UX Researcher · Product Designer · MHCI+D @ UW

designer.
researcher.
slightly obsessed
with food.

I'm endlessly curious about human behavior, and design is how I explore it. My approach is a mix of asking hard questions, starting with people, prototyping to think, and paying close attention to the gap between what someone says and what they actually do. What I care about most is the space between research and making — translating insight into form.

Fun fact: every great idea starts with a good cup of tea and a slightly chaotic FigJam board.

Kanishka Balaji

Education

The making of
a designer.

Two chapters that shaped how I design, research, and think.

Bachelor of Design

Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology

Four years of productive confusion. I came in thinking design meant making things look good. I left knowing it means understanding why things exist at all. I worked across fintech, community building, games, code, film, and mixed media — not because the curriculum was scattered, but because it was trying to show me something. Design doesn't live in one discipline. It lives in the gaps between all of them.

2020 — 2024

Bangalore, India

Master of Human Computer Interaction + Design

University of Washington

Where I'm learning to go deeper — into systems, research, and the hard questions at the intersection of people and technology.

2025 — Present

Seattle, WA

In my own words

Questions people actually ask me.

01

What inspired you to pursue design?

People and stories have always pulled me in. Design felt like the place where empathy and problem-solving could live together — where I could actually do something with what I understood about people.

Things that make me, me

A few pieces of who I am.

Podcast host on mental health & storytelling

Builds empathy, active listening, and comfort with difficult conversations.

Helped build a 30-foot bamboo sculpture

Collaborative making at scale — learning by doing, getting your hands dirty.

Known to plan my day around food

Cultural curiosity & attention to sensory experience — runs @foodie.ventures

Collects postcards wherever I go

Observer of places, typography, and the everyday design of the world.

Building with cob & vernacular techniques

Earth, straw, water — understanding what it means to build slowly with what's already there.

Finds joy in small wins

Progress over perfection — sustainable creative practice, always.

Life beyond the screen

My life in frames.

I will plan an entire trip around food. I'm perpetually looking for the next destination, preferably one that involves some form of mild danger. Certified adrenaline junkie. I ran a mental health podcast for two years and genuinely believe conversation is a design tool.

Let's work together

Good things start with a simple hello.

Graduating August 2026 and actively looking for full-time roles. I'd love to chat.

Say hello ↗