I am Bijith, founder and CEO of Aufait UX, a UI UX design agency based in India with a global clientele. I am an engineer by profession and have worked with MNCs and co-founded a couple of technology ventures before venturing into the UX/UI design space with Aufait UX.

Though I started my career in engineering, starting from my first job, I had the opportunity to work with leading designers and build products and applications with high design standards. I strived to nurture my creative side and design instincts, working with some of the best minds and learning to keep a balance between user and business needs. In my leisure time, I enjoy badminton, tea and traveling and exploring the fine beauty of nature.

I took a short career break in 2016 and I was reflecting on my career and the next move. I had always enjoyed working with designers and had a keen eye on design details. I figured that by combining my technical knowledge, business exposure and design aptitude, I could build a unique design service. I knew that was something I would enjoy and could work with passion.

Aufait UX was founded in 2017 with an aim to make UX design services accessible for all. Back then, UI UX design was a luxury service affordable for only the high-end customers. I wanted to change that narrative with Aufait UX. We offer UI UX design services for businesses of all scales, from startups to enterprises.

In the past 5 years, we have grown from a team of 5 to 30+ members. I head the UX team and work closely with them to ensure that we deliver designs that are technically viable, aesthetically appealing and aligned with the business goals.

Our design process is simple and straightforward.

We begin with a workshop with the founders/business owners to understand their business domain, objectives, competitors and target users.

After gathering the required information through user research and business discovery, we create user flows and information architecture to confirm the scope of the project. Then we build wireframes to bring visual clarity and bring in the visual design team.

The design team creates a clickable prototype which undergoes rigorous testing and reviews until we reach the final design. A style guide or design system is also prepared for each project to support its ongoing development.

For me, it is developing the user flow and information architecture of the design. I believe, having a clear picture on the high-level view is quite important before delving into the actual design stage. It plays a decisive role in the final outcomes of every project and makes the entire process smooth.

A creative design has the ability to articulate rationale behind a design. I believe every element we design should have a purpose. Well-designed product should make a novice user comfortable to start the journey with basic features and hide the complexities encouraging them to explore as they advance.

Being a global business, we try our best to empathize with our clients and the end customers and minimize the influence of our culture, unless the product demands it. We strive to design for the intended audience and their expectations.

We are truly honored. It is a great achievement for us and a testament to the finesse of our work. The award inspires us to work harder and continue creating digital product designs with global standards.

Our winning entry was the design for a mobile app called StockPe. StockPe is a stock market learning app that simplifies financial learning through gamification. As the primary target audience is the young generation, the app takes a fun and gamified approach to learn stock market trading. Through tournaments, users can learn stock trading, practice their knowledge in real time and get rewards.

We chose to enter MUSE awards with StockPe owing to the creative approach to learning implemented in the app. It is a unique concept with a big potential and we believed it would stand out among all the other entries.

StockPe was an interesting project for us and compelled us to think beyond the box. The biggest challenge with the project was that we had to gain understanding about three domains – fintech, education and gaming – for the design. We brought together people from various departments and of different age groups to brainstorm and ideate.

It certainly builds our confidence and improves our credibility. An award is always inspiring and winning the MUSE Awards has strengthened our belief in the quality of our work.

Fun, collaborative and diverse.

My country is home to creative minds of all genres – from art to literature and music. Art is a natural means of expression in the cities where we live making the place vibrant in all nooks and corners.

Machine learning, meta and more innovative mobile devices can lead to unpredictable ways to create new products so need to keep eyes wide open for disrupting innovations.

Watch out for unique ideas and treat every work as if you might contest for an award.

Keep close connections with design community and follow leaders in the industry.

With strong review process we can produce magical outcomes with anyone has strong knowledge of design tools.

The leadership lessons I learned from the mentors in my early career have been significant in my life. I remember my initial design inspiration was my first manager, Mallikarjuna Konduri , an NIDian who is now Chief Design officer at SAP.

I was fascinated with the way he would spend hours on finer details of his work. Another inspiration in my life is Hari, who recently passed away leaving a significant impact in the Indian IT industry.

Frequent UX Reviews with multiple talents from diverse backgrounds is the key to our success. Be open for feedback and be a good listener for a successful UX professional.

I would like to take a moment to thank everyone involved in this project and have played a significant role in its success. Starting from our customer point of contact Shubham who had a unique idea and subject matter expertise, our UX team led by Sisira, and the design team including Shaheer and Shineesh, it's the effort and contribution of all of them that has helped us win this much awaited achievement today.