All of my work originates from either of two distinct starting points —

1. when someone asks me to make something for a group of people to meet a certain target

2. when something in the world ignites my wonder

Work that originates from [1] often begins by sharpening the ask — what are we really making, why are we making it and what does meeting the target mean for us? Then, time is spent in collecting information via specific groups of people and the internet. The found information produces a new list of micro-asks which, if satisfied, will eventually lead to the fulfilment of the original, bigger ask. Different ways to satisfy each micro-ask are explored via a loop of making, showing and changing; eventually arriving at an assortment of outcomes that are likely to fulfil the original ask.

Work that originates from [2] leads to the formation of a thought — what happens if … / can … / is it possible to … , etc. The thought then demands to be expressed or realised. So, it is pushed through a process of ‘making’. Since the world around me makes more sense to me in terms of rules, numbers and steps, the ‘making’ is often governed by a system of logic. This results in the creation of an artefact that can most likely be experienced via the sense of sight.

Find a PDF of my CV here or read below to get a quick overview.

I studied communication design at the Indian Institute of Art & Design where I was naively inspired by the idea of using design to change the world. I also stumbled upon the artistic potential of programming and used it as my gateway into interdisciplinary work. For my graduation project (and most of my final year), I worked with Science Gallery Bengaluru as part of their Xperimenters programme where I programmed a web-game and explored citizen science.

After graduating, I worked as a design researcher for 2+ years at two organisations in their social impact practices and resigned to grow my own consulting practice. I now work independently — with people or organisations to [a] do design research, [b] teach or [c] employ creative-coding to deliver interactive and / or performative experiences largely over the web.

I work 3 days / week with VuNet systems as part of their small UX team (Shobhan, Arko, Sankalp & me). VuNet has built a powerful observability platform that financial institutions use to identify, diagnose and resolve different errors across their distributed components. I spend most of my time working on ambiguous asks, led by curiosity and rigour.

In the days that remain, I balance my time between graduate applications, building this archive, catching up on WIP ideas and mentoring six students from AND Academy on their UX-diploma capstone projects.

Apart from work, I am getting to back to the active lifestyle that I had before; playing and climbing regularly, with the occassional hike. I am also living in a perpetual attempt to say more 'yeses' than 'nos'.

The fastest way to reach me is by email @arjunmakesthings[at]gmail.com. I respond to (almost) everything that I get there. I am also on LinkedIn, but prefer to keep my connections limited to people that I’ve actually met before (with a handful of exceptions).