We recently connected with Kiran Babu and have shared our conversation below.
Kiran, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
As humans, most of us are naturally dopamine-driven, tying purpose to appreciation, reward, or money. It’s way too easy to fall into the “Fear of failure” trap once you do what your passion is or succumb to stagnation, professionally being boxed within job descriptions in our fast-paced world. I have always reached plateaus in my life, where I have revisited my purpose, both professionally and personally. At these junctures, when you have done hundreds of design presentations, garnered recognition, being rewarded monetarily, you begin to start thinking beyond surface-level purposes; it almost makes you wonder about the mediocrity of the statement of purposes you had written with so much heart when you had applied to grad school, where you begin to question or focus on what is one’s purpose. To me, finding purpose is a journey, an everchanging quest to find meaning in one’s life, something that evolves at every stage of your life. When I was a kid, I always thought my purpose was to design cars, just because I won a few car design competitions; in my teens, it was photography and filmmaking; in my 20s, it was running a design agency and the success you got to from it; when I worked with an NGO to solve homelessness, I felt my purpose was to help those in need. While mentoring students part-time, I felt inspiring young minds was my purpose. This constant discovery and trying out things that interested me with a curiosity-driven approach enriched my life, learning and unlearning, filled with ups and downs and successes and failures.
Through my creative journey, I have probably worked on 100+ projects with 70+ designers, engineers, architects, urban designers, CEOs, graphic designers, UX/UI designers, sustainable architects, 3D modelers, photographers, artists, building contractors, digital prototypers, developers (both the real-estate ones and the coding ones), and students from different backgrounds and experiences. Just working with such a diverse bunch of creative and passionate individuals truly expanded my understanding of the world and various crafts. Looking back, If I had stuck to my preconceived biased notion of professional purpose to be only designing cars, I probably would never have explored other disciplines in the first place or met the wonderful people I got the chance to collaborate with.
This curious state of exploration helped me at least define what I don’t think excites me. I made my fair share of attempts to learn to code or manage construction projects, realizing how specific tasks probably drained the energy out of me or had a steeper learning curve that I wasn’t willing to spend time on. Through this rigorous discovery process, when I look back, Adopting a Systems Thinking Approach to Problem-Solving can best define my professional inclination where I wake up every day feeling energized, keep the spark in me going, directing my energy towards working on projects that can make a difference in people’s lives. Most designers, including me, find purpose through small contributions to society, solving problems of the world, bringing clarity to chaos, reversing entropy, and having an impact on how people live, work, and play.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am Kiran Babu, a user experience designer and systems thinker. My journey in this field has been marked by rich cross-disciplinary exposure to design through academic and professional experiences. My passion lies in crafting disruptive solutions that challenge existing urban frameworks, systems, and typologies entrenched within design disciplines. With a holistic approach to problem-solving, informed by my multidisciplinary background, I’m a T-shaped systems thinker —a professional with a broad understanding of space and products and deep expertise in User Experience, mainly centered around mobility.
After graduating with a master’s in Transportation systems and Design from Art Center College of Design, California, I worked as a UX designer with a Los Angeles-based startup on Intelligent Traffic Systems Technology that enables cities to better manage traffic signal networks to progress road safety and reduce carbon emissions. Currently, I work at General Motors in Michigan as a UX designer on multiple future-focused transportation & mobility projects.
Through the process of working with people in different silos of creative fields, I believe in “the 5% Learning Curve Approach”, where I collaborate with people within and among other disciplines to practice a systems approach to problem-solving. This approach has helped me identify opportunities and gaps within projects I work on, enabling me to bring holistic systems thinking perspective to projects that need new processes and quicker build, test, and learn loops with a “quick to fail” approach to problem-solving.
Let’s take a mobility-related problem, for example: “Micro-mobility adoption in the United States.” how a product designer approaches this problem would be completely different from that of an urban designer or someone from policy. A software engineer could develop an algorithm to better manage how these devices are parked/docked, or a business degree graduate could look at economic incentive models. The solution sets are so large that complex problems can’t be solved by one design or engineering field, let alone one designer. I’m trained by education and experience to engage with various stakeholders, understand challenges from respective fields, build a low-fidelity test prototype, and get feedback from people to suggest how the product/solution needs to move forward with a clear emphasis on the “why.” The prototype may be far from production, but the learnings from what people share can be used to build effective solutions in the right direction. In a nutshell, I focus on bringing clarity to complex, sticky problems of the world, thinking synergistically about social, business, and technology needs and opportunities. For example, In my master thesis on multimodal trips, if I didn’t bring systems thinking into the project, I could have gotten away with creating a mobile application just because I’m a UX designer, but through rigorous research and synthesis, the design prototype focused on “how to get people to think rationally regarding their trip choices” Where the concept had to use game theory and behavioral science, two fields I was completely unfamiliar with. The benefits of bringing a holistic approach to design can help frame projects and situate them in real-world contexts beyond the silos of design disciplines.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
01. Being fearless to try and learn new things: Not being afraid to jump at new opportunities even if you don’t know the a, b, and c of that particular field is one quality that helps keep the inner child in you happy. It is easy to get stuck within the boundaries of what your job description demands. Looking back, my intuitive decisions to try out new workflows or approach problem-solving have proved more rewarding in the long run.
02. Having an open-to-receive feedback mindset: Being fearless and bold to try new approaches and processes can help nourish your thinking and expand your knowledge. However, to get better at the new things you try, having an open mindset to receive feedback goes a long way. Through my creative journey across different fields, I see a big difference in the quality between the first and most recent attempts. My first attempt to design a car or create an animation was probably average, but doing it multiple times and being open to receiving feedback helped sharpen my skills. Learning not to be defensive of your work will probably help you go farther than someone who reacts to feedback rather than listens to feedback.
03. Being open to collaborating with peers: To me, this is probably the most important of the 3; developing “collaborative skills”. As humans, we may have tendencies to have complete ownership of the creative process, often letting egos define projects, creating a situation where the focus is not on what is suitable for the project but more on who gets to have the final say on a project. The ability to navigate such situations and create a platform for all team members to share their frank opinions on decisions can enrich the project and team dynamic, where each team member can bring their 100% to work. It often starts by being the first person to open up to others within the team, asking for opinions, or having brainstorming sessions when you are stuck with a problem.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
In my career for the last 7 years, too little did I get the time to pause, often preoccupied with various projects and competitions, always being on the run. For the first time in a long time in my professional career, I have begun to prioritize better, giving time to just being human. I believe this is one of life’s most significant growth and improvement, “Quality.” I still remember, back in college, not having the time (I didn’t prioritize time) to even talk to my parents over the phone or spend a little more time at a friend’s party. It’s not like I’m doing less work than I did back then, but I think I have improved at prioritizing work and valuing leisure time equally. Professionally, I’m observing more, contributing more, navigating situations better, collaborating effectively, and bringing value to the projects and the people around me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kiba.myportfolio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kiran.babu_/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kiran-babu/
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