It’s been a year of slow, steady work at Zen Citizen, and leading UX here has been nothing like building a typical product.

You’re designing for the cautious, the frustrated, and the skeptical. Our tools and services have to anticipate user fears, guide people through uncertainty, and work around the huge diversity of tech access, languages, and trust levels in India. The rewards aren’t instant. You are taking ten steps forward, five back, and then figuring out a new way through.

But when someone tells us they managed to get something done without paying a bribe or relying on a middleman, it makes all the loops and effort worth it.

Can’t think of anyone more resourceful than Vineeta, and all the fellow volunteers digging through PDFs, RTIs, forum threads, and half-functioning portals to piece together accurate information.

Grateful to be part of this journey and to work alongside people who are committed to simplifying things that were never meant to be simple.

The only explanation for UX you will ever need, narrated in Cunk’s voice.

Teaching a module on Critical Cartographies and found my old post-its from '22 nested in one of the library books at UAL.

Is there a linguistic gem for when you stumble upon hand-written notes in shared books? Need a dictionary entry for this specific feeling.