Engaging With The Audience

As a UX Design/ Research/ Strategy professional working for the country’s leading online ticket booking company, Sonal Malhotra has the opportunity to really connect with its users

 From furniture design to UX

I opted to pursue an M.Des degree at the National Institute of Design, majoring in Furniture Design. In my last year at NID, I worked for six months with a tech startup as a design research fellow at Venture Studio, Ahmedabad. The fellowship gave me exposure to the role of design research and strategy in developing a business from scratch. Mentorship from Stanford D-School faculty at the studio helped me hone my skills in designing for users. Professor Ranjan’s classes at NID planted an inquisitiveness to understand and imbibe the ‘design thinking’ philosophy in my work. Certain system design and service design projects at NID also got me interested in the field of user experience design.

Enhancing user experience at BookMyShow

BookMyShow has been the pioneer and market leader in the domain of online ticket booking in India. When I joined the Mumbai-based company two years back, the design team was in its formative stage. I was the first hire for a UX-strategy/research specific profile, though we already had a team of some very talented UI/UX folks. Even though the design wing was one of the new additions, the founders had immense faith and a vision to make Design the third pillar of the company (the other two being Tech and Product). With the support of the founders and the Design Head, I got promising opportunities to initiate many UX projects that were a first for the company. I started my journey as an individual working with the design team as a UX reviewer. Now, I head a team of six UX specialists (and growing), which looks into all products of BookMyShow and its acquisitions.