A session that shifted my perspective

Today, I joined an inspiring session on chair ergonomics with Alison Heller-Ono, PT, MSPT, CPE, President of Worksite International, Inc., and Greg Laffen, Principal at Cal Ergonomics. The workshop made me look at ergonomic chairs in a completely new light. It wasn’t just about chairs; it was about our bodies, our work, and the role design plays in our everyday well-being. The truth is, no matter how passionate we are about our jobs, it’s hard to be truly productive if the chair beneath us works against us. Over time, something as small as a poorly designed or faulty chair can lead to serious issues — from everyday aches to long-term injuries. And that’s when it hit me: chairs aren’t just quiet companions in our work lives; they can either be silent supporters or hidden risks.

Why chairs feel so complicated

Buying a chair can feel overwhelming because there really isn’t a “one size fits all.” Everybody is unique; our height, weight, posture, and daily habits all affect what kind of support we need. The wrong chair doesn’t just make us uncomfortable; it slowly chips away at our focus, health, and energy. And that’s where chair assessment becomes so important.

Enter CAT: The Chair Assessment Tool

One of the highlights of the session was learning about CAT — the Chair Assessment Tool®. It’s a framework to help organizations evaluate the health of their chairs, from the cushioning to the mechanics. The idea is simple: if a chair isn’t doing its job, it either needs repair, replacement, or reassessment. It made me think — why do we regularly service our cars, update our laptops, but almost never check the chair we sit on for over 2,000 hours a year?

Chairs as Human-centered design

What I loved most about the session with Alison was how this tied back to design. A good chair is human-centered; it moves with us, aligns with us, and supports us. A bad chair forces us into postures that drain us. One line really stayed with me: “Chair cushions and pads are a sign that the chair isn’t fitting correctly.” It’s so true when we start adding temporary fixes, we’re often ignoring the bigger problem.

The hierarchy of chairs

Something that made me smile (and also made me think) was the idea of a social hierarchy of chairs. The higher you go in an organization, the fancier your chair tends to be. Leaders sit on state-of-the-art ergonomic chairs, while frontline employees often are assigned to the older, worn-out ones with limited support and adjustability. But if you really think about it, shouldn’t comfort and support be equal for everyone?

Why it matters for organizations

Chair ergonomics isn’t just about comfort; it’s about health, sustainability, productivity, and even cost. Broken chairs lead to injuries, absenteeism, and higher medical expenses. And without proper systems like Chair Assessment System® (CAS), organizations delay chair replacement, end up replacing chairs unnecessarily, wasting money instead of managing them like assets.

A Little Reminder

So, the next time you sit down, take a moment. Notice your chair. Is it supporting you, or are you adjusting yourself to make it work? As Alison stated early on in her workshop, “If the chair isn’t right, the workstation ergonomics will never be correct!” Alison and Greg said something I won’t forget: “A chair should fit the person and not the other way around.” We deserve to feel supported in the spaces where we spend most of our day. Don’t just sit. Sit well!

Have you ever wondered about the chair you sit on every day? was originally published in Bootcamp on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

“Your new life is going to cost you your old one.” -Brianna Wiest

From an engineering classroom in India to an Ergonomics classroom in California

Design didn’t come to me with a big idea. It came quietly. Eight years ago, I was an engineering student in India, trying to figure out what I didn’t want. Somewhere between writing code and learning HTML and CSS, I stumbled into design.

Like many of us, I began with graphic design. Then UI. Then UX. But what kept me going wasn’t the tools; it was the realization that every screen I designed affected someone’s day. It was clarity, empathy, and decision-making. It was also the realization of how much one can do in this space, the art of storytelling, presenting your ideas, mentoring others, and even learning how to sell your vision with confidence.

Learning from the real world at Accenture

In 2020, I joined Accenture. I didn’t know much about stakeholder management, product goals, or delivery metrics, but I knew how to ask questions. That was enough.

Accenture became my sandbox. I worked across industries, sat in virtual rooms with people I never thought I’d meet, and began to understand how design fits into business. It wasn’t always easy, but it was foundational.

Design was no longer just pixels and flowcharts; it became about people, process, and patience.

Dubai: the unexpected turning point

In 2022, I took a leap and moved to Dubai for a role at a tech startup. It came with big dreams — but within a month, the company ran into funding issues and stopped paying salaries.

