Chapter 1
The Club Nobody Asked For
Chandigarh University, 2018. Prashant was a B.Tech student who noticed something most people had accepted as normal: students were learning alone. Same classrooms, same assignments, but nobody was really building anything together.
So he started a club. Not because anyone told him to. Not because it looked good on a resume. Because something felt missing, and he thought he could fix it.
The club grew from departmental to university-level. And in the middle of organising sessions and watching people connect for the first time, something shifted.
"He felt what happens when you create the right conditions for people to come together. Not events. Not content. Conditions."
Chapter 2
When Adobe and Figma Said Yes
Dexignare grew to 2,000 members in under a year. Then came The Design Development Days — a conference built from nothing. No agency. No sponsors chasing logos. Just a clear idea: bring together students and practitioners for conversations that actually matter.
Two editions. Both officially supported by Adobe and Figma. Not because Prashant pitched them a partnership deck — because the work spoke for itself.
Chapter 4 — The Turning Point
The Question That Changed Everything
Somewhere in the middle of building seven communities across three cities, Prashant hit a wall. Not a failure. Something quieter and more uncomfortable than failure.
"Am I building something that actually matters to the people inside it?
He looked at the community landscape and saw a troubling pattern — communities built as activities. Meetups so organisers could say they hosted meetups. Slack groups with thousands of members where nobody actually knew each other.
So he stopped asking "how do I grow this?" and started asking "does this actually help the people inside it?" He stopped measuring success by attendance and started measuring it by whether people came back. It was a shift from activity to belonging. From scale to depth. From hype to value.
By The Numbers
Seven years of showing up.
Communities Led
Total Members
Events Organised
Cities
Corporate Partners
Designers Mentored
SaaS Systems Designed
Years Building
The Journey
One city at a time.
The Club Nobody Asked For
Started a departmental club at Chandigarh University. Nobody asked for it. It worked anyway. Grew from department to university level.
Dexignare & Adobe/Figma
Launched Dexignare — 2,000+ members in under a year. Built The Design Development Days conference. Officially supported by Adobe and Figma.
Seven Communities
Friends of Figma chapters in Chandigarh and Varanasi. Startup Grind. LottieFiles. Framer. Seven communities running simultaneously.
The Rethink
Moved to Hyderabad. Started at Divami Design Labs. Took over Friends of Figma Hyderabad. The question changed: not 'how do I grow this?' but 'does this actually help people?'
Building the Ecosystem
Config Watch Parties drew 150–200 designers. EPAM, Red Bull, T-Hub, Keka HR, Darwinbox, Broadridge joined as partners. Not just sponsors — ecosystem builders.
UXDX Hyderabad
Launched UXDX Hyderabad as the second pillar. Founded Community Insider. The ecosystem had a name, a structure, and a direction.
The Hyderabad Design Townhall
At Broadridge India, formally named what had been building for years: the Hyderabad Design Ecosystem. Not a rebrand. A recognition.
Community Insider + ICC
ICC Notes, Inside Community Podcast, The ICC Brief, and iccprashant.in — all connected. All growing from the same root.
Chapter 7
The Other Side — Designing What Matters
Community building and design are not separate paths. They are the same path viewed from different angles. Both are about understanding people, designing experiences that serve them, and building systems that last.
At Divami Design Labs and then at TriNet, Prashant worked on complex B2B SaaS platforms — taxation systems, FinOps dashboards, Master Data Management — products where clarity is hard-won. One redesign contributed to a funding round that pushed a company toward unicorn status. That is not a design metric. That is a business outcome.
Excellence & Innovation in UX Design Award
Divami Hackathon Champion — Two Years Running
50+ Designers Mentored — IBM, Keka, Urban Company & more
10+ Integrated SaaS Systems Designed
Proofs-of-concept that converted into full projects
Contributed to a unicorn-stage funding round
The Belief System
Three lines. Seven years of proof.
Think in systems.
Nothing Prashant builds exists in isolation. Every community, every product, every piece of content is designed to strengthen every other. The ecosystem is the strategy.
Build for people.
Every design decision, every community ritual, every product feature starts with a single question: does this actually help the people it is meant to serve? If the answer is unclear, the work is not done.
Play the long game.
Seven years of building without a viral moment, a massive exit, or a shortcut. Just consistent, intentional work that compounds. The people who notice are exactly the right people.
Areas of Expertise
What seven years builds.
Community as Strategy
Community is not a side project or a growth hack. It is the foundation. Every product, every initiative, every experience Prashant builds starts from this belief.
People-First Design
Design is not decoration. It is the act of understanding what people actually need and building systems that serve them. The visual is the last thing. The thinking is the work.
Ecosystem Building
Isolated projects compound slowly. Connected ecosystems compound exponentially. Prashant builds for the long arc — every initiative designed to strengthen every other.
Builder Mindset
Talk is cheap. Prashant ships. From community events to SaaS platforms to newsletters to this website — the bias is always toward making the thing real.
Future of Work
The way designers, builders, and communities collaborate is changing. Prashant is not watching that change from the sidelines. He is building the infrastructure for what comes next.
What People Say
In their own words.
Prashant thinks beyond just design, considering the overall product and its growth. He's a natural at storytelling and shaping UX in a way that aligns with business goals. Beyond design, he has a knack for building communities and bringing people together.
Anurag Vaidyanathan
Senior Product Designer, ServiceNow
We had the most positive experience working with Prashant. The quality of work and intention he brings is something we hope to continue in the future.
Senior Engineering Manager
Global Tech Company
Prashant stands out not only for his exceptional design skills but also for his ability to build and foster a strong sense of community. He consistently brings out the best in everyone.
Sarath Nair
UX Storyteller & Design Mentor
Prashant brings creativity, technical prowess, and an innate ability to build and nurture community. He has an innate talent for bringing people together, fostering a sense of belonging.
Sushree Swagatika
Associate Marketing Director, Kanerika Inc
Chapter 9
What Comes Next
Most people who build communities treat them as stepping stones. A community gets them visibility, and then they move on to the real thing.
Prashant is doing the opposite. Community Insider is taking shape. The Hyderabad Design Ecosystem is compounding. The content system is building an archive that will become books, playbooks, and products.
This is not a collection of projects. It is a body of work from someone who has been building for seven years and is just getting started.
"Build for people first. The products, communities, and ecosystems will follow."