About - Naveed Ahmed

Me

I am a product designer with nearly fourteen years of experience designing digital products for complex, high-impact problems. Over the years, I have contributed to core experiences for Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft SharePoint, Adobe Learning Manager, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

My work involves creating clear, usable product experiences for workflows shaped by complexity and scale. I focus on fundamentals and craft to design solutions that make it easier for users to achieve their goals.

Across my career, I have built 0-1 products, shaped UX strategy and frameworks, and supported designers and teams through mentorship and design leadership.

I work closely with product managers, engineers, researchers, and stakeholders to bring together varied perspectives into a clear UX direction and product strategy that teams can design, build, and ship together.

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Personal stuff

Besides design, I dabble in photography, binge on sci-fi, and watch reruns of Seinfeld. I was once an obsessive Matrix fan, but now prefer spending time in libraries and museums.

I have lived in several cities around the world (15 across India and 4 elsewhere), which has shaped how I observe people, pick up cultural nuances, and approach design. I enjoy learning languages and have varying levels of speaking and writing proficiency across eight of them.

Alongside my work, I have been mentoring design students and aspiring designers in different ways for over a decade. I also recently authored a book on Microsoft Lists and have published Medium articles on enterprise UX.

Design origins

I discovered design in the first semester of my undergrad studies in Computer Science. What began as a way to solve visual problems and express myself through tangible media, especially compared to the CLI output of C, C++, and Java, led to freelancing in print and web design, eventually evolving into a career in user experience design.

In 2012, I took a break from career to pursue a full-time Master's degree in Interaction Design from IDC School of Design (formerly the Industrial Design Centre), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai. The intense learning and the amazing people ❤️ I met during the program reshaped my approach to problem-solving and design.