Hello, I’m Avani!
I design intuitive, scalable workflows for complex SaaS products.
With a rare blend of design expertise and a computer science background, I bridge the gap between design and development, speaking the technical language that drives collaboration and execution.
Check out my product design work, my freelance work or poke through my resume.
Fun fact: My name means “Earth” in Sanskrit. Unsure how to pronounce it?
Read more about my career journey below. 👇
Harnessing frustration to design more universal solutions.
As a petite, left-handed Indian-American woman, I gradually came to realize that the world around me was not designed with my needs in mind.
I was designing products before I even knew what product design was. In foundational studio classes, projects evolved into self-imposed design challenges. For a pop art assignment, a common object, a cell phone, was reimagined as a 6 ft behemoth, but with improved physical affordances.
“What would help with fatigue, regardless of hand preference? What about different hand sizes? “
Asking bigger questions.
“How could the children of immigrants better connect with their heritage? “
When visiting India, away from the big cities, English signage decreased dramatically. Although able to speak the regional language Gujarati fluently, I found even rudimentary Gujarati reading skills to be key.
I created language learning software before Duo became a celebrity owl. My MVP aimed for basic number, color and character recognition, as half the signage written in Gujarati was phonetically in English.
Design thinking & engagement
My first physical computing project (using microcontrollers) involved a game of Pong to trigger custom audio when the ball hit a paddle.
“What is your goal?”
“Who is your audience?”
When I returned to my alma mater as a professor, I emphasized design process: ideas, iteration and collaboration over students’ initial tendency to hyperfocus on particular tools. The why versus the how.
My struggles through the computer science curriculum marked a turning point that shaped my perspective and work. I sought to make concepts more approachable and engaging. I rewrote the introductory computer science curriculum to be more inclusive of different learning types, approaching programming from a visual perspective.
Recreating classics like Pong or Space Invaders, introduces students to algorithmic thinking, geometry, collision detection while also considering the user experience.
Uncovering the power of gamification in learning.
Outside of teaching, I turned to games as a learning tool. Utilizing pattern recognition and the innate satisfaction of hitting large objects, I constructed a large-scale interactive installation, d0uble t1me, that decoded the binary number system.
To support the Equine Science Center’s mission of cultivating a love of horses and science in younger generations, we developed a series of short games simulating the center’s work. My research was quite memorable.
“Do not stand behind the horse treadmill, otherwise you will get pelted with manure”.
The game started in the barn, where players could select and prep their horse. Once ready, players controlled the horse’s treadmill and drew blood during the run. Finally laboratory activities included sample preparation and analysis.
Woven throughout my work, a passion for problem-solving is clear.
My days as a SaaS product designer are spent on complex problems like simplifying the bundling services or setting up automated customer notifications for service visits.