Bangalore—the Silicon Valley of India—recently became the center of an inspiring and deeply productive industry journey for Mohit Savaliya. Over four days, he explored leading global tech workplaces, attended the landmark Figma Shipped event, met design leaders, and gathered powerful insights to enrich the future of design education and community building.

This blog captures every highlight from the visit, along with actionable learnings for designers, students, and industry professionals.

Day 1: Arrival & Community Conversations

On 11th November, Mohit flew from Surat and landed in Bangalore around 12 PM, geared up to make the trip impactful and productive.

In the evening, he met:

• Udit Chawada – FoF Leader, Indore
• Randheer Singh – FoF Leader, Lucknow

The trio engaged in a deep conversation around expanding India’s design communities. Mohit shared the inspiring growth journey of FoF Surat—from 50 designers to 1000+ members in just two years.

Key Learnings

• Community success comes from consistency, collaboration, and meaningful value.
• Sharing experiences accelerates collective growth of local design ecosystems.

Day 2: Meeting Anil Reddy & The Impactful Figma Shipped Event

Visit to Happy Pet Office

Mohit, along with his colleague Mr. Piyush Nakrani, visited Mr. Anil Reddy—Founder of Happy Pet India and Ex-Founder of Lollypop Design Studio.

They spent nearly two hours discussing:

• How to scale design education at Red & White Skill Education
• The modern designer’s skillset beyond design
• Importance of communication, market understanding, pitching, and storytelling

Evening: Figma’s ‘Shipped: India Builds’ Event

Figma’s new India hub launch was one of the most anticipated events of the year.
The venue felt like a masterclass in branding, glowing with Figma’s colors and creative energy.

Session 1: How Digital India Is Elevating UX

A fireside chat with Debabrata Nayak (CTO, Digital India Corporation) revealed how systems like DigiLocker and MeriPehchaan are adopting design thinking to improve user experiences at scale.

Session 2: Designing Growth at Scale (The Highlight Session)

Speakers:
Rahul Gonsalves · Anuj Rathi · Bindya S Raj

Top insights:

• Designers must think like makers + marketers.
• Rahul shared how icons undergo extreme testing—one even had 1000 variations for rural accessibility.
• Anuj shared a hilarious Swiggy story where a lightning “fast delivery” icon made users think it was raining!

Major takeaway:
System Thinking + Empathy + Testing = Scalable Design

Session 3: Building India’s Fashion Future

Nandita Sinha (CEO, Myntra) emphasised staying customer-first instead of feature-first and how Gen Z now sets the trend for the entire market.

The day concluded with meaningful conversations, followed by dinner with FoF Leaders and Abhishek Mathur (VP Engineering, Meta), who shared incredible insights on the unique design philosophies behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Day 3: Amazon, Zepto & Dinner With Swiggy’s AVP of Design

Amazon Office Visit

Mohit visited Amazon Rome with Dhrumil Vaghasiya (SDE, Amazon), exploring the office and understanding Amazon’s culture.

Key Learnings from Amazon

• Hiring is strongly aligned with culture + capability.
• All decisions reflect Amazon’s iconic 17 Leadership Principles.
• Employees are trained to think long-term and act customer-first.

Visit to Zepto Headquarters

At Zepto, Mohit met:

• Harish Darapu – Associate Director of Design
• Ayaneshu Bhardwaj – Senior Product Designer

They discussed design hiring standards, execution practices, and the importance of clarity.

What Zepto Looks for in Designers

• Sharp communication
• Fast and thoughtful execution
• Strong reasoning behind every design decision

Zepto’s culture thrives on speed, precision, and intentional design.

Evening Dinner With Saptarshi Prakash (AVP Design, Swiggy)

Key Insights Shared by Saptarshi

• Know your target users deeply
• Attention to detail is non-negotiable
• Experiment often—creativity grows through trying
• Stay a lifelong learner

Day 4: Exploring Google Ananta — A Dream Workplace

On the final day, Mohit visited Google’s Ananta office with Mr. Ankit Dubey (Senior Designer, Google).

He explored multiple departments, design floors, and workspaces that power products used by billions.

Core Philosophy at Google

• Simplify complex problems
• Prioritize clarity and usability
• Build solutions that scale globally

Major Takeaways from the Bangalore Industry Visit

1. Community Building Matters – Networking and collaboration accelerate design ecosystem growth.
2. Designers Need Multi-Dimensional Skills – Communication, pitching, market understanding, storytelling.
3. System Thinking Enables Scale – Essential when designing for millions.
4. Speed + Clarity = Execution Excellence – The Zepto philosophy.
5. Strong Culture Builds Great Products – Proven by Amazon and Google.
6. Customer-First Mindset Wins – From Myntra to Figma to Google.

Conclusion: A Journey of Inspiration, Perspective & Leadership

Mohit Savaliya’s 4-day Bangalore industry visit was more than a trip—
it was a transformative learning experience.

With insights from global brands, design leaders, and real-world environments, this journey will deeply influence future initiatives in design education, community building, and industry–academia collaboration.

Bangalore didn’t just offer inspiration—it offered direction.
And that makes all the difference.