It was scary. A new country, no job, and uncertainty all around. But I kept showing up. I kept applying. I believed that maybe this was all part of something bigger. And then, on my birthday that same year, I was offered a role at Mashreq Bank. I took it as a sign that things were beginning to align

At Mashreq, I worked on projects that touched real lives: revamping Mashreq Home, launching Mashreq Neo, and redesigning the end-to-end Customer Care Portal. I went from designing for one squad to managing four individual journeys.

In less than two years, I transitioned to Senior Product Designer at Emirates NBD, working with treasury teams and business leads. I had moved from creating screens to owning outcomes.

Community made me a better designer

Parallel to the work, I started organizing events for Friends of Figma, Dubai. My boss, who started the chapter in Dubai, encouraged me to join, and we started small.

Eventually, that “small” became something beautiful: quarterly events with over 300 designers, a community of 1300+ people, and topics that went beyond tools burnout, mentorship, career transitions, and design ethics.

What started as a weekend experiment became a space for connection. And honestly, it made me better at my day job too.

Measuring design by impact, not titles

In design, we often talk about metrics how many clicks, how many users, and how many conversions. But I’ve come to realize:
Impact also comes from the story.

Growth is not just moving from a Product Designer to a Senior one.
It’s also in:

• Holding your voice in a stakeholder meeting
• Mentoring a junior designer through burnout
• Speaking at a community event, even if your voice shakes

Today, I start again

In Fall 2025, I begin my Master’s in Human Factors and Ergonomics in California. It’s my way of returning to the “why” behind the “what.”
I want to study systems, psychology, cognition, and user behavior because I believe better design comes from a better understanding.

This move feels like a loop completing itself. From engineering to design. From India to Dubai. From practice to research.

And once again, I’m starting from scratch with intention and with resilience.

What I’ve learned so far

Design has taught me that no journey is linear. That failure is feedback. That community is currency. And that the best thing you can do is stay curious.

If you’re in between jobs, between roles, or between countries — remember: You’re not lost. You’re in transition. And transitions make great designers.

Designing across borders was originally published in Bootcamp on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I want to start by saying this to every young designer out there.
Design isn’t just about solving problems. It’s about so much more.

It’s about alignment.
It’s about coming together with people who think differently from you.
It’s about numbers and matrices.
It’s about impact, outcomes, and learning to articulate what matters while also listening with an open mind.

Here are a few things that have helped me in my journey:

Soft skills are everything.

It’s how you express your thoughts, how you read the room, when you speak up, and when you let things slide.

You need to be the translator.

Businesses often know what they want, but not how design fits into it. It’s your job to explain the impact in simple, clear language. No fluff.

Workplaces are messy.

It’s a lot of tossing the ball around, protecting your turf, and navigating the chaos. But you get to define how the game is played.

Business cares about results.

Not just great ideas. Show them what worked, what changed, and what moved the needle.

Stay in sync with your manager.

They often see one step ahead. Learn from that.

Figma is just a tool.

Your real edge? It’s how you think, how you work, and how you show up. Build your own ways of working. Define your design personality. That’s what sticks.

Design isn’t just a process. It’s a dance between logic, empathy, business, and people. And you get better at it every day.

If something from this dance resonates with you, or if you have values you stand by in your design journey, I’d love to hear from you.
Write to me at gauravilinjara@gmail.com.

My first trip to the United States, and how it quietly changed everything.

It all started with a thought.
Well, to be honest, many thoughts. I’m someone who always has a flurry of them, half of which I barely catch before they fly away. One of those thoughts, however, decided to stick around. A friend of mine, in one of our many late-night conversations, said, “Why don’t you write it all down about your USA trip? It’s one for the record.”

So here I am writing my first-ever piece.
But what is this? A journal? A travelogue? An open letter to my future self? I’m not sure yet. But I’m not going to let definitions hold me back. Let’s figure it out as we go. Let’s write.

A Dream, Wrapped in a Puffer Jacket

I always saw myself living in the States.
Not in a manifesting-it-on-a-vision-board kind of way but more like a quiet knowing, stitched deep into the seams of who I was becoming. I fantasized about film-like moments walking down streets in a puffer jacket and rounded glasses, somewhere between Hermione Granger and Emma Morley from One Day. That girl with a heart full of stories and a suitcase full of hope. That was me.

And Then, It Happened

My trip to the U.S. wasn’t just a journey across continents. It was a sequence of unexpected moments that cracked my heart open in all the right places.

Like running into a childhood friend someone I hadn’t seen in 15 years in a bookstore in Seattle, purely by chance. There were rainbow sightings, techno raves that made my heart race (in the best way), and mountains blanketed in snow that made me feel tiny in the most comforting way.

