Portrait of Karishma Bhugoowan

Hi! I'm Karishma, and I'm a Product Designer

I turn ambiguity into product direction by bringing user needs, business goals and emerging technology together to create products people can trust.

Featured in the Financial Times for my perspective on keeping people at the centre of AI.

✨Strategic Designer
👾AI Designer
🚀Rapid Prototyper
💬Workshop Facilitator
✨Strategic Designer
👾AI Designer
🚀Rapid Prototyper
💬Workshop Facilitator
✨Strategic Designer
👾AI Designer
🚀Rapid Prototyper
💬Workshop Facilitator
✨Strategic Designer
👾AI Designer
🚀Rapid Prototyper
💬Workshop Facilitator
✨Strategic Designer
👾AI Designer
🚀Rapid Prototyper
💬Workshop Facilitator
✨Strategic Designer
👾AI Designer
🚀Rapid Prototyper
💬Workshop Facilitator
✨Strategic Designer
👾AI Designer
🚀Rapid Prototyper
💬Workshop Facilitator
✨Strategic Designer
👾AI Designer
🚀Rapid Prototyper
💬Workshop Facilitator
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Karishma at a design workshop or industry event
Selected Work

Projects that matter

A selection of client work spanning government, finance, defence, and emerging technology.

Ministry of Defence

Project Minerva: Fighting Intelligently

A tool to support soldiers in planning high-stakes activity across time, resources, dependencies, and operational scenarios. I led the service-design and UX direction: translating complex handbooks and rules into an intuitive experience for the soldiers, whilst guiding the team through delivery.

Project Minerva: Fighting Intelligently
View Case Study
Dept. for Work & Pensions

Operation GAiL: Generative AI Learning & Development

From dense policy to accessible learning content in minutes: designing an end-to-end generative AI tool for the UK Department for Work and Pensions' learning designers.

Operation GAiL: Generative AI Learning & Development
View Case Study
HSBC

Rewiring Trust: A Reimagined Banking App for Gen Z

Financial Coach was a design-led initiative between HSBC and IBM to make banking feel relevant, intuitive, and confidence-building for a generation underserved by traditional finance.

Rewiring Trust: A Reimagined Banking App for Gen Z
View Case Study
My Skills & Capabilities

Where I can help

◑

AI & Conversational Design

Designing for generative AI products with ethical frameworks, conversation design, explainability patterns, and human-in-the-loop UX.

View my skill →
◎

Workshop Facilitation

Designing and leading complex workshops for discovery, co-creation, ideation, and decision-making across multi-disciplinary teams.

View my skill →
◐

Rapid Prototyping

Vibe coding prototypes fast, from paper sketches to interactive flows to validate assumptions and communicate vision.

◈

Strategic Design

Connecting design decisions to business and mission outcomes. Framing problems, defining scope, and building alignment across stakeholders.

◉

UX & Product Design

End-to-end experience design from research synthesis to high-fidelity UI, interaction patterns, and design systems.

How I Work

My design principles

Client · User · Feasible
Team voting on features at a wall of sticky notes
01

The Venn Diagrams of Needs

Great design rarely serves just one audience. With a background spanning consulting and pre-sales at IBM, I’ve learned to balance the client’s goals and the needs of the users using the product.

Each perspective is valid, but no single one should determine the solution alone. My role is to find the productive overlap: an experience that improves outcomes for users, supports the client’s measures of success, and can credibly be delivered within IBM’s capabilities. That intersection is where a compelling idea becomes a sustainable product.

Design
Product
Engineering
Karishma at a whiteboard with her product and engineering leads, remote colleagues on screen
02

My Holy Trinity

I don’t design in isolation. I involve my product manager and technical lead / solution architect early in the decision making process, bringing together user advocacy, product direction, and technical expertise.

I remain accountable for my design judgement, while recognising that the strongest decisions draw on perspectives beyond my own. When we disagree, we work through the trade offs early, so we can stay aligned and make decisions the whole team can stand behind.

Not simplified — clarified
Karishma facilitating a workshop around a table covered in sticky notes
03

Complexity Has a Job

Through my work designing for military and government organisations, I’ve learned that complex systems do not need to be simplified. They need to be designed for clarity. The rules, regulation and compliance within them serve a purpose, and often reflect the established mental models of the specialist users who rely on them.

My role is to develop a deep understanding of the environment, then pinpoint where the existing experience breaks down across a user’s task flow. I shape the information architecture and interaction patterns around those moments of friction, creating experiences that build confidence and trust without removing meaningful complexity.

My contributions outside the office

My community & giveback

Beyond my day-to-day work, I'm passionate about giving back; whether that's running innovation days in schools, speaking at early professional events, or mentoring the next wave of talent into tech. Community isn't a side project; it's how I measure the impact I want to have in the world.

01
Mentoring1:1 support · Career conversations · Industry exposure
Expand

I mentor early professionals 1:1, having the honest career conversations and offering the kind of steady support I wish I'd had when I was finding my feet. I speak at universities to help students picture themselves in roles they didn't know existed.

I really enjoy our weekly sessions and am always left feeling inspired and motivated. Through showing me your work, I have a better idea of the industry and how IBM bridge the gap between design and client business objectives. These conversations have been very insightful and have influenced how I want to shape my career at IBM.

GraceEarly Professional Consultant
02
Workshop & EducationIBM Design Thinking · AI Literacy · Secondary Education
Expand

I go directly into schools to run full innovation days, blending hands-on IBM Design Thinking sessions with real conversations about AI and technology, because the goal isn't to teach tools, it's to change how students approach problems and see themselves as problem-solvers. Through AI in Tech Days I bring accessible AI concepts into secondary education.

03
Teaching the Next Generation of Female DesignersEmpathetic Design · Facilitation · Girls in Tech
Expand

As the lead designer on Tech She Can, I ran a session aimed at inspiring young women to explore design and technology, introducing the concept of empathetic design, putting human needs at the centre of every solution, and leading hands-on activities that shifted how they approached problems. But it was about more than design skills: it was about showing a room full of girls that their perspective matters, that empathy is a superpower in tech, and that there's a seat at the table waiting for them.

04
Events & SpeakingIBM THINK · Women in Tech · Innovation Sessions
Expand

Representing IBM at industry events, running hands-on innovation workshops with clients, and connecting with people across the tech ecosystem

THINK UK 2023Women in TechEthics & AI LunchD&I Panellist
Get in touch

Let's work together

Whether it's a complex problem that needs reframing, an assistant that needs a voice, or a room that needs facilitating - I'd love to hear about it. I read every message myself and usually reply within a day or two.

Get in touch →View my work →
Email
 
Based inLondon・Remote-friendly
Open toContract・Consulting・Speaking
Alternative contactLinkedIn →
Karishma Bhugoowan
Product Designer · London
Vibe Coded by Me