Kara Pernice has spent thirty-five years figuring out how people actually use technology, not how we assume they do. As President and CEO of Nielsen Norman Group, she leads work that’s shaped design at Google, American Express, Capital One, and the IMF, discovered the F-Pattern of reading, and built NN/g’s UX Certification Program, now certifying thousands. At DesignUp26, Kara draws on a career spanning every major disruption in the field to ask what survives this one.

Tey Bannerman has spent his career translating between technology’s promise and its implementation reality. From digital studios to startups to Head of McKinsey Design Europe, he’s led AI implementations for global banks and retail giants across five continents—learning firsthand what separates the 5% that succeed from the 95% that fail. Now an independent advisor, he combines technical depth with cultural intelligence and trust calibration. At DesignUp26, Tey delivers a keynote on the messy, human reality of putting AI to work.

Kimya Gandhi draws letters most designers overlook. A type designer from Mumbai now based in Berlin, she specialises in Devanagari typefaces, pulling inspiration from India’s dense visual landscape to reinvent vernacular type for a new generation. As a partner at type foundry Mota Italic, alongside Rob Keller, she’s built custom and retail typefaces for Škoda, Audi, Google, and Apple. She also teaches, runs workshops, and makes a mean homemade pasta. At DesignUp26, Kimya argues Indic scripts remain unfinished design work.

George Aye calls himself a Pissed-Off Optimist—and built a studio on that contradiction. He co-founded Greater Good Studio in 2011 to use design to heal, be just, and be restorative, after seven years at a global innovation firm and a stint as the first human-centered designer at the Chicago Transit Authority. He teaches at Northwestern and sits on the boards of Asian Americans Advancing Justice Chicago and the Chicago Children’s Museum. At DesignUp26, George asks what design owes to power.

Rukmini S wants India to argue with better numbers. Founder and Director of Data For India, a public platform for understanding the country through data, she’s the award-winning author of Whole Numbers & Half Truths, and was earlier Data Editor at The Hindu, where her journalism won the international Sigma Award. She’s a Non-Resident Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Advanced Study of India. At DesignUp26, Rukmini asks what gets lost when decisions run on vibes.

Danish Husain revived an art form that had nearly disappeared. An actor, poet, and director, he brought back Dastangoi, the lost art of Urdu storytelling, evolving it into his own format, Qissebaazi, through his company The Hoshruba Repertory. His screen credits include Bard of Blood, Bombay Begums, and Delhi Crime, alongside Netflix’s Lucca’s World; his poetry, spanning English, Hindi, and Urdu, appears in anthologies including Usawa Literary Review. At DesignUp26, Danish explores what carries forward when a tradition is retold.

Roshan Abbas has spent three decades turning ideas into institutions. Co-founder of Kommune, a 24-city storytelling network, and creator of Spokenfest, one of Asia’s most awarded cultural IPs, he’s produced original works like We Belong, winner of the Adelaide Fringe Prize for Poetry Performance. Before that, he built Encompass into a ₹250 crore agency under WPP, working with Netflix, Diageo, and Tanishq. He’s currently touring his solo show, Indradhanush. At DesignUp26, Roshan explores building IP that outlives its founder.

Meru Vashisht designs for the people humanitarian systems most often miss. As Human Centered Design Lead at the International Rescue Committee, she leads HCD within its Research and Innovation lab, reducing barriers to care for vulnerable women and girls across rural India, South Sudan, Uganda, Nigeria, Congo, and Somalia. She’s built with adolescents, displaced communities, sex workers, and queer and trans individuals to make health systems more responsive. At DesignUp26, Meru asks what human-centred design means at the edges.

Justin Maguire leads design for enterprise and emerging products at Atlassian, after moving between agency and in-house work at Salesforce, Microsoft, and frog Design. He’s spent that career pushing customer-centric design deeper into organisations, leading distributed teams building product and service ecosystems for the AI era. What he’s chasing is what he calls rare alchemy: cross-disciplinary teams that elevate the human condition and still move the market. At DesignUp26, Justin unpacks why that alchemy is so hard to get right.

Beatrix Fey has spent twenty years designing the maps that quietly get you where you’re going. Based in Berlin, she’s led map design and feature development across web, mobile, and in-car environments—exploration, navigation, traffic, EV routing, public transport, indoor and outdoor—for platforms spanning Europe, North America, and Asia. Her practice runs concept to implementation, but her real discipline is restraint: the art of omission. At DesignUp26, Beatrix argues that the best navigation design is the kind you never notice.

Ankur Sardana has led design teams at Amazon, Samsung, Zomato, OLX, and Tata Digital over two decades—four patents deep, with work displayed at the Samsung Museum in Suwon. Then he found improv. Trained in Seattle and New York, he founded Nautankibaaz Improv Collective and now runs Yes And Play Consulting, having coached 2,500+ students and brought improv into Google, HSBC, and Shell. At DesignUp26, Ankur asks what “yes, and” can teach design teams stuck saying no.

