About

Practitioner, researcher and teacher of design, based in New Delhi, India. My practice focuses on the design of affordable, accessible and sustainable products, services and systems. I enjoy developing need-led innovation projects and I also dabble in creative arts through illustration and communication design.

Since graduating in 2015, I have been consulting small and medium enterprises, higher education institutes such as nid and iit Delhi and humanitarian organizations such as who and the icrc on the design of medical devices and assistive technology. Through my practice, I became interested in research to develop responsible design practice. My research focuses on design methods and design practice for affordable, accessible and sustainable healthcare. My practice and research often work in parallel, building on one another.

I have been a visiting faculty at nid and nift in India, teaching design for healthcare and design research methods. I have also mentored startups at national and international hackathons for the development of affordable and accessible healthcare solutions and have received two international design awards for my work.

For inquiries about projects, or for consultancy services, you can write to me at pranay.arunkumar@gmail.com.

Education

Master of Philosophy, design research (2018–2020), School of Design, Royal College of Art, London, uk

Bachelor of Design, product design (2011–2016), National Institue of Design, Ahmedabad, India

Student exchange programme, design objets (2014), École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France

Teaching & mentorship

Guest lecture, design for sustainable healthcare (2020), Design for Health (MDes), Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto, Canada.

Mentor, design expert, medical devices (2018), Smart India Hackathon 2018, India. [link]

Visiting faculty, research methods (2017, 2018), National Insitute of Fashion Technology, Srinagar, India

Mentor, design expert (2018), Enable Makeathon 2.0, International Committee of the Red Cross

Guest faculty, design thinking workshop (2017), Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Guest faculty, design for medical devices (2016), National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India

Awards & recognition

Gold · Outdoor and Fitness Equipment, Student Winner, 9^th International Design Awards (2016)

Honourable Mention · Outdoor and Fitness Equipment, Student Winner, 9^th International Design Awards (2016)

Project showcase · nid Transportation and Automotive Design (2016), auto expo motor show 2016

Caricature artist · alto delhi comic con (2016)

1^st Prize · Samsung usid Design Challenge (2013), Prize: ₹100,000, 4 Samsung smartphones, Team: Pranay Arun Kumar, Manisha Laroia, Burhan ud din Khateeb, Raju Randhav

Top 15 · Samsung usid Design Challenge (2013), Prize: 4 Samsung smartphones, Team: Pranay Arun Kumar, Manisha Laroia, Burhan ud din Khateeb, Raju Randhav

Das, H. (2016, August). Innovative Mix of Creativity & Science. Careers360, pp. 45-47.

Choudhry, C. (2013, December 4). NIDian’s device makes diabetes check pain free. Ahmedabad Mirror, pp. 2. [link]

Choudhry, C. (2013, December 19). NIDian shows music world how to SWITCH. Ahmedabad Mirror, pp. 2. [link]