Sambuddha Saha

Experience Design
Strategy + Creative Direction

decoding & designing for complex ecosystems #Automotive #Mobility #Cities #Culture

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me

I am motivated by the need for human- and planet-centered innovation & creativity to tackle the urgent challenges and radical opportunities of our time.
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Inspired by the ability of digital technologies to connect us across distance, time, cultures, actualities, etc. Also w
ary of the gravitational pull of mass distraction.
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Committed to impact through guidance as well as influence – from within & without. 
Leadership is situational, and we live in funky times.
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Fence-jumpers leapfrog gatekeepers.
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Draw together every day.
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focus areas

• Research & Insights
• Foresight
• Vision & Concept
• Strategic Direction
• Design
• Writing
• Consulting

worked with

Automotive & Mobility 
Volvo Cars, GM, Ford, AutoTrader, Manheim
Energy & Sustainability  
GE Energy
Retail
 
Target, Home Depot
Fashion & Apparel  
Prada, Mi Ola, Topology Eyewear
Consumer Goods
 
Coca-Cola
Travel & Hospitality 
OpenTable, Hyatt
Technology & Communications
Telenav, AT&T, Sprint
Media 
Esquire, Harper's Bazaar
Logistics 
DHL
Government 
UK Inland Revenue
Agency & Consulting  
Sapient, Digitas, Icon MediaLab

Two people riding bikes on a street near trees.

autoMobility /

autoMobility /

Mobility Innovation Ecosystem

ongoing / Experience Strategy

Not just a device on wheels

As the industry struggles through a wholesale reconfiguration of the many mutually-reinforcing systems that have enabled its success over the past century – but have since stagnated and hindered its progress – the digitalization of the car offers the opportunity to transform not just the car, but the industry into a more open innovation ecosystem – allowing customers to do more on-the-go, with cars that fit better into a broader and more sustainable portfolio of mobility formats refactored for an increasingly-urbanized world.

DEFINING
VEHICLE
SOFTWARE
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vehicleSoftware_003
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vehicleSoftware_002
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vehicleSoftware_001

REDESIGN
URBAN
MOBILITY
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urbanMobility_001
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automotive retail /

Volvo Cars OmniChannel Vision

Volvo Cars OmniChannel

Volvo Cars OmniChannel

2018-23 / Experience Strategy & Design

Flexible,
Connected,
Full-Lifecycle Shopping

In the context of evolving consumer mindsets and the growth of shorter, more fluid models of access to private car usage – lease, subscription, on-demand, etc. – we crafted a vision for a radically-faster shopping journey – compressing the usual six-month slog of research & deliberation down to driving a Volvo within a week. 

Screenshot 2024-10-01 at 21.46.36

To do this, we reconfigured the selection & sequencing of elements of the experience, utilizing digital technologies to bring the core retail and dealership functions out into the customer’s world and timeframe

financing_1
financing_2
virtualShowroom_1

Bringing more of the everyday car ownership experience into the shopping process, so customers could make well-informed decisions

testDrive_2
testDrive_4
testDrive_6

Allowing the different parties – shopper, friends & family, retail, etc. – to play to their respective strengths by consolidating all information generated by the research process

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garage_1
garage_3
garage_2
garage_4
getStarted
accessories_1
accessories_3
accessories_2

Applying ongoing intelligence to make everyday driving & ownership the basis for ongoing product optimization

creative community /

Cult Collection

2014-16 / Co-Founder, Strategy, Design, Product Management, Editorial & Marketing
A gray arrow pointing to the right with text reading
A page with four different images of clothes.

A creative social space for fashionistas to explore and shop their individual style

While digital tools are enablers of the overwhelming profusion of options on offer in our consumption-oriented economy, they are also the means by which we might creatively harness the variety & choice available to us.

We created Cult Collection as a community for collective creativity – enabling the fashion-forward consumer to define their evolving style by playing the digital version of dress-up.

The app allowed them to discover new items at retail, to be inspired by looks created by the community, and to explore how to style items by creating their own looks from scratch or restyling a look by which they were inspired. 

The key innovation in the interaction was the simultaneous presentation of both the in-progress look, and points of reference from which the customer was drawing inspiration and making selections – retail inventory, their closet, another look, etc. – bridging the gap between the actual and the possible by bringing each cognitive space into the context of the other.