Mehr Chatterjee draws stories that don’t sit still. As co-founder of Improper Design + Animation in New Delhi—alongside partner Aditya Dutta—she’s spent over a decade building illustration-based animation and motion design across advertising, film and TV title sequences, and motion branding. The studio’s visual voice is recognisably theirs: playful, off-centre, built to connect across platforms rather than perform on just one. At DesignUp26, Mehr unpacks what it takes to keep that voice consistent across wildly different briefs.

Aditya Dutta gives stillness a pulse. As co-founder of Improper Design + Animation in New Delhi—alongside partner Mehr Chatterjee—he’s spent over a decade building illustration-based animation and motion design across advertising, film and TV title sequences, and motion branding. The studio’s visual voice is recognisably theirs: playful, off-centre, built to connect across platforms rather than perform on just one. At DesignUp26, Aditya unpacks what it takes to keep that voice consistent across wildly different briefs.

Nishita Mohta wants to put ease and courage back into the creative process. A business consultant, educator, and author with a background in architecture and graphic design, she works closely with creative founders and studios across India to build systems for healthier, more sustainable ways of working. Her book, Inspired: The A-Z of Creative Unblocking, helps creatives push past fear, perfectionism, and burnout. At DesignUp26, Nishita makes the case that untangling chaos is itself a design skill.

Oliver Weidlich has spent eight of his twenty-five years in UX chasing one question: how spatial computing changes the way we interact with computers, and with each other. As Director of Design & Innovation at Contxtual, he’s carried that question from co-authored academic research to mentoring and industry stages in seven countries, running projects worldwide—from cognitive training, to documentary experiences, to the future of retail. At DesignUp26, Oliver explores what design looks like once the screen disappears entirely.

Jay Demetillo has designed across five countries and never stopped moving—Twitter, Pinterest, Yahoo, Grab, now Principal Designer at Canva. He took Canva Sheets, an AI spreadsheet, from zero to launch with Magic Formulas and Magic Insights; at Grab, he led GrabFood’s regional redesign and safety features like Facial Recognition. His range runs wide: civic design for SFPark, community art for Bay Lights, a full build for Gaspar Brasserie. At DesignUp26, Jay makes the case for designers who refuse to specialise.

Priti Saini has spent twenty-five years bridging business strategy and technical execution—and lately, that means Agentic AI. A design strategist, leader, and self-described AI generalist, she drives digital transformation, mobile development, and business modernisation across BFSI, fintech, healthcare, insurance, and enterprise tech, scaling design practices and architecting digital-first strategies along the way. She’s also visiting faculty at design schools and Agile business groups. At DesignUp26, Priti explores what leadership looks like when the tools keep changing under you.

Prakash Sharma calls himself a fanatical advocate for Behavioural Science—and means it. As co-founder of 1001 Stories, a Bangalore strategy firm, he analyses and influences human behaviour to build better products, brands, and people, while serving as president of Diversifi Global, a network of 22 Applied Behavioural Science firms worldwide. Between keynotes and guest lectures at IITs, he writes on the science behind why people do what they do. At DesignUp26, Prakash unpacks the behaviour inside every design decision.

Jyothish VM has no engineering background. In April 2026, over a weekend, he built NammaKasa anyway—a civic reporting platform where anyone can flag garbage in under 30 seconds, no app, no login, no team. Within a month it drew 3,000+ verified reports across 369 Greater Bengaluru Authority wards, with 130+ spots cleared and zero marketing spend. Government bodies are now adopting it; copycats have sprung up nationwide. At DesignUp26, Jyothish shows what civic accountability looks like when a designer ships.

Faris Mohammed builds the tools designers use to design. As Lead Product Designer at ThoughtSpot, he leads Connected Insights and Radiantplay, an AI-native prototyping playground, after nine years shaping consumer, B2B, and SaaS products at Udaan—India’s largest B2B marketplace—and Goibibo Hotels. On the side, he built BlrBloom, a live tracker for Bangalore’s flower season that pulled ~100K visitors in under two months. He’s also into photography. At DesignUp26, Faris shares what side projects teach him that his day job can’t.

Kenneth Dsouza spent twelve years building multi-market products and running design teams at Practo, Gojek, and Jiva.ag—then stepped away from all of it. A product designer with a master’s from NID, he’s currently on sabbatical: making apps with AI, teaching AI workshops to other designers, and hosting Design Demo Nights, a running showcase for people building in public. At DesignUp26, Kenneth shares what he’s learned building alone with AI after a decade spent building with teams.

Soumya Bhowmick measures what most economists ignore. A Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation and Visiting Fellow at the Stimson Centre, he works at the intersection of trade, climate policy, and inclusive growth—a framework he calls sustainomics. He leads research on Subnational Inclusive Wealth for India, presented to the UN Environment Programme in 2025, and testified before a U.S. Congressional Commission in 2026. He writes for The Indian Express. At DesignUp26, Soumya asks what growth truly costs.

Rasagy Sharma can’t stop sketchnoting—even his job titles read like one: information designer, design educator, data artist. He leads design for DataLabs at Capital One, after 13+ years designing data-heavy products at Microsoft, Barclays, and Mapbox. In his free time he turns data about identity and lived experience into art, exhibited in Berlin, Kochi, and the Swiss Embassy. He also teaches at NID and IDC IIT Bombay. At DesignUp26, Rasagy explores what data says once you let it be beautiful.