1. “Discovering narratives of cultural transition to inform
design, business and policy decisions to build inclusivity”
Leena Jain
I practice as a user experience, design and cultural insight
researcher, branding strategist, and a writer. I thrive on a
holistic approach, directed by the process.
My ancestral roots originate from Kutch, Gujarat, while I was
born in Indore, Madhya Pradesh and grew up across the
country, having stayed in Chennai, Nagpur, Raipur, Mumbai,
Ahmedabad, Delhi, and Pune. These constantly evolving
surroundings around me led to a fascination with culture and
it’s nuances from multidisciplinary lenses.
I am skilled at discovering and brainstorming concepts,
observing transition, fleshing out ways to bring out insight,
forming connections and articulating those into actionables.
Email: leenajain.work@gmail.com
Phone: +91 8866585707
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/leena-jain-630a3551/
Website: https://medium.com/leena-jain
Behance: https://www.behance.net/leenajain0472
Professional Experience
I have worked concurrently with research labs and institutions for
about 3 years; independent brands, marketing and content agencies
for about 8 years. Here are some notable associations:
• User Experience Researcher
Turian labs: Innovation consulting | Associated since Oct’19
Android Go, Google Go, Google Photos, Business Finland
Conducted and led user research sprints for a global tech leader to
understand the needs, wants and desires of the next billion smartphone
users. Met 100+ users to uncover insights of user behavior in local
communities in growing, developing countries. This included an in-depth
behavioral analysis study, iterative usability testing, persona building and
insight generation.
• Design Research lead
Muse India | Associated since June’20
Muse is India’s first direct-to-consumer bedroom essentials brand
Led the design research front, by designing a framework and conducting
an in-depth qualitative research to understand the perceptions around
sexual wellness in the Indian landscape to discover user needs, wants
and desires, to inform brand design and product development. The
process informed the launch strategy, brand image, identity and
positioning, giving a ‘what, why, how, where’ of the entire landscape in
bigger picture and minute details. The brand has launched with an online
presence (soft launch).
• Design Researcher & Content Curator
Design Innovation and Craft Resource Center (DICRC),
CEPT University | Associated since Nov’18
‘Celebrating Clay 2020: generating new forms of cultural production for
craft experiential tourism’: The Crafting Futures India programme (British
Council) with the terracotta craft cluster of Gundiyali, Kutch
- Designed training resources for the knowledge exchange programme
- Developed and curated content for project dissemination activities
Designed the framework & content for the Craft Experiential Tourism
toolkit (a roadmap for individuals & organizations to evolve a craft
cluster) and created, curated communications collateral for 2018-19
initiatives
• Branding Strategist & Copywriter
108 Knots & Happy Faces Foundation | Associated since Apr’19
108 Knots is the brand verticle of Happy Faces Foundation
Happy Faces empowers various women groups, creating a sense of
healthy agency with training initiatives for livelihood opportunities.
The vision is to bring a change for the marginalised women group
within Gujarat. Contributed in the foundational phase of brand building
strategizing naming, brand narrative and further content direction and
copywriting. Currently, I contribute article pieces for the blogs
• Communication Designer
RaasLeela Textiles | April’19 - Oct’19
A zero-waste capsule clothing branding
Co-created on making a frugal packaging design system and a holistic
branding strategy that emphasized on the idea of zero waste, conscious
clothing and craft skill empowerment
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Education
• National Institute of Fashion Technology,
Gandhinagar | 2018
(Fashion Communication, CGPA 8.4
• Shrimati Sulochanadevi Singhania School,
Thane | 2014
(ISC - Grade 12, Percentage 80.2%)
• Sheth Karamshi Kanji English School,
Mumbai | 2012
(CBSE - Grade 10, CGPA 10.0)
Volunteering Experience
• Silent Sounds | 2018
Created a poster and promoted the event, “Voice Identity
and Gender” for an experiential discourse by anthropologist
and storyteller, Gauri Raje
• Tibet World NGO | 2017
Worked as a conversation class instructor (English), in an
arrangement that helps Tibetans to learn English while
helps the instructors learn about the Tibetan Culture.
Redesigned communication collaterals - the brochures,
posters and phamplets along with rewriting the content
provided for a better reach to people around the world.
• Soumaiya Kala Raksha | 2015 - 2017
Kala Raksha vidyalaya is a craft institute to empower
traditional artisans to learn about contemporary skills and
bring it to their practice. I worked on the fashion show
which is the annual convocation as well as on promotional
collateral for their exhibitions
2. Publications & Papers
• Authored & presenting a paper, titled ‘Culturally inclined
games: A way to trigger quest for understanding ethnic
identities’ (to be held in Jan 2021) at the international
conference: Designing for Children with focus on
‘Play and Learn’ hosted by IDC School of Design,
IIT Bombay, Mumbai, India
• Co-authored, Craft Experiential Tourism toolkit
(to be published soon) a ready-reckoner for evolving craft
clusters in India to craft experiential tourism hubs. This
toolkit has been used as a framework for the project:
Celebrating Clay: generating new forms of craft tourism
with the terracotta craft cluster of Gundiyali, Kutch, India
as a part of the Crafting Futures project by the British
Council (2020)
• Featured on Ahmedabad Mirror (2017), part of ‘Shoot
at heritage site’ on how to photograph heritage, when
Ahmedabad was declared one of the UNESCO world
heritage cities.