There was the Fourth of July fireworks not just in the sky but in my soul.
There were long drives, airport hugs, and sunrises that made me forget to take pictures because I was too busy living.

And oh Figma Config 2024, reason I came here in the first place. A conference that felt like a festival. I jammed with Abdul, met incredible minds, and rediscovered my love for design, community, and serendipity.

Philly, Professors, and a Rainstorm on the Road

I stayed with my friend in Philadelphia, seven days of warmth, laughter, and late-night heart-to-hearts. Somewhere in between, I decided to take a solo road trip. From Philly to Pittsburgh. Six hours one way. Why? To meet professors at my dream university – Carnegie Mellon.

That drive was something else.
I met an Amish man at a gas station who showed me how to fuel the car myself (felt like a scene out of a movie). Roamed around the CMU campus, talked to professors who made the dream feel less like a fantasy and more like a plan.

And then came the drive back.
The skies turned dark, it started pouring, and I was shitting bricks. My windshield began frosting up. I couldn’t see a thing. But just when I thought I’d have a full-on meltdown, a couple of kind cops pulled over and helped me fix the defrost. It was terrifying, but the kind of story you don’t forget.

Twelve hours on the road, but every second was worth it.
I came back to Philly, hugged my friend, and laughed about the whole adventure like I hadn’t just lived through a dramatic indie road movie.

The City That Lived in My Head

After a week in Philly, I packed up and headed to the city. The one I had imagined a thousand times, New York.

I had Alicia Keys on repeat in my head the whole time.
“In New York… concrete jungle where dreams are made of…”

There I was – dragging my luggage off the bus, into the subway, and onto the streets of Manhattan. Times Square glowed all around me. I dropped my bags at the hotel and did the most New York thing I could think of: took myself out for coffee. Just like the Wall Street mornings I had seen in movies.

In three days, I walked 75,000 steps, met friends old and new, took video calls in the middle of chaotic streets, and breathed in every corner of that city like it was a long-lost love.

Coming Home to Myself

A year ago, all of this was a distant dream. Now, I’m two weeks away from moving to the very city that whispered home the first time I landed there. San Francisco.

It feels less like a relocation and more like a quiet return.
To a version of me that I had only met in glimpses before. A version that knows how to be brave and soft all at once. A version that dares to begin again.

So here’s to the city, to the stories yet to be lived, and to this beautiful, chaotic, heart-expanding thing called life.

I don’t know what this piece is – But I do know it’s mine.
And maybe, just maybe, that’s enough.

In the ever-evolving landscape of business and technology, innovation stands as the lifeblood of progress. Innovation is the force that drives companies forward. Today, we are excited to announce a significant leap in innovation as we inaugurate the Innovation Hub at Mashreq Headquarters. This hub is set to redefine how we interact with our products, our customers, and the future itself.

A Space for Unprecedented Possibilities

The Innovation Hub at Mashreq Headquarters is more than just a physical space; it’s a testament to our commitment to staying at the forefront of innovation. Spanning a substantial area, it’s designed to be a beacon for creativity and a hotspot for collaborative thinking. The Hub incorporates cutting-edge technologies and creative spaces, making it the ideal environment for ideation and experimentation.

Our lab is equipped to test and research on a variety of stimuli from desktops, tablets, mobile apps to TVs. These screens serve as windows to product journeys offering a dynamic and immersive way for our teams to visualize, analyze, and improve our products.

User Testing Redefined

Central to our innovation journey is the commitment to putting the customer at the heart of everything we do. This is where the two dedicated user testing rooms come into play. These rooms, equipped with the latest technology and ergonomics, provide the perfect setting for rigorous user testing.

In our fast-paced digital world, customer needs and preferences change quickly. This makes it essential to continuously gather first-hand user interactions and feedback.

The user-testing rooms are designed to do precisely that. They allow our design and development teams to observe and analyze user behavior, gather feedback, and make immediate adjustments. This real-time feedback loop is invaluable for fine-tuning our products and services.

Final words…

In a world where customers are spoiled for choice, enhancing the customer experience is not just a nice-to-have; it’s a business imperative.

The Innovation Hub at Mashreq Headquarters, emphasizing user testing, is how we provide; we meet and exceed our customers’ expectations.

On our journey to pioneer new solutions, reimagine experiences, and set new benchmarks in the world of banking and beyond. This is just the beginning.

The Innovation Hub at Mashreq Headquarters is where innovation and customer experience converge, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds.

In collaboration with Mariaucris Pirela
Watch out here: https://mariaucris.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Innovation-Hub.mp4