Anil Ahuja (AA)

Anil’s first brush with design happened as a student, and in his over two decade experience, Anil has witnessed design transformation in the media at close quarters. He started his career with India Today, where he automated several design operations at a time when such a thing wasn’t heard of. He then went on to be part of many new publishing launches within India Today, Outlook and Dainik Bhaskar, where he created identities, platforms and systems to work with large teams across geographies. An early mover into the technical aspects of design, he worked with QuarkXPress he built state-of-the-art digital design technologies. He then moved to Adobe where he led a large global technical team as Product Manager for Adobe Illustrator and InDesign. He also holds three worldwide design and technology patents. AA’s approach to design is ground-up whereby systems must be grounded on aesthetic and solid technical foundation. He has been instrumental in creating ubiquitous platforms for super-charged design oriented digital workflow environments geared towards delivering global products, through technical teams spread across the world, using waterfall and Agile development methodology. He works as design consultant for Observer Research Foundation (today rated as the third most influential Global Think Tank) and has also designed complex hi-tech projects for the UN as Senior Design Advisor. He enjoys reading, travelling, photography, painting and of course designing.