shivashankar sundaram mathivanan
My mission is to have fun with what I do.
For me there is no greater thrill than the joy of creation, the satisfaction of growth, and the pure adrenaline rush of pursuing my passions with all of my being.
I smile.build.break.learn.love.trust.enjoy.
The journey
From Madras to many time zones.
Drag the line. Born under the southern skies; a trainee in 2008; a design leader and teacher today.
- 1984
Incarnation
Madras, Tamil Nadu, India.
13.0827° N, 80.2707° E - 2002
High school
St. Bede's, Chennai.
- 2002–05
Bachelors, Visual Communication
Where the sketchbook became a career.
- 2006–08
Masters, Media Sciences
Anna University, with distinction. Interface design and 3D pre-visualisation.
- 2008
Design Trainee, Cognizant
The first desk, the first brief.
- 2009
Visual Designer
Cognizant, India.
- 2010–11
UI Designer → Sr. UI Designer
Cognizant, in India and New Jersey, USA.
- 2012
UI Design Lead
Leading the UI team, Cognizant India.
- 2013
UX Consultant, USA
Product design on site in Chicago.
- 2014–16
Hybrid Team Lead → UX/UI Practice Lead
Competency lead in Chennai; Pan-India trainings; Best Trainer Award 2014.
- 2016–17
Design Manager
Product design for a global payments client; mentoring 80+ designers.
- 2017
Head, Digital Experience, RVM
Built the digital experiences team for products and software worldwide.
- 2020–22
Doctoral research, Human Interaction
Anna University. Coursework completed and research papers submitted; not continued to the thesis.
- 2020–23
Associate Director, RVM
Strategy with the leadership team; founded the academy; mentored R&D.
- 2023
Lead Designer, EPAM
UX lead on enterprise digital platforms and Design Ops.
- 2024 —
Associate Experience Design Manager, EPAM
Leading designers, the education stream and AI-native design.
Now
What I believe
It is not just what I do. It's who I am.
It's the thrill of turning a blank canvas into a masterpiece — to make the complex simple, and create something out of nothing.
Life is not Auto Layout. Break out, live free.
Life is chaos, live it the way it is.Because only death is organised — and that too not by you.
I love time.The very aspect of how it changes, for you and for others.
I believe in what I believe, and respect what others believe.
If you have to fight, fight hard.If you have to give up, then give up. It's OK. You can fight another day.
I wish for everything, and I am also ready to lose everything.
Everything else flows between me and the universe.
I love my toys.Go ahead, stop thinking and buy one.
Toolbox
The craft, and the character.
UX toolbox
- UX leadership
- Team management
- Stakeholder management
- Account growth
- Design Ops
- Discovery
- Heuristic evaluation
- Desk research
- Design thinking
- Competitor analysis
- User journey mapping
- Information architecture
- Personas
- UX concepts
- Wireframes
- Prototypes
- Design systems
- AI pipelines
- Prompt engineering
Life skills
- Driven by passion
- Powered by art
- People & empathy
- Innovation
- Love for technology
- Learn for life
- Mentor and empower
- Go beyond & challenge
- Fail
Domains so far: enterprise cloud, consumer mobile, retail tech, forensics, healthcare, e-commerce, global websites, facility management, banking and financial services, wellness, collaboration and entertainment.
Education — Masters in Media Sciences, Anna University (distinction); Bachelors in Visual Communication; doctoral research in Human Interaction, Anna University (coursework completed). Certified Usability Analyst, Human Factors International, #2014-4978.
Art & rides
Powered by art. Fuelled by the road.
The paintbrush and the throttle teach the same thing: commit to the line. More on Instagram ↗
Art is a part. Sometimes I do miss it :)
— Shiva
I love my toys. Go ahead, stop thinking and buy one.
— Shiva
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