Hello diesdas.digital

My name is Bharadwaj Kulkarni, but my friends have called me “Bawa” since I can remember. So please, call me Bawa. I’m very excited to be applying to the Digital Designer position at diesdas.digital!

Three years ago, I moved to Munich to do my masters in industrial design at TUM after having studied mechanical engineering in India. The course was challenging—especially because the medium of instruction was German that I had to learn quickly—but it was life-changing. I’ve seen myself evolve from a mechanical engineer to an industrial designer to an experience designer to what I can only call a “holistic designer”. Aside from the regular lectures and courses, every semester we were encouraged to work with real world start-ups and companies, on real world problems. During the evaluation of our projects, the question asked was often not what we designed, but why we designed it.

In the last three years, I’ve worked on multiple projects that have been wide-ranging in terms of their deliverables. Each project had its own requirements, and I was encouraged to push past the competencies I came in with. I’ve worked on a film/augmented reality museum installation, the industrial design of a robot arm, an animated product explainer video for a robotics company, the user interface of a web app for an IoT startup and developing a methodology for researching the emotional aspects of sustainability. I’m currently working on the UI/UX design of a podcast app for “power listeners”. I had to learn most of the hard skills required for these projects on the go. But when I look back, I realise that the common thread was that it was always about communication. Design is all about storytelling. I translate this passion for storytelling into clean, intuitive design that clearly illustrates functionality and brand aesthetic.

Going through your website and reading the job description was a breath of fresh air. I found the honesty and authenticity very refreshing and, to be honest, a relief. In times of desperation (like… now, during the pandemic), we feel forced to apply to whatever opening there is. And with every application that I don’t really care about, I feel like I’m giving up a piece of my soul. So it’s a relief to actually care about the application that I’m sending in. I really appreciate the wiki you’ve made for your employees, and I appreciate it even more that you’ve made it publicly available. It’s fun to read about my potential first day. I obviously don’t know what your client work looks like yet because you don’t have your cases up yet, but if the wiki is any indication, I’m sure I’ll be impressed.

I’m also impressed by how supportive you seem and how much potential there is for me to grow—personally and professionally. I’ve always enjoyed not only working on my designs but also presenting it to clients and watching their eyes light up. I’d love to be able to do that. Working on the full life-cycle of a project is extremely satisfying, with all its ups and downs. I also love conferences and workshops, so I’m glad you’re open to that. I’m also more than glad that you have your own book club. (Books are extremely important to me; I’m even planning on starting a YouTube channel about them.) You’ve been reading some good stuff! Educated is now on my to-read list. Speaking of which, here’s my reading list on Notion.

All of these projects that I’ve talked about doing were done in multi-disciplinary teams (except Highlighting Audio). I’m a naturally curious person, which I find almost always leads to empathy. I enjoy seeing patterns in other fields and spotting the same ones in my interests. This means that I’m drawn to not only understand other points of view but also to help people voice these points of view. I like being in a culture where everybody looks to succeed together. From going through the wiki (and reading about the life of a designer at diesdas), this is the culture that I expect to find, and I’m very excited about it. I’m also looking forward to moving to Berlin. I’ve wanted to do that ever since I moved to Germany three years ago.

I’m looking forward to getting to know all of you soon. Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

Best regards,

Bawa Kulkarni