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 complex 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.

On stage

Speaking

Recent talks and panels.

May 2025

And cut! The design process behind animation tools

Config 2025

August 2025

Behind the Frames, How we design for expert artists

Disney UX Summit

April 2026

Spoke at Design Nation 2026

Design Nation

December 2025

Figma in the design loop

Figma Community Event

November 2025

Career chat

Switch Community Fireside Chat

Experience

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

Off the clock

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

2022

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

★★★★★

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