.

★★★★★

The Chronology of Water

Film

The Chronology of Water

2025

Intense, dream-like, raw. Processing trauma through art, identity fluidity and resilience. Gg Kristen.

★★★★★

Sentimental Value

Film

Sentimental Value

2025

Beautifully captured a relationship through a tender, observant lens. The unspoken words linger long after.

★★★★★

Sorry, Baby

Film

Sorry, Baby

2025

Deeply intimate, with silences that say more than words. Captures life after trauma through the quiet grace of a healing friendship.

★★★★★

The Penguin Lessons

Film

The Penguin Lessons

2024

Sentimental without being heavy, told with a gentle humor and humility. A true story, beautifully light in tone.

★★★★★

The Superboys of Malegaon

Film

The Superboys of Malegaon

2024

After so long, a Bollywood movie finally made me cry. Not flashy or loud, just honest and cute.

★★★★★

A Real Pain

Film

A Real Pain

2024

Awkward and tender. Reminded me of my relationship with my sibling, full of tension, guilt, shared jokes and long silences.

★★★★★

All We Imagine as Light

Film

All We Imagine as Light

Payal Kapadia, 2024

My favorite movie of 2024. Patient, melancholic, and achingly beautiful, it breaks your heart while quietly warming it.

★★★★★

Perfect Days

Film

Perfect Days

Wim Wenders, 2023

Quiet meditation on the beauty of everyday routines. Made me fall in love with Japan all over again.

★★★★★

The Banshees of Inisherin

Film

The Banshees of Inisherin

2022

Loneliness felt in stunning Irish landscapes, leaving a lingering mix of melancholy and reflection.

★★★★★

Triangle of Sadness

Film

Triangle of Sadness

2022

Absurdly human, sharp and unsettlingly honest. Love it when you can make me laugh in a dark reality.

★★★★★

Watching

I'm drawn to films that treat space, silence, and composition as storytelling tools, the ones where every frame feels designed. I rewatch more than I discover.

Reading list

The Reading List

Things I keep sending to people

Making

Art piece
Art piece
Art piece
Art piece
Art piece
Art piece
Art piece

Places

Tasting glaciers in Iceland Iceland
Freezing with glaciers Iceland
On top of Machu Picchu Machu Picchu
Hiking a volcano in Guatemala Guatemala
Meditating in Colorado Rockies
A quiet moment in Japan Japan
Empire of AI

Currently reading - Karen Hao explores the landscape of artificial intelligence and its impact on society.

Empire of AI 2024
Tiny Experiments

Currently reading - Anne-Laure Le Cunff teaches how small changes lead to big discoveries.

Tiny Experiments 2024
The Worlds I See

Dr. Fei-Fei Li's memoir traces her journey from immigrant to AI pioneer — honest, moving, and full of hard-won wisdom about curiosity, belonging, and what it means to build something that matters.

The Worlds I See 2023
Creative Selection

Ken Kocienda pulls back the curtain on how Apple actually made software — through taste, iteration, and the quiet craft of demoing ideas. A rare, grounded account of what thoughtful product-making looks like from the inside.

Creative Selection 2018
No Other Choice

I was dragged into a twisted office nightmare in No Other Choice, where every desperate move is as shocking as it is ridiculous. It's tense, darkly funny, and impossible to look away from, leaving me laughing and on edge at the same time.

No Other Choice 2026
Marty Supreme

Classic Safdie - Had me gripping the edge of my seat the entire time. Its chaotic, immersive, and emotionally exhausting in the best way, like being dragged through a fever dream where hope and dread keep trading places.

Marty Supreme 2025
Train Dreams

Quietly devastating. Love, loss, loneliness against the vast Pacific Northwest. It's an elegy for a kind of America that no longer exists, told with the kind of restraint that makes it hit harder.

Train Dreams 2025
Splitsville

Sharp, chaotic, surprisingly self-aware. An unromantic comedy that pokes fun at modern relationships with enough wit and physical comedy to keep you laughing through the mess. Doesn't take itself seriously, which is exactly why it works.

Splitsville 2025
The Roses

Colman and Cumberbatch are magnetic together — two people who love and resent each other in equal measure. It's messy and funny and quietly cutting. The kind of film that makes you laugh until it makes you uncomfortable.

The Roses 2025
Sentimental Value

This one beautifully captured a relationship through a tender, observant lens. The house feels frozen in time, serving as a repository to memories. The unspoken words linger long after, making the film quietly unforgettable.

Sentimental Value 2025
Sorry, Baby

Sorry, Baby bruised me. It's deeply intimate, with silences that say more than words. I loved how it captures life after trauma, not through flashbacks, but through the quiet grace of a healing friendship.

Sorry, Baby 2025
The Chronology of Water

I don't know how to describe this intense, dream sequenc-y, raw biography that is visually so beautiful, its like processing trauma through art, identity fluidity and resilience. Gg Kristen.

The Chronology of Water 2025
A Real Pain

Awkward and tender in ways. Reminded me of my relationship with my sibling - full of tension, guilt, shared jokes and long silences. So honest, yet so graceful.

A Real Pain 2024
All We Imagine as Light

My favorite movie of 2024. Its lyrical cinematography captures nocturnal Mumbai in stunning neon frames. Patient, melancholic, and achingly beautiful, it breaks your heart while quietly warming it.

All We Imagine as Light 2024
The Penguin Lessons

I couldn't recommend The Penguin Lessons more. It's sentimental without being heavy, told with a gentle humor and humility that makes it feel effortless. A true story, beautifully light in tone, with a quiet lesson that lingers.

The Penguin Lessons 2024
The Superboys of Malegaon

After so long, a Bollywood movie finally made me cry. Not flashy or loud, just honest and cute. Truly an inspiring story for anyone passionate about filmmaking.

The Superboys of Malegaon 2024
Perfect Days

Quiet meditation on the beauty of everyday routines with an undercurrent of melancholy. Made me fall in love with Japan all over again.

Perfect Days 2023
The Banshees of Inisherin

Loneliness is felt here in stunning Irish landscapes, that left me with a lingering mix of melancholy and reflection.

The Banshees of Inisherin 2022
Triangle of Sadness

Love it when you can make me laugh in a dark reality. Absurdly human, sharp and unsettling-ly honest.

Triangle of Sadness 2022