A woman sitting on the ground with many pairs of shoes around her feet.
A woman wearing sandals and jewelry.
A woman wearing a long blue and white dress.
A screenshot of the mosaic stripe maxi dress.
A collage of clothes and accessories with the caption
A green background with many different types of clothing.
A screenshot of the hats section in an email.

b2b SaaS /

OpenTable
Restaurant Solutions

OpenTable Restaurant Solutions

2015 / Experience Strategy

Simplifying & expediting product trial, adoption and learning of the “Guest Center”

The adoption of consumer technologies into restaurant operations offered a step up in ease & efficiency for floor management, and also created the opportunity to restructure OpenTable’s restaurant acquisition & onboarding process.

OT_reservation-book crop

Simpler, faster, and lower-cost system deployment allowed for greater flexibility in customer acquisition strategies, improved the timeliness & effectiveness of product on-boarding, and enhanced productivity for restaurant staff – all of which significantly improved customer satisfaction at the inception of the relationship. 

A flowchart of the process for creating an app.

fast-casual flavor /

fast-casual flavor /

Coca-Cola Freestyle

2008-09 / Experience Design

Variety & Choice

A next-generation interactive fountain dispenser using micro-dosing technology to pour a 100+ sparkling & still beverage brands from a single freestanding unit – delivering unprecedented beverage variety with choices to suit any consumer taste, fine-grained business intelligence, and a reduced environmental footprint.

Three coca-cola machines are shown side by side.
A woman is putting money into an automated coke machine.

The key design challenge for the user interface was to present the variety of beverages available in a way that made the experience of selecting one intuitive, delightful, and immersive in the aura of the brands offered.

The design of the system integrates the behavior of the touch screen user interface, the lighting scheme, and the mechanical pouring elements into a seamless whole that eases the consumer into a new interaction paradigm for dispensing a beverage.

A flowchart of the process for creating an event.

TOUCH SCREEN
CONSUMER INTERFACE
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The first generation of the main consumer interface anchored the flavor variants off the brands with which customers were already familiar. The visual design maximizes the use of the color spectrum associated with each brand, and as the consumer pours their choice of beverage, the color projected from the screen casts a glow on their face, subtly incorporating them into the world of the brand. 

A bunch of different logos on some buttons
A red background with six different logos on it.
A silver background with six different diet coke logos.
A black and red logo is shown on the screen.
A green background with sprite logo and various colors.
A series of sprite zero buttons are shown.
A yellow background with various flavors of fanta.
A round of fanta zero is shown with the logo.

ADA
CONSUMER INTERFACE
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The ADA user interface organizes the same assets in a grid which makes it easy to select a brand and then a flavor using a simple left/right touch panel at an accessible height. The visual presentation is dialed back in order to emphasize visibility and legibility.

A collection of soda and other drinks are shown.
A bunch of different types of diet coke logos
A close up of the coca cola buttons
A bunch of different colored balls with logos on them

CREW-SERVE
INTERFACE
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The crew serve interface was optimized for multi-order taskflows, repeat pours, and efficiency of use.

A bunch of different types of buttons on a black background
A bunch of soda pop buttons are shown.

energy education /

energy education /

Smart Grid Rollout

2009 / Campaign Strategy, Experience Design

“It's Your Smart Grid”

GE Energy needed a communications program to educate consumers on next-generation smart grid technologies, create communities of interest around the relevant energy issues, engage these communities with their local utility providers and regulators, and thereby facilitate the consensus required for the implementation of smart grid initiatives.

Four different pages of a website with various colors.
A bridge with some words on it
A graphic showing the various ways to clean energy.
A group of four different colored boxes with the words
A picture of some different types of energy meters.
A computer is shown with several different pictures.
A screen shot of the website for a family.
A page of different types of lighting products.
A series of images showing different types of advertising.
A brochure with two cars parked in front of a building.
A page of the smartest meter with information about it.

fashion retail /

Prada
Epicenter NY

2001-02 / Experience Design, Content Process Development

“Prada is Content”

A seminal deployment of multi-channel retail – long before we even called it that – enabling the brand to express its high-touch style of customer service across all touch points in the shopping experience.

A woman in white and red jacket walking.
A drawing of a woman in a dress
A woman in white jacket touching screen on atm machine.
A computer screen with various images of clothing.
A table with several different types of shoes.
A flowchart of the different stages of a project.

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