Hello, I’m Astha!
I’m a UX/UI Design Leader with 15 years of experience creating intuitive, scalable digital products across web applications, mobile platforms (iOS/Android), websites and enterprise systems.
I specialize in human-centered design for complex environments with deep expertise in FinTech, banking, telecom, government, consulting, e-commerce, and other technology-driven sectors. Whether I’m leading research, mapping user journeys, or designing system-wide flows, I bring strong communication and strategic thinking to every phase of the design process.
Certified in Agile Project Management (PMI-ACP), I collaborate seamlessly across product, business, and engineering blending UX strategy, visual design, accessibility, and interaction principles to create user experiences that are as impactful as they are elegant.
Worked for: IBM, Deloitte, PwC, Morgan Stanley, TD Bank, Rogers, CIBC, Scotiabank, BMO and so on…
EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATIONS
🎓 Bachelor of FINE ARTS (BFA), OCAD University
Major in Fine Arts & Design, Toronto, Canada
Canada’s premier art and design school, where I developed a strong foundation in creative thinking, pyschology, and design.
✅ OCADU Alumni panelist invited to speak on Careers in Design and share industry experience with emerging designers and artists
✅ Government of Canada Security Clearance (Reliability Status)
Authorized to work on confidential and NDA-bound federal projects. Clearance is valid for 10 more years, enabling access to secure environments and sensitive information. Issued by Canadian Government, September 2018
✅ PMI-ACP® Certified, University of Toronto
Agile Certified Practitioner (Project Management Institute)
✅ Certified in Accessibility (WCAG/AODA)
Experienced in creating compliant and inclusive interfaces
✅ Figma Expert: Advanced experience with design systems, components, variants, auto layout, prototyping and scalable enterprise UI libraries.
HOW I DESIGN
01 — Discover
Research users, data, business needs and existing workflows to uncover pain points and opportunities.
02 — Define
Turn insights into clear problems, priorities, user needs and measures of success.
03 — Design
Create information architecture, user flows, wireframes and prototypes from concept through high-fidelity design.
04 — Validate
Test ideas with users and stakeholders, synthesize feedback and iterate based on evidence.
05 — Deliver
Partner with Product, Engineering and QA through implementation to ensure the experience ships as intended.
Disclaimer: These stages remain foundational, but AI is making the design process increasingly non-linear. Research, ideation, prototyping and validation now overlap, enabling faster exploration and higher-fidelity learning earlier in the process.
The old model: Research → Wireframe → Design → Test → Handoff
The emerging model: Context + systems → explore ↔ prototype ↔ test ↔ build → continuously evaluate
CORE COMPETENCIES:🔹 UX Strategy 🔹 Research 🔹 Product Design 🔹 Design Systems 🔹 Accessibility · AI-Enabled Design 🔹 Enterprise UX · Agile Delivery
UX CERTIFICATIONS
✅ IBM Enterprise Design Thinking: Team Essentials for AI
Certified in IBM’s collaborative design approach tailored for AI product teams — with a focus on aligning user needs, ethical AI principles, and business outcomes. Issued by IBM, September 2019
✅ IBM Enterprise Design Thinking Practitioner®
Certified in IBM’s collaborative, outcome-driven design framework — with an emphasis on applying design thinking principles in everyday work to drive user value and team alignment. Issued by IBM, August, 2019
AGILE CERTIFIED
Certified Agile Project Management Certified - ACP , University of Toronto
Applied Agile practices across major enterprise environments including TD, Deloitte, CIBC and Scotiabank, with hands-on experience leading cross-functional collaboration, participating in Agile ceremonies, and completing an intensive two-day Agile workshop.
GOVERNMENT OF CANADA RELIABILITY STATUS CLEARANCE
Cleared to work on federal and provincial projects involving sensitive, confidential and NDA-protected information, with experience operating in secure enterprise and licensed government environments.
Product Management & UX Design Certification from General Assembly, Toronto, Canada
That’s me (bottom row, center 🙋♀️) during our final week at General Assembly! This program helped me bridge UX and product thinking — and taught me the value of collaboration, iteration, and showing up with energy.
I was at some point a staff member and would train new UX Design Students entering this field.
Issued in 2016
Skills, Deliverables & Tools
🔹 UI & Interaction Design
UI/UX Design
Product Design
Visual UI Design
Prototyping
Design Systems (Atomic Design, Tokens, Theming)
Microinteractions & Motion Design
Mobile-First Design (iOS & Android HIG + Material)
Accessibility & Inclusive Design (WCAG AA)
Accessibility Testing Tools (e.g., Stark, Axe)
Branding, Logo & Visual Design
🔹 UX Strategy & Research
Information Architecture
Journey Mapping
User Flows & Task Analysis
Heuristic Evaluation
Competitive Analysis
Persona Development
UX Research
User Interviewing & Moderated Testing
Survey Design & Insight Synthesis
Research & Analytics
🔹 Collaboration & Delivery
Agile Certified UX / Lean UX/ Scrum
Stakeholder Management
Cross-Functional Communication
Design Ops
Dev Handoff (Figma-to-Code, Zeplin, Storybook)
QA Collaboration / UX Audits
🔹 Emerging & Advanced Tools
Figma Expert, Sketch, Invision, Adobe Creative Suite
ChatGPT for Ideation & UX Copywriting
Midjourney / DALL·E for Visual Concepting
FigJam & Miro for Workshop Facilitation
Notion / Jira & Confluence for UX Documentation
Knowledge of HTML/CSS
🔹 Leadership & Mentorship
Design Team Leadership (managing Designers)
Design Strategy & Planning
Mentoring Junior Designers
Hiring & Interviewing Designers
Building UX Culture in Cross-Functional Teams
Workshop Facilitation (Design Sprints, Discovery)
Have a project in mind?
I specialize in designing thoughtful, scalable user experiences — from concept to execution.