Design systems and UX audits.
I am a product designer in Gurugram, India, and my consulting work is design systems and UX audits for products where the interface carries real weight, the kind where a confusing screen costs someone their money or their access.
That has meant fintech, like the payment flows inside Tata Neu, the Tata Group's super app, including UPI, India's real-time payment system. It has also meant public services used by people across the country. I take on freelance work in both, for teams anywhere. Here is what I take on and how it works.
What I take on
- Design systems
- Building the shared kit of parts that keeps every screen in a product looking and working like one thing. This is what I did at Tata Neu, in-house and token-based, replacing an agency system that could not keep up.
- UX audits and redesigns of complex flows
- Going through a flow that is losing people and finding where it actually breaks, then rebuilding it. Usually the answer is upstream of the screen everyone is arguing about.
- Unifying a sprawling product
- Taking many separate platforms or modules that grew independently and turning them into one system a person can move through. The hard part is rarely the design, and I have written about why.
- Design leadership and mentorship for a team
- Working with an existing team rather than around it, so the practice stays after I do.
- Graphic design, alongside the interface work
- Social media, presentation and infographic design, logos, resumes and brand guidelines. I take these on too, though interface work is where I am most useful, so it comes first.
When does a product need a design system?
When each team ships its own buttons and spacing, the product stops feeling like one thing, and people stop trusting it. That is where Tata Neu was: dozens of products inside one app, and an agency-built system that could not keep up. A token-based system fixes it at the root. One value, defined once, flows into every screen, so a change made in one place reaches the whole product.
What a UX audit covers
One flow that is losing people, followed end to end until I find where it actually breaks. Usually that is upstream of the screen everyone is arguing about. I look hardest at the error states, because that is where a person decides whether to trust the product or walk away. Then I redesign the flow, not only report on it. It works the same way on a payment flow in a fintech app as on a form for a public service.
How an engagement works
It starts with the form on this page. Tell me what you are building and where it goes wrong; a few plain sentences are enough. I read everything that comes in and reply when I can genuinely help. Then I work with your team rather than around it, so what we build keeps working after I leave.
What I turn down
Work that is off-axis from design, like SEO, WordPress builds or digital-marketing services. Not because it is beneath anyone. I am not the right person for it, and saying so early is cheaper for both of us than finding out in week three.
Why me and not someone closer to you
The range. I have designed for a consumer super app and for national public services, and each taught me something the other could not. I also came in through engineering, so the design I hand over is one developers can build.
Tell me about the product
One-to-one career mentoring
This is separate from mentoring a team. Sessions on career direction and craft, for one designer at a time, run on Topmate and are booked directly rather than through this form.
His friendly and approachable style made the session enjoyable, and his expertise was evident in delivering clear, practical insights.
I'm really grateful for the valuable insights and advice you provided. I highly recommend Akash to anyone seeking direction.