Hey, I'm Disha
I lead product design teams. Mostly 0→1, sometimes cleanup.
Six years in. I've built design systems from nothing, untangled products that grew too fast, and hired people who now do it better than I did.
Currently leading design at Northwind
- years designing
- 6+
- designers led
- 4
- products taken 0→1
- 3
years designing
designers led
products taken 0→1
Selected work
Four projects, written up honestly
Including the parts that went wrong. Each one takes about four minutes to read.
Experiments
Things I made to answer a question
Smaller things I made to answer a question. Some shipped, most didn't need to.
Critique Cards
A deck that forces design critique into specifics. Used by three teams I don't work at.
Side project · 2024
Type scale calculator
Because I kept rebuilding the same spreadsheet before every project.
Tool · 2023
One-page design reviews
A format that replaced our hour-long review meeting. Half the team hated it for two weeks.
Process · 2023
Interviewing designers, 40 rounds in
Notes on what portfolio reviews actually tell you, and what they don't.
Writing · 2022
How I work
Four habits, held loosely
Method matters less than whether the team can tell good from bad without me in the room.
01
Ask what number moves
Before scope, before research. If nobody can name it, the work isn't ready and the brief will change under us.
02
Talk to eight people, not eighty
Enough to find the pattern, few enough to do it in a week. Then keep talking to them monthly instead of running one big study.
03
Ship the smallest honest version
A slice that a real user can complete beats a prototype that demos well. Flags over branches, weeks over quarters.
04
Give the work away
My job is that the team makes good calls when I'm on leave. That means writing decisions down and letting people own outcomes, not screens.
Experience
Where I've done it
2022 — now
Product Design Manager · Northwind
Lead a team of four across platform and field products. Own design hiring and the design system.
2020 — 2022
Senior Product Designer → Design Manager · Loomly
Grew from IC to managing two designers. Owned onboarding, activation and the core console.
2019 — 2020
Product Designer · Ardent Studio
Client work across fintech and health. Learned to scope, and learned what happens when you don't.
About
The short version
I started as an IC and still design most weeks — it keeps me honest in critique. The rest of the time I'm hiring, writing things down, and removing whatever is in my team's way.
I'm most useful early, when a product is one bad decision from being much harder to build, and in cleanup, when six years of features need a hierarchy again.
Outside work: long-distance cycling, a stubborn sourdough starter, and a growing pile of books about cities.
- Based in
- Bengaluru, India
- Role
- Product Design Manager
Contact
Say hello
I'm not looking right now, but I always read a good email. Design leadership, hiring, or someone stuck on a 0→1 — those are my favourites.
Email mehello@disharajput.com