• Co-authored, “Handmade and the Faith: Tibetan
Buddhism” (2017) — part of NIFT’s initiatives to document
craft practices and traditions.
Awards
• Awarded the prestigious NIFT Innovative Graduation
Project Award (2018) for my work to brand
“Project Otenga” as a multimodal space as a community
collective, cafe and design lab.
• Awarded the Meritorious student award (2018) for
academic excellence over four years of coursework
• Won the ‘next big fashion forecaster’ conducted by ‘The
Fashion Forecaster India’ for a trend forecast ‘Timeless’
about Khadi — linking its past and redefining it for the
current contexts
Exhibitions
• Design fellow for the Craft CoLABorative Fellowship
(2018–19) which involved extensive craft innovation and
ethnographic study with the terracotta craft community
of Gundiyali, Kutch. Further, exhibited for “Ekatra: spin-
ning the wheel together” at the Kanoria Gallery for Arts,
Ahmedabad (2019). Co-created two product systems that
gamified cultural knowledge in tangible interactive forms
with the craft community.
• Performed a human-puppet show as a part of India Street
Project at the Conflictorium, Ahmedabad (2017)
Workshops / Talks
• Facilitated and presented a session on “Design Thinking
for Uncertain Times (2020)” at the Gujarat Technological
University
• Facilitated a four day workshop for foundation programme
students at Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar on
Creative Writing “Compel, Create, Write (2018)”
Curation(s)
• Curated ‘Chamba Kitni k dur (2019)’ about the folk music
traditions and cultural food in Himachal Pradesh
(at Project Otenga cafe, Ahmedabad)
• Curated an experiential event, ‘Six strings and a mouthful
(2018)’ based on the art movement of romanticism which
included gastronomical delights synchronized with
poetry and classical guitar music in collaboration with
Aditya Gandhi. (At Project Otenga Cafe)
• Curated a three-week public participatory experience,
Spatial Detox (2018) exploring themes of spaces, mental
health and mindfulness (at Project Otenga Cafe)
Digital Feature(s)
• Featured written work on Global Medium publications
including Invisible illness, Mental health and addictions
community alongwith homegrown publication of Nirmisu
Professional Experience (Contd.)
• Creative Writer
Vraj:Bhoomi | Feb’19 - Apr’19
A homegrown textiles brand working with Ajrakh
Wrote a series of interview pieces about the women of Gujarat to be
published for the brand collateral and larger public outreach activities
• Communication Designer
Oji Studio | Collaborated Nov - Dec’ 2018
Designed the publication and information design for the project
on strategic intervention for Menstrual Health & Hygiene in Indian
Villages
• Creative strategist & trend forecaster
The Fashion Forecaster | Associated Jun’ 2018 - Sept’ 2019
Creative Consultant for The Fashion Forecaster. worked on various
fashion forecasting, branding, trend analysis and fashion writing
projects.
• Branding Designer & Curator
Project Otenga Cafe, Ahmedabad University | Jan’18 to
Apr’19
(Graduation Project) Strategized and executed branding intiatives
of Project Otenga to establish it as a cafe for a multidisciplinary
collaborations, gastronomical experiences, mindful living and
promotion of traditional practices. I used tangible and intangible
mediums to drive community engagement through experiential
design and curation, branding collaterals, system thinking, content
strategy, website design and organizational design.
• Design Researcher & Design intern
HELM Social Design Studio | Associated since Jun’17
National Law University, Society for Labour and development
(Internship) Conceptualized research and visual framework for
interactive documentary of the Death Penalty report published by the
National Law University, Delhi
• Content Marketing Manager & Freelance writer
White Panda | Associated since Jun’15
Radisson Hotels, Illuminate Health, Zorba wines, MCaffiene
Drove content marketing intiatives, copywriting for various brands
and consulted for content strategy, branding development and
design.
• Copywriter
Virallens | May’18 - Oct’19
Vardaan, Rock Interview, Drive U
Wrote the UX (User experience) copy, case studies and blog pieces
for technology, non-profits and startups.
• Copywriter
The Media Ant | Jun’16 - May’18
Arunika’s Fresco, Amante’, Sunday Mattresses, Arunachal Box
Wrote brand narratives, stories and thought leadership pieces along
with brand copy for various lifestyle brands
• Communication Designer
Madhusudan Group | 2017
B2B textile group in India
Developed trend story narratives and visual swatch books for
exhibition and outreach activities
• Fashion Communication specialist & intern
Okhai | Dec’15 - Dec ’17
Craft & Lifestyle brand empowering women artisans
(Internship & projects) Fashion communication and branding strategy
initiatives for the brand with field studies leading to a documentary.
• Copywriter
MeDigit Communications | May’15 - May’16
Copy and web content projects for various clients
• Content writer | May’12 - May’15
Various clients including e-magazines, start-ups for their decks,
blogs and websites
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