Hello.

I'm Akhil. I am a designer solve problems in an interactive context. I love all things design and enjoy daydreaming with a freshly made cup of coffee. I like traveling to distant lands, reading dystopian sci-fi stories, and getting lost in immersive video game worlds.

Currently,

I'm working as a Staff Product Designer at Doordash. I'm leading major design initatives for the Core Dasher Experience to simplify earnings, pickups, navigation, drop-offs, and support for Dashers on the platform.

I get to work on new and interesting challenges every day with a holistic view on the entire lifecycle of an order.

Just before this,

I was a Staff Product Designer at Lyft, where I owned the in-app help experiences for Lyft riders, drivers, and support agents. I got to rethink how support messaging works, scaled Lyft's Ride History, and overhauled our internal tooling.

I also gave a talk at our internal design conference about how we can learn from the UI design of video games.

Before that,

I worked as a Staff Designer at Drift in Boston. I got to conceptualize and build conversational marketing platforms that helped businesses buy from other businesses. I led a major redesign of Drift's sales chat app and helped Drift become the first-to-market in shipping a desktop app.

I also extensively interviewed the personas I was designing for and hosted a Wingmasters challenge within the design team.

And before that,

I was designing products for emerging markets at JANA, where I got to work on interesting problems centered around internet accessibility in developing nations around the world. I led a major UX overhaul of our main product and also got to redesign the entire thing from scratch.

Prior to JANA, I was a UI/UX Designer at Accenture (formerly Intrepid Pursuits) where I worked on projects for Fortune 500 clients like Fidelity Investments and TEVA Pharmaceuticals.

On the side,

I shipped a video game called Skorecery, where I worked on its UI design and art direction. I also write about interface design in video games and love to do deep dives into specific aspects of it (stories on Medium).

I also take on freelance graphic design projects from time to time, where I've worked on things like book covers, brand identity, and drink labels.

In college,

I studied Industrial & Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I specialized in Human Factors & Cognitive Ergonomics. I minored in art and graphic design.

I also worked part-time as a Lead Web Designer & Developer for many years, where I created and built out scalable, reusable templates for large sites like University Housing and the Division of Student Life.

So that's me.

I occasionally do braindumps every now and then on my blog as well, where I talk about design, technology, games, and life in general.

Feel free to reach out at dakinedi@gmail.com or on Twitter. If you're in San Francisco, let's grab coffee. I'd love to